Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-02
HEAVENS IN MARCH
Stars and Consultations Now Above
the Horizon.
MOVEMENT OF CELESTIAL POLES
Seeking to Determine the Apex OF
the Suns Way.
PLANETS OF THE MONTH
PLANETS OF THE MONTH

| Written for The Evening Star.
| Orion, followed by his two dogs" Sirius
and Precyon. will be found at about 8
| o'clock this evening In midheavens in the
southwest. At the right Of Orion, and at
| about the same altitude, Is Taurus the
| celestial bull. Taurus may be located by
| means Of the reddish star Aldebaran,
| standard star of the first magnitude, at one
| corner Of the Vshaped cluster Of the Hy-
| AIDES, which forms the bulls face, and by
| the well-known Pleiades in his shoulder.
| The bull consists solely of head, shoulder
| and a pair Of very long horns which point
| to the east, his body being. according to
| ancient legend submerged beneath the
waves, and therefore invisible, for this is
| said to be the Identical bull-Jupiter in dis
| guise-which carried Europa from Phoe-
| nicia to the Isle Of Crete.
| Above the bull sits Auriga, the wagner.
This constellation is easily recognized from
| the nearly regular pentagon formed by It's
| five brighter stars. One Of these stars, Ca
pella, In the left shoulder. is usually &C.
counted the brightest star In the northern
| hemisphere.
The conspicuous pair Of stars seen nearly
overhead are the Twins GeminD. Castor
and Pollux. the latter Of which. the more
|
| usually classed among the hrst-magnltude
stars.
Below Auriga, and In midheavens In the
northwest, stands Perseus, containing two
stars Of the second magnitude, the lower
| of which, as the constellation is now posed.
| Is the famous variable star Algol, the de-
mon At the right Of Perseus and at low
altitude between north and northwest is
the W-shaped figure of Cassiopeia, the lady
| in her chair. High in the northeast STANDS
| the Great Dipper. in the Ursa Major, Its
two pointers" uppermost and olTectso
faithfully as ever to the Pole star In the
east. at a goodly altitude, stands Leo the
| lion. easily located by means OF the SIC
kle,'' which forms his head and shoulders,
| and the handle Of which Is tipped py tne
| bright star Regulus the lions 'heart.
| The brilliant. ruddy star seen short dis
lance to the east Of Regulus Is the planet
Mars. ho-
| tween Capella and the horizon at ieIt OF
Cassionefa. several stars Of the second mag
nitude. The uppermost three form tri
angle. of which two sides are eacn ABOUT
four degrees in length. The star a. tne
| rieht- hand corner Of this group Is Alpha
Persei: that at the lower left-hand corner
| &c AIeol: the middle star Of the three Is the
| Nova or new star. discovered feoruary
| wb,cb on the evening Of Sunday. February
| "a was found at the Lick observatory TO
he nearly as brilliant as Capella Inc slar
has diminished rapidly. On the E.tn ns ~ was
| of about the "a ~>Nf-
The North Celestial Pole.
The north celestial pole-one OF the TWO
nivots on which the great sphere OF the
heavens seems to turn in consequence OF the
earth's diurnal rotation on Its axls-as
| marked very nearly, as is well KNOWN py
the Pole Star. or North Star-Polaris, as IL
| is called nv astronomers. The star Is some
what below the standard second masnituue
but is brighter than any star near -, anu 40
Sl.
stands nearly in line with the outer Two
stars in the bowl Of the Dipper; second, II
| is about midway between the handle OF the
Dipper and Cassiopeia; and, third' II MARKS
the end of the handle of the Little Dipper-
the tin of the tail Of the Little Bear Inc
star is situated about one and quarter ue-
grees from the true pole, and, therefore
iixe ali the other circumpolar stars, it daily
performs apparently a revolution round the
pole, It's little orbit having a diameter OF
about two and half degrees-apout nye
times the diameter of the full moon. The
true pole lies between Polar1s ana Mizar,
the middle star in the handle OF the Dipper
When therefore, Mizar crosses the merid-
ian, which 1t does twice In every twenty
four hours. once above and once below the
Pole Star the latter then. and then only,
indicates the exact north.
Movement of the Celestial Poles.
The two celestial poles are not fxed
points however. Like everything else IN
the heavens they are in motion. First, each
of these poles describes very SLOWLY d CiHC4e
in the heavens, having radius OF 23h de-
erees, in a direction contrary to that of the
hands OF q clock. This movement is caused
by a certain wabbling motion OF the earth
as it spins on its axfs-a topliks movement.
but so slowly performed that the time re-
uuired by the poles to make one complete
revolution Is about 26.U00 years. The NOV
ing poles drag with them. Of course, the
celestial equator. every point IN which Is
and must always be 30 degrees distant from
each pole The celestial equator Is, there
fore, continually shifting its place among
the stars, one consequence OF the movement
being that the two points at which the equa-
tor across the ecliptic. or suns path-in the
eauinoxes-are slowly sliding along that
great circle Of the heavens. in a direction
from east to west This Is the movement
known a. the procession Of the eouinoxes."
The poles have still another slight move
to q minor wabbling OF the earth occasioned
| by the circumstance that our terrestrial
globe Is loaded by the moon. This move
ment has a period Of nineteen years.
To determine and record these movements
of the celestial pole with the utmost posi-
BILE ACCURACY. a series Of Photographic OBJ
servations has just been begun at the Rus
A specially constructed telescope has been
mounted r1g!dly. pointing to the north pole.
and with this instrument photographs OF
the close polar stars will be taken, with
| long exposure. The result will be that. the
instrument being stationary the stars Will
leave trails upon the plates In the form OF
arcs Of circles. the center Of each partial
time Of the taking OF the Photographic. The
plates thus secured are to be sent to the
Columbia College observatory. New York.
for measurement, that observatory having