The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-03
Some Brilliant Stars
Astronomers Are Now Busy Studying
the Heavens.

the year among the astronomers at the OBJ
servatories. not only mi Washington, but
| in all parts of the world. The eclipse OF
the sun Of itself II" sufficient to supply
material for hard Work in the form OF
calculations for weeks to come, bu. in ad-
dition thereto unusually interesting con-
ditions affect all the planets.
Most people did not know that it was
a new moon which for a brief interval got
between the sun and the earth. 1t was.
however. and the Queen of Night will
reach its first quarter on June ..
Tomorrow the sun will be 12 degrees
from its northern limit. which it will reach
on June Il. the day at that time having
It's maximum length Of IA hours ard 90
minutes.
The planet Mercury during the month OF
June will be in Taurus at first and later
on In Gemini. Almost Immediately after
sunset and long before the highest of the
fixed stars appear in the heavens the planet
Venus emits her light with a brillancy
that attracts the attention of even those
who. as a rule. are not interested in the
celestial panorama. At the beginning Of
the month Venus will be nearly 40 degrees
distant from the sun and exhibit her maxi
mum brightness. She will linger through
out the whole month In the constellation
| Gemini. While Venus shines as the most
conspicuous object in the western sky, the
| planet Jupiter vies with her in spiendor
| in the eastern, these two objects impart-
ing to the evening skies a particularly
striking appearance, enhanced by jupter's
| dwelling at present in one of the finest
| summer constellations-Scorpio. Jupiter
will be on the meridian between 10 and II
o'clock and shine nearly the whole night.
while Venus will set at the time OF the
| formers elimination. Mars is q morning
star, rising between and o'clock. 1t
will be in the constellation Aries through
out the month. Since Saturn rises few
minutes after o'clock in the evening", 1t
| will be seen as soon as the evening is
| sufficiently advanced to allow the first
magnitude stars to appear. Saturn is still
| in Sagittarius. at not great distance from
| his brother planet Jupiter. On the 23d 1t
Will be in opposition with the sun and be
visible all night. The presence of these
| three great planets during the evening
hours lends to the celestial vault Pc
culiarly attractive appearance.
| On the 18th of the month partial
| eclipse OF the moon will occur, visible in
this latitude. but as only very small
portion of the moon will be obscured by
| the earth's shadow, the eclipse will last
| but few minutes and be too Insignificant
| to engage attention.
| In regard to the exact position OF the
/, solar system in the sidereal universe as
| tronomers are still to a great extent CROP
| ing in the dark, and 1t is by no means
certain whether this difficult question will
| ever be satisfactorily answered. IN order
| to fix the suns relative position to other
| sidereal bodies or systems, it Is necessary
to know more about the distances OF the
latter from the earth than is now known.
The nearest of these stars whose distances
! from the earth have been estimated Is
Alpha Centauri, the brightest in one of
! the consultations in the Southern Henri
| sphere Were this distance to be given in
| numbers, 1t would convey no meaning even
to those who are familiar with large num-
bers and not easily appalled, by them; but
by comparing 1t with the space traversed
by that swiftest OF all travelers-!ight-it
is possible to bring It within ordinary
power OF comprehension. Light is trans
! mitted through space nj the rate OF 1885,.
900 miles per second, and 1t takes three
and one-half years for the light OF that
nearest of fixed stars to reach the earth.
II, now, 1t Is considered that there are
but few stars whose distances have been
roughly estimated. and that knowledge OF
the motion in space Of the solar system is
yet exceedingly crude. it may be easily un-
Cerstood that an exact determination Of the
position of the solar system in the sideral
heavens is at present out Of the question
ard can remain only matter OF untrust-
worthy speculation until by improved
means of observation a greater knowledge
OF stellar distances and motions can be OBJ
tanned
Though collecting in groups here and
there and forming connected streams, an
enumeration of the stars in the great star
catalogue shows that the number ntreas4 IS
with considerable regularity frcm the gal
actic poles. where they are most sparse.
toward the galactic plane. where they are
most densely crowded Certainly an in
teresting question that has often obtrudei
itself on the mind is whether there is any
limit set to the sidereal heavens. In re-
gard to this question Simon Newcomb re-
marks that it can be shown mathemati-
cslly that an infinitely extended system OF
stars would fill the heavens with blaze OF
light like that of the MONDAY sun. AS no
such effect is produced, it may be con :iud-
ed that the universe has boundary. But
this does not enable scientists to locate
the boundary. nor TO say how many stlis
may lie outside the farthest stretches Of
telescope vision
At about o'clock in the June evenings
the magnificent star Arcturus, after Sirius
the most brilliant star in our latitude can
be seen. 1t Is the principal star in the |
constellation Bootes. or the Huntsman. the
name Arcturus itself meaning the bear |
driver In a southeasterly direction from
Arcturus are seen four stars-Beta Gam |
ma Delta, and Epsilon-that form some |
what irregular cross. while. with Zeta and |
Eta, Arcturus forms an obtuse triangle. |
with the latter at the vertex of the obtuse |
angle. Arcturus Is a star which for its |
brilliance might be taken for planet were |
it not for the fact that it is without the |
zodiacal belt, within which all planets |
move. With reference to Arcturus Simon |
Necomb says: "As far as we know the |
two swiftest- moving stars are. first. Arc
turus and. second. one known in astronomy
as 1880 Groombridge. the latter so called |
because 1t was first observed by the as
tronomer Groombridge and is numbered
1890 in his catalogue of stars
East of Bootes can be seen the beautiful |
little constellation Corona Borealis, or the
Northern Crown. the principal and most |
striking configuration OF an almost perfect |
semi-circle of stars. The brightest Of these
is Alpha or Gamma or Alphacca. of the
second magnitude. East. of the Grown is
the fine constellation Hercules. Northwest
of Scorpio between it and Virgo. two rath-
er bright stars. Alpha and Beta. consti-
tute the principal members OF the ZOdi-
acal constellation Libra or the Balance.
1t is. ON the whole. an inconspicuous con-
stellation. and oniy~of importance as one
of the twelve consultations Of the zodiac.
Due south of Libra Is the constellation Lu-
pus. or the Wolf. of which. however. only
a part can be seen at any advantage in
this latitude. The beautiful constellation
Scorpio is approaching the meridian. Oph-
iuchus is high up in the east and Cygnus
-.-t,,a