Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-31
Notable Consultations That Are Now
Above the Horizon.
IMPORTANT PART THAT Leo PLAYS
Formerly Used for Keeping Rec
ord of the Changing Seasons.
i He STARS AND PLANETS
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
The most notable of the consultations
which above the horizon at . I'm.
are the Great Bear (Ursa Major and the
Lion Geoj, nearly overhead; Orion, Taurus
and Aurisa, in the west; the Hydra, or
Water Snake, which stretches its enormous
length across the lower portion of the
southern quadrant of the heavens bearing
upon its back the Cup Crater and the
Grow tCorvust; and in the east Virgo, b.
otes and the Northern Crown.
Ten stars of the first magnitude are now
visible at the hour named. Given in the
order of their briiliancy they are: Sirius
the Dog Star. low in the southwest; Capel-
la, the She-ioat, the principal star in Aur-
ga, at one-third of the distance from the
horizon to the zenith in the northwest:
Arcturus. the Bear-Wartien, the principal
star in Bo-stes. at about the same height
as Capella. in the east, Rigel. in the left
foot, and Betelgeuse, in the right shoulder
of Orion: Procyon, the Little Dog. above
Sirius, forming with it and Betelgeuse a
large e1uai-s:ded triangle; Aldebaran the
Bulls Eye the principal star in Taurus
just setting a little north of west; SPiea
the WheatE Ear. the principal star in Viz
go, low in the southeast; PolluX. the more
southeriy of the Twins 0iemni in mid
heavens in the west; and Regulus. the prin-
cipal star in Leo. which has just crossed
the meridian at two-thirdS of the distance
from the horizon to the zenith.
The Hydra. Cup and Crow.
Below and a little to the right of Regulus
stands the star Cor Hydrae-the Hydra's
Heart-which. although of only the second
magnitude, is conspicuous from its loneli-
ness, and. indeed. its Arabic name, Alphard
signifies the solitary one This star will
help to locate the Hydra, constellation
chiefly remarka hle for its great length of
over 100 degrees. The head of this mon
Ster snake, marked by a short curved line
of three or four stars of which the bright
est, the eye, is of the third magnitude lies
about midway from Regulus to Procyon.
This head is a very pretty object for the
opera glass, which reveals quite a cluster
of small stars here. The -Hydra's tail now
touches the horizon in the southeast, di-
reotly beneath the star Spica. The Cup and
the Crow, both very pretty, though incon-
spicuous, consultations, may easily be To-
Gated by means of the chart given here
The brightest star which they nave between
them is Alchiba, of the third magnitude
in the foot of the Grow. The name signi-
fes tent" and was proba bly, applied by
the Arabs to the whole constellation which
bears quite as close a resemblance to a tent
to bird.
The Ancient Leo,
The old constellation. Leo. of which the
well-known Sickle forms the bushy head
and shoulders. is for several reasons an es-
pecIally interesting aSseriSm. 1t is to be-
gin with, quite striking figure in which
one can. with the help of little irnaeri-
nation, discover a crouch ne- lion though
not, perhaps, quite So artistic a figure as
ore may find upon a celestial chart. II has
become in recent times q notable cons. ella
ton from the circums anCc that IT con-
t&ins-very nearly a the center Of TIE curve
of the SiCkle's blade-the "radiant'' uoini
from the direction OF which shCo. the M
vember meteors. known as the Leonids
Leo is of the zodlS:cal constel!a lions
one of those markers whicr had come INFO
use in the earliest times of which We have
record for keeping trace of TIE changing
seasons AT the present time the sun pur-
suing his annual eastward round OF The
heavens, enters this constelia ton about tn.
middle of August and remains in it until
the middle of September. Upon leaving
Leo the sun enters the cons. ella ton Virgo
and soon thereafter crosses the line
about the 21st of Scptember-and enters
the southern hemisphere But this arrange
ment is comparatively modern The sua
has not always crossed the celestial euua-
tor so soon after leaving Leo as he does
row. While the suns apparent path among
the stars-the ''ecliptc"-is invarable in
its location, the celestial eQua tor-:ha
northumberland is the great circle in
which the plane of the earth's equator ex-