The evening times., 1900-09-29

clude stars having a small proper motion,
because the advantages of their great num-
Der more than eounterbalance the sdisad-
vantages of their distance. From a great
many recent and very careful observa-
tians the result has been deduced that the
'alex of the solar motion is in the general
direction of the constellation Lyra and
probably very near the star Vega, the
brightest of that constellation. The
7eas,ef viii recoIlect that the constellation
Lyra is adjacent to that of Hercules, SO
Inat tae difference of the results OF for
mer istve=-igations and the most recent IS
nor 50 1ere great. The fact that the apex
of t-v sJ}fs way is near the star Vega
confere aat-ther distinction upon that fine
star Il is the eighth in the list of first
magnitude stars and one of the brightest
seen in our latitude; and, as the reader
Will remember, will be cur future pole
star, so that the time viii come when the
whole armament in its diurnal motion
wiz move around point which IS near
that point toward which the sun will sail
with all his noble retinue of planets and
satellites As 10 the actual velocity OF
the solar system the most recent invest1-
cations give it at ten miles per second
In looking overhead at about o'clock IN
the October evenings a constellation viii
once arrest our attention by its strlk-
ms contour. This is Pegasus We see d
large square With two handles, each on the
two vertices of diagonal Three OF the
stars. of the square and the handle Oh It's
sout lwestern corner constitute the chief
conf. lf.guration of the constellation Pegasus
or the Winged Horse. The remaining star
n the square, with it's handle, belongs to
the cons citation Andromeda and is called
= pha ARdromedae or AlpheraLz, though
OCCASIONALLY in older maps we see 1t desig-
mated as Delta Pegasi. The other stars of
~
si-sely called Beta Pegasi or Scheat, Alpha
Pegasi 0r N4rkab, to which the Pegasus
handIZ is attaclled, and Gamma or Alge-
Nib. The handle bends at the star Theta
towas-- tn northwest, and its end is
marked By Epsilon or Emf The square
marks the body of the Horse and the ham
die the neck and head. 1t is worthy OF
note that Algenib and AlpheratZ, in the
square, and Caph, in Cassiopeia, fix the
prime meridian. for which reason they
ale sometimes called the ''thfee guides, "
pointing out the direction of the meridian
through the pole. The reader is reminded
that from the great circle the spherical
distance of all the heavenly bodies is
measured. South of Theta Pegasi the 20
diacal constellation Aquarius, or the Wa
er-beaEc-, stretches out in a southeast
ern direction. The most notable conhgu-
ration is the little of third aud fourth
magnitude stars marking the water urn, "
from which Aquarius pours out the stream
that meanders down to the southeast and
south for 80 degrees till it reaches the
Southern Fish, or Piscis Australis, made
conspicuous by the first magnitude star
Fomalhaut.
There is not a single star in Aquarius
that exceeds the third agnItude, and
for this reason it cannot fairly be called
bright constellation, but as the last
OF the twelve Constellat ations of the 20
diac 1t Is OF Importance. Besides being
a first ma gnftude star Formalhaut In
the Southern Fish. is of importance as
/ one Of ths so-called nautical stars
whose true places for every day in the
r"21 are given in that book 50 indispe n
&e-Cle to the mariner-the Nautical Al
Es@aae- The spherical distance of tbs Sc
nautical stars of which Fomalhaut is
one from the moon is given in that al
m2Eac for every third hour OF every day
ID che year, The mariner. by means of
the sextant, measures the distance OF the
moon from any of the nautical stars
compares it with that laid down in the
Nautical Alma nae. and from this differ
cnce IS enabled to determine how far he
| IS east or west of the meridian of Green
w!ch, or iii other words, determine his
loI gitude- This method called the lunar
method. is one OF the various methods
of finding the longitude at sea and 1t
proves that in terrestrial measurements
we have often TO resort to the stars
strange as this fact may appear to those
who are ignorant of the magical power
OF mathematics.
The fine consultations Cygnus and
AquiIa and the smaller ones Delphinus
and Sagltta. are still high up. but slight
| ly bending toward the western horizon
| while TIE fiery Antares and the royal
| planet Jupiter are near the horizon, soon
| to vanish from our view. Lyra. with the
magnificent star Vega is midway be-
| tween the meridian and the western hor-
| iZon, while down in the east Taurus,
| with the fine cluster of the Hyades and
Pleiades, is slowly climbing up. the har-
bingeT Of the approaching season of win
ter