Evening star., 1901-02-02
SKIES IN FEBRUARY
Never is the Spectacle More Baauti-
full Than Now.
TIE STARS and CONSULTATIONS
Discussing the Size and Shape Of
the Universe.
OF THE MONTH

The aspect Of the heavens on a February
evening, about oeiockzat the beginning
of the month. an hour or so earlier toward
its closets unquestionably the finest ever
presented to an observer in our northern
latitude. In the south stands the great
X-like figure of Orion-the mighty Orion
of Homer-with its splendid setting of first
magnitude stars. Betelgeuse. Rigel, Sirius.
Procyon and Aldebaran. Overhead Is Au-
riga the principal star, In which Capella
Is the brightest star visible to US. with the
single exception of Sirius In the east is
the old constellation. Leo, containing the
bright star Regulus. the jewel in the handle
of the Sickle, which forms the Lions bushy
head and shoulders. In the north the most
striking TWO of the circumpoIar constella-
tions--the Great Dipper, or the Piow. as
our English cousins prefer to call this
markabfe group Of seven stars, and the
W-shaped figure of Cassiopeia. The Lady
in Her Chair" are both well posed for OBJ
serving. the former at the right. the latter
at the left of the Pole Star. Overhead
stretches, in a direction from southeast to
northwest. the grand nebulous arch of the
Milky Way.
Distribution of the Stars.
All seven of the stars just named are OF
the first magnitude. To this Est may be
added an eighth, Pollux the lower Of the
two Twins, which stand about midway be-
tween the head Of Taurus and that Of Leo.
These are the only stars OF this order OF
sp endor now above the horizon. 1t will be
observed that they are punched within an
area that might be incosed by a circle
which would take in considerably less than
one-fourth Of the visible hemisphere Of the
heavens-a fact which strikingly Illustrates
the irregular:ty In the distribution Of the
brighter stars over the celestial sphere.
There are but six other stars Of this class
visible In the mean latitude Of the United
States. and these are scattered somewhat
at random over the hemisphere which is
now below the horizon.
Another point worth noting in this apn-
nection is that while among our northern
appear below our horizon-there Is not one
of the first magnitude there are among the
southern c:rcumpolar stars. Whch never
appear above our horizon. no FEWER than
six of this order Of sp' endor. Among these
are Canopns and Alpha Centaur which
stand respectively, second and third Tor
brilliancy in the list Of the twenty first
magnitude stars.
Make-Up of the Heavens.
Prof. Simon Newoomb. in the last Install
ment of his Chapters on the Stars" now
running in Popular Science Monthly. dis
cusses the question OF the structure OF the
heavens. with the stars before US ana
particularly with the Milky Way. now seen
at It's best, II may be interesting to exam
inc the results of Prof Newcomb's discus
sion of all the facts now known when bear
upon this question.
Our first inquiry Is as to the extent OF tne
nniverse of stars Are the latter scattered
through infinite space, so that those we see
are merely that portion Of an Infinite col
lection which happens to be witnan reach
of our telescopes or are an tne stars con,
tained within certain limited space? IN
the latter case. have our telescopes YET
penetrated to the boundary In any d1rec-
ton. or in other words. do we see stars
on the boundary OF the universe?
Neither of these questions can as yet be
answered with certainty. If the collection
Of stars which forms the Milky way ts
really finite, We may not yet be abie to see
its limit If we do see its limit. there may
vet be- for aught we know. other systems
and other galaxies, scattered through In
finite space which must forever elude our
power of vision. II all the stars are OF the
same average brightness as those We see all
which lie beyond a certain distance must
evade observation. for the simple reason
that they are too far off to be visible In our
telescopes.
There is however law Of optics which
throws some light on this question. 1t Is
matter of demonstration thaf II lnnnite
space were thronged with luminous WORDS.
distributed fairly uniformly. so that every
large portion Of space contained the same
number of stars as every other portion OF
an equal extent, the result would be that
the entire uTulttNlcut "OuAo UC A6hlSu Wy
with the brilliancy of the sun, unless. in
desd there exists in the interStellar regions
some absorbing medium. which extin-
guishes for us the light Of all stars that lie
beyond q certain distance from us. Since
the heavens are very far from having this
briIliancy, and since no such absorbent
Is known and its existence is improbable,
the evidence seems to be against the sup
position that the stars we see form part Of
an infinitely extended universe and to favor
the view that this aggregation OF stars Is
finite in extent, though we may not be able
as yet to fix its absolute bounds. Outside
or invisible systems. But If these systems
exist they are distinct from our own.
The Shape of Our Universe.
Accepting. then. as the most reasonable
conclusion. that the universe to which our
sun belongs Is of finite extent we may con-
slider next the question, What Is the ar
rangement Of the stars in space? Sir WILL
lam Herschers weil-known disc theory"
according to which the figure of the uni
verse, to introduce a familiar object, was
that Of large thin grindstone. the stars
degree of uniformity throughout this space
and the sun being at about its center, does
not account satisfactorily for the actual
appearance OF things. On this suppoSition
the stars should be uniformly dense along
the whole line of the Milky Way, yet II Is
q familiar fact that such Is not the case.
Prof. Newcomb prefers, therefore, to re-
gard the galaxy as q ring or belt of
stars. presumably nj a greater distance
from US than the brighter stars. visible
either with the naked eye or through a