Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-06
JANUARY HEAVENS
Cold Winter Nights Enhance the
Beauty of the Stars.
TO LOCATE THE CONSULTATIONS
Recent Discoveries in the Matter of
Dark Suns.
THEIR LIGHT GONE OUT

Written for The Evening Star
The brilliant star which may now be seen
at about pm. nearly overhead is Capella,
in the constellation Auriga Low in the
southeast Is the Still more brilliant Sirius
A circle described through these two stars,
the line joining them being a diameter. in
closes a region unequaed for splendor by
any other Of equal extent in the whole
heavens.
Within this limited area are the constel-
lations Orion, Taurus. Auriga and Gemini
ali brilliantly adorned with bright stars.
Orion contains two of the first magnitude
Betelgeuse (Bet-el-jeu-ze), in the right
shoulder, and Rigel (Ree-jeD, in the left
fcot-and four OF the second magnitude
namely, the Three Kings" which form the
belt of the huntsman, and Bellatrx, in his
left shoulder. Saiph, the Sword" at the
opposite corner of the coustellation-in the
right knee-iS IF the third magnitude.
A straight line run from Sirius to the
Three Kings and prolonged to an equal
distance beyond them strikes lAldebaran,
the Bulls Eye" in the head of Taurus.
Prolonged still farther TO a distance abou.
two-thirds as great, it strikes the Pleiades,
in the Bulls shoulder
AT the left of Sirius, forming with ii and
Betelgeuse large equal-sided triangle, is
Procyon, the Little Dog Midway between
Capella and the eastern horizon are the
Twins (Gemini). the upper of which. Castor,
Is a bright second agnitude star while
Polux. the lower being somewhat brighter
commonly ranks as of the first magnitude.
Between Capella and the head of Orion
is another conspicuous pair of stars. about
as far apart the Twins, but less bright
than they, one being of the second and one
Of the third magnitude. These are the tips
OF the horns of Taurus. The celestial Bull
the very long golden horns" with which
he was said ancleEtly to open the year"
the rising of this constellation in the lat
ter part of April. having been anciently the
signal for the farmer to begin his springs
plowing.
The Dog Star.
Sirius. the Dog Star. nine times as bright
as an average star of the first magnitude
and five times as bright as the brilliant
Capella, has naturally held a prominent
place both in mythology and the history of
astronomy. Among the ancients Sirius was
generally regarded as a star of baneful in
fiuence. The Persians called it Tishtrya
and dreaded its malign radiance as the
cause Of the summer droughts and of dis
eases among cattle and men. Similar no.
lions respecting it We're prevalent among
the Greeks and Romans. The Egyptians,
on the contrary. regarded it as a benef-
cent star. 1t was known to them as SOthiS.
and was believed to be the residence Of tne
ance above the eastern horizon at day
break, which occurred in July, marked the
beginning of the Egyptian year, the sacer-
dotal year, which contained 363l4 days.
known as the Sothic year to distinguish it
from the civil year which contained but
1853 days. The rising of Sirius brought win
1t the annual inundation of the Nile, and
1t was, perhaps. because of the stars sup
posed watchful care over the interests of
the husbandman that it was called Anubis,
the Dog, name which still clings to it.
Star Distances.
Sirius is among the sixty or seventy stars
of which the distances from us are known
with a greater or less margin of uncer-
tainty. 1t stands third on the list not first
as might be supposed from its superior
brillancy. The nearest star so far as is
known, Is Alpha Centauri, a star of the
first magnitude, too low in the southern
hemisphere to be visible north of the lati-
tude of New Orleans. The next is 81 Cygni,
a star of only the fifth magnitude, in the
constellation of the Swan, particularly in
tereSting as the first star of which the dis
lance was determined by Bessel some sixty
years ago. The distance of Sirius, accord
ing to the determinations of Drs Gill and
Elkin. is about $4,000 times that of the
sum- or about eight "light-years." That is
to say. light, which comes to us from the
sun in eight and a quarter minutes and
from the moon in one and third seconds,
requires eight years to flash across the
space which separates us from the brilliant
Dog Star.
The light of Sirius is estimated to equal
that of seventy suns placed side by side.
The sun in its place would shine for us as
a star of only the second magnitude. If
we suppose that Sirius emitS the same
amount of light, area to area, as the sun,
we may easily calculate that to shine at
it's distance as brightly as 1t does it must
have a diameter about eight times that Of
the sun. which would give it volume five
ID, 81