Evening star., 1902-08-30
SKIES IN SEPTEMBER
Stars and Consultations Now
Above tho Horizon.
A ROMANTIC LEGEND
THE MILKY WAY AN INTEREST
ING OBJECT OF STUDY.
Most Striking Feature in the Heavens
Its Nature Still an
Enigma.
Written for The Evening Star.

|
| head is Vega, in the constellation of Lyrae.
Farther east and more nearly in the zenith
| stands Alpha Cygni, in the tail Of the
| Swan (Cygnus), and in the head OF the
| Northern Cross, by which name this old
constellation is better known to modern
| star gazers. Very nearly in the south. at
| three-fifths of the distance from horizon to
zenith, may be seen Affair in the Eagle
These stars are all classed as first magni-
! tude, although very noticeably different In
| brilliancy, Vega being nearly up to the
| zero" magnitude. while Alpha, or Deneb,
| Cygnt Is but little above the second.
Note the triangle formed by these three
| stars. the two longer sides Of which are Of
| about equal length. and that the star
Beta Cygni stands at about the center Of
! this triangle
| In the southwest the ruddy star Antares.
the heart Of the Scorpion. is about to
| set. and at about the same altitude between
| west and northwest stands the brilliant
Arcturus. The list Of first magnitudes now
above the horizon at the hour named is
completed by the lone star Fomalhaut, in
| the Southern Fish, low in the southeast
| The very brilliant star which stands
about midway between Fomalhaut and Al
| tair Is the planet Jupiter Farther west
and directly south of Affair is Saturn, ap-
peartng as a bright first magnitude star.
| Facing the northeast we have directly in
| front Of us, at about half the distance from
| horizon to zenith, the W-shaped figure Of
Cassiopeia, sometimes called the Lady in
| the Chair, or simply the Chair. Beneath
Cassiopeia stands Perseus. At the right Of
CaSSiopeia the Observers right and at
| about the same altitude reclines Andro-
| media. At the right of Andromeda and in
| midheavens In the east is the great Square
OF Pegasus, one star of which-that at the
| northeastern angle-is in the head of An
| dromeda, only the remaining three proper
| ly belonging to the Winged Horse Above
and at a little to the left Of CaSsopeia
stands Cepheus. These five consultations
| or rather the personages which they are
| supposed to represent, are associated with
one another in NEUROLOGICAL story, and the
asterisms themselves are doubtless of
very high antiquity.
A Legend Of the Stars.
| The story was that Cassopeia was the
| wife Of Cepheus, king Of Ethiopia, and
| was the mother of Andromeda. She was SO
vain Of her personal charms to boast
| that she was more beautiful than Juno,
| while her daughter. she declared, was
| more lovely even than the Nereids or sea
nymphs. Such vanity in a mortal could
not be tolerated by the gods, of course, and
| accordingly Neptune, instigated by the Of
| Tended Nereids. sent an inundation "a tidal
wave), which desolated the coast of Ethi-
opia, and a monster, which ravaged
the land besides. In this dire state of af
fairs the oracle of Jupiter Ammon was
consulted and the response of the oracle
was that the deities could be appeased only
by exposing Andromeda, chained to a rock,
to be devoured by the sea monster This
was done. But fortunately the young
Greek hero, Perseus, returning homeward
from his famous expedition against the
Gorgors. and bearing in his wallet the head
of Medusa, arrived in Ethiopia In the nick
of time to interrupt the horrid sacrifice.
He Obtained from Cepheus a promise of the
hand Of the maiden In marriage In case OF
a rescue and thereupon he vanQuished the
NOR ster easily, changing him Into a rock
by showing him the Medusa head. After
their death these personages, together with
the Winged Horse Pegasus. which sprang
from the neck of Medusa when her head
was stricken off by the sword of Perseus,
were set in the heavens as constella tions.
Lieut.. Wilford learned In India that all
of these consultations were known there
uno,.r names which differ only slightly from
the Greek names which they still bear, and
that there was connected with them
ssya,-tragic story, substantially the same
e. that given above, though differing In
it's details. Andromeda was known to the
Hl lndoos Antarmada; her mother was
Ca asyapi The maiden was exposed on the
seashore to be devoured by a monster be-
cause Of offense she had given to Maha-
deyi, the goddess Of love. through her re-
solve to lead the life of a religious devotee. |
She was rescued by a young hero named |
Parasica, whom she married, of course, so
that the offended goddess of love gained her |
roigi: In the end.
The Milky Way.
The most striking feature in the general |
aspect Of the sky tonight is the Milky Way, |
which, at pm. passes directly overhead |
In a direction from southwest to northeast, |
embracing or fringing in its course the con- |
stellations Scorpio, Sagittarius Ophiuchus. |
the Eagle, the Swan, Cepheus, Cassiopeia |
and Perseus. The nature Of this remark /
able luminous girdle of the heavens Is still 4
an enigma for astronomers. 1t Is, however.
now universally admitted that HerschePs /
explanation Of 1t on his well-known disc 4
or 'grindstone" hypothesis Of the distribu-
tIon Of the stars is untenable, and, indeed.
Herschel himself abandoned in his later
writings his early views on this subject, so
that really there has been no excuse for
giving these Views the prominence they
have had in popular works on astronomy
except the very questionable excuse that
any explanation of mystery is better than
no explanation.
As every one knows. the general appear
ance OF the galaxy to the naked eye Is that
OF an irregular belt OF luminous Clouds
some fairly bright. others less bright while
at intervals are dark spaces-"coal sacks"-
which seem to be almost, II not quite, free
from luminosity. Photographs OF the Milky
Way bring out even more distinctly and
uf~ Nj ve1xy A,~< 49,