Evening star., 1902-02-01
SKIES IN FEBRUARY
Eight First Magnitude Stars Now
Above the HORIZON.
CONSTELLATION OF MIGHTY ORION
Facts About the NebuIae anu the
Milky Way.
PLANETS OF THE MONTH
PLANETS OF THE MONTH

Written for The Evening Star.
Eight stars Of the first ma agnitude will be
above the horizon at o'clock tonight-at
| O. clock at the close of the month. Named
| in the order Of their brightness, they are
| Sirius, the Dog-Star, below and at the left
| of Orion, which stands before us as we face
| the south; Capella, the She-Goat, nearly
| overhead; Rigel, in the left foot Of Orion,
| and Betelgeuse. In his right shoulder;
| Procyon, the Little Dog, at the left, or east
| of Betelgeuse, making with it and Sirius a
I nearly equal-sided triangle; Aldebaran, the
Bulls Eye" at the right of Betelgeuse
| and at about the SAINT altitude; Pollux, the
| lower Of the two Twins (GeminD, now to be
| seen in the east at two-thirds of the dis
tance from the horizon to zenith; Regulus,
| the principal star in the old constellation
Leo, which is now fairly above the horizon
| in the east This star may readily be iden-
titled from it's position at the end Of the
handle of the Sickle" which forms the
Lions bushy head and shoulders.
Overhead sits Auriga, the Wagner. The
| constellation may easily be located by
means of the bright star Capella, In the left
| shoulder. On the old-fashioned celestial
| chart, which gave figures of the constella-
| tions, Auriga was represented seated, with
| q goat upon his left shoulder, her three kids
| in his lap, and holding In his right hand the
reins with which he drives invisible steeds.
| The constellation, as thus conceived, is un-
| doubtedly very ancient. 1t is said to have
| been found depicted, substantially as de-
| scribed above, upon Assyrian tablets,
which shows 1t to have been known to the
Chaldean astronomers. The five brighter
| stars Of this group form a quite striking
| pentagonal figure, the two more southerly
stars Of which are in the Wagoner's feet.
| One Of these is the star El Nath, of the
second magnitude. which tips the northern
| horn Of the celestial Bull.
This Bull CTaurus) consists merely of
| head, horns and shoulders. 1t may be To-
Gated by means of the star Aldebaran, at
one corner OF the V-shaped cluster Of the
| Hyades. which forms the Bulls face. The
Pleiades are In his shoulder.
At the right, or west of Taurus is Aries
the Ram, OF which the most conspicuous
portion Is pair of stars one of the second
and one Of the third magnitude, which
serve to locate the Rams head.
Famous NebuIa.
Between west and northwest the great
square Of Pegasus is partly below the hori-
zon. From the northeastern corner of this
square-the upper right-hand corner, as the
figure Is now posed-runs a curved line Of
four second-magnitude stars in the direc-
ton Of Capella. The first three of these
stars belong to Andromeda, the lowermost
that at the corner Of the square-being
Alpha. in her head, and the uppermost
Gamma, in her left foot. The middle star
Is Beta. 1t Is the brightest of three which
form the maiden's belt. Near the northern
extremity Of this belt Is the famous An
dromeda nebula, visible to the naked eye
as blurred star of about the fifth magni-
tude. Through an opera-glaSs its nebulous
character Is perceived unmistakably. ST.
mon Marius, who was the first to turn q
telescope upon it, described it's appearance
as that Of candle shining through horn" I"
The comparison suits the object well, as it
appears in the field Of any but the largest
telescopes. Many excellent photographs Of
| this nebula have been taken within the past
few years. They show 1t unmistakably to
have spiral figure and to abound in struc-
tural detaiis-curvfng wisps and streamers
Of nebulous matter, whatever that may be
which indicate that its whole mass is in
state of vertical movement that like
many another object of its kind, it Is essen
TALLY a mighty celestial maelstrom
The uppermost Of the four stars pointed
out ts Alpha Persei. at about the center
OF the elongated group Of stars which
forms the body OF the constellation Perseus
At the left OF line drawn from this star
to Gamma Andromedae Is Beta Persei or
dinarily Of the second magnitude, better
known as Algol, the Demon one of the
longest known Of the variable stars A de-
month.
At the right Of Perseus, In midheavens in
the northwest may be seen the W-shaped
figure Of Cassiopeia, The Lady In her
northeast the Great Dipper in the Ursa
Major, stands upon its handle its two
Pointers" at about the same altitude as
the Poie-Star, whose position they Indicate
Note that this star, Of the second mazni-
tude, stands about midway between the
center Of Cassiopeia and the middle star In
the Dippers handle.
Tho "Mighty Orion.n
The might Of Orion" as this imposing
constellation was referred to by Homer
centuries ago, Ii too well known an OBJ
feet to require description. It may be re-
marked. however. that, as has been the
case with most of the old consultations.
chart makers have drawn the hneaments
Of this mythical huntsman with a free
hand, and have given as q figure quite un-
like anything which we can see among the
stars- His sword, his Hon-skin shield. his
uplifted club are appendages which we
should hardly imagine to exist without the
aid Of the figure to be found upon the
chart. Yet these accessories are all re-
ferred to at an early period. and they be-
long to the constellation, as II was known
to ancient astronomers, though 1t NAV be
questioned whether they were seen by the
still more ancient constellation makers
Looking at the stars themselves and losing
sight of the picture, We can easily make
out among them a crude likeness to a
gigantic human shape-srch a giant as a
an Indian upon piece Of birch-bark-and
We may feel fairly certain that this figure Is
the original and true Orion.
The Arabic name of this constellation
was Al Jauza, the Giant The name Is
perpetuated In that Of one. OF its brightest
two stars, Bet-el-geuse-Bet-al-ja jauza, Arm
DIT of the1 Giant -Rtzel the name Of the
ST 80 t<a Icx~o ~fr~a-x 49, -