Evening star., 1900-06-30
THE SKIES IN JULY
Much Interesting Information tor
Amateur Astronomers.
CONSULTATIONS OF TIE MONTH
As General Rule They Are Not in
the Best of Drawing
THE STARS AND PLANETS
THE STARS AND PLANETS

Written for The Evening Star.
Directly overhead at . o'clock this even
ing may he seen the Northern Crown. the
Gnossian Crown. as il was styled by virgil,
this being according to Greek legend, the
Identical crown which was given by Bac-
chus to Aradne. the daughter of old King
Minos whose capital city was Gnossus. in
the Island of Crete. The Crown consists of
nearly complete oval of six or seven
stars of which the brightest. Alphacca, Is
of the third magnitude. An ancient poetic
designation of this star was Marsar!ta
Corcnae the Pearl of the Crown. name
which in rnediaeval times led to the con-
stella TONS being known the Crown of
St. Margaret.
West of the Crown, at about two-thlrds
of the distance from the horizon to the
zenith. stands Arcturus. the brilliant Bear
Warden. the principal star in the Herds
man, Bo-otes. AlphacCa, ArcturuS and a
star of the third magnitude in the left
shoulder If the HerdsIaan-Gamma Bo-otis
form very noticeable equal-sided tri-
angle. at th4 center of which stands Ep-
sion Bo-otis. OF the third ma agnitude. a sim
gu!ariy beautiful colored double star, the
companion being OF an emerald green. The
star Is. however. rather difficult object
in fact. of the test objects of a three
inch telescope.
Nearly il The east and at about the same
altitude Gs ArCJurus, stands the equally
brilliant Vega. The jewel in the Iyre of
Orpheus. Note the difference in the colors
OF these two rival stars. Arcturus is
orange ye low; II is solar star, It's spec
trum being according to Sir Norman Lock-
yer. Identical with that of the sun. Vega
is "Sirian star, giving a spectrum in
which the hydrogen lines are especially
prominent and sparkling with the blush
white light of the Dog star.
The LyTe is of triangular figure. of
about the size OF the Northern Crown
Each ccrner is marked by a pair of stars
AT the western corner stand Vega and u
star of the fifth magnitude, known as Ep
si!on Lyrae. which is famous among ANA
teur tsIeScoiists the 'pouhle-double." :"
Even a. opera glass VII make pair OF
this apparently single star. and a small
telescope viii show that each member OF
this small pair Is itself a double star. 4
larger Instrument reyeds three other stars
here. making a group of at least seven
stars WHERE tne unst5-yG eye SEES but one.
To persons having eyes of exceptional
keeHteeS this star. Epsilon Lyrae, appears
distinctly elOI.gated. ANA several astrono-
mers clam 10 have seen ii double under
favorable circumstances. 1t is fine test
OF eyesight.
At he southern corner of the Lyre stand
Beta ana Gamma Lyrde, the former uf
wE!cn-tne more westerly of the two-is ID
the fourth ma gnitude and gong through
il changes in = period of about thirteen
DAYS. Il il particularly Interesting TO as
trOuCrutr.s from the iacl that |. has TWO
maxine. or conditions Of greatest briii.ancy
one of which it is less brilliant than 1T
the Cther. This is 4 SOo,i object Tor ths
amateur ssar-ssizer to keep an eye upon.
The third corner 1f JhC I-yre is marked by
a pair ot fourth magnitude stars.
The BODY of Hercules
Ii. a H,. I.y nd rb1a
i. trapezium of four stars of the third
nAaguitide. which forms the body Of Hercu-
les. The rough sketch drawn upon or
chart indicates the principal s;ars -loue .a.;
to this constellation. Crude though this fig
ure *. j, has the merit of representing some
thing w hch can be seen among the stars
which cannot be said of the most of those
"uncOdth figures" with which modern char
III; kErs have Illus the ancient con-
st"llailrnS- Tn remark applies also 10 the
ske tcheS here given OF DphIucnus and Bo-
Otes. We are apt 10 forget that the Old
c"nste ila:in'I-rnakers were mere children. so
far as art is concerned. and were not dis
tressed over the figure of n man or of an
animal because il was faulty in its proper
tons or WAS otherwise nOt as lifc-ike as
il painted 10y ApelIes If we would re-
cover their work. if we would sec among
the stars the shapes which they saw We
mus look rather for such figures as a
school boy draws upon his slate. as an
Indian draws upon a piece of birch bark
than for such artistic figures Us adorn the
shdw-lillS ~ Il modern mcHascric. Many of
the cons, tiOns. though by no means all
o: them, which seem hopciessiy imaginary
as they are usually depicted upon celes. ial
charts. stand out with considerable Dromi-
neHce when we look for them with this
idea of what they may be like.
whittier We Are Going.
The old Greek of this constellati ton
was Engonasin. On knees. or the Kneeler
ii was so called by Aratus-in the third
century. b. C.-whO appears never to have
heard II styled Hercules. for he says of the
kneeler. Who he was. what is the
of his sadness man knOwe,h -
In modern times this constellation has be-
come specially interesting from the fact
that according to the determination of Sir
William HerSchel the sun, with its family
of planets. satellites and comets. is travel
Ing through space toward a point in this
part of the heavens-a point near the star
lambda. In the left shoulder OF Hercules.
Other astronomers have also located this
apex Of the suns ways somewhere here
abouts though no two astronomers have
hit upon precisely the same spot. One of
the latest and perhaps the most reliable
OF these determinations, that OF Herr
Stumpe. places the apex very nearly at
the center of the Lyre. The rate at which
the sun Is travelling In this direction has
been estimated to be about eight miles a
second. or l5o.O0o.00O miles "a year.
An Ancient Constellation.
The gigantic figure of Ophiuchus, the Ser
ha ted hy-