Evening star., 1902-01-04
HEAVENS IN JANUARY
Brilliant Stars and Consultations and
How to Find Them,
INTERESTING MULTIPLE STARS
They Appear Single, but Have
Component Parts.
PLANETS OF THE MONTH

The brilliant yellow star which may now
be seen at 9 pm. nearly overhead Is Ca
pella, in the constellation Auriga. In the
southeast, at about one-fourth of the dis
tance from the horizon to the zenith, is the
still more brilliant Dog Star, Sirius. A cir
Gle described through these two stars, the
line joining them being diameter, will in
close a region unequaled for splendor by
any other of the same extent in the whole
heavens.
COnstellatiOns.
Within this limited area are the coustel-
lattons Orion, Taurus, Auriga and Gemini,
the two latter situated in the Milky Way,
and all Of them resplendent with bright
stars. Orion contains two of the first mag
nitude-Betelgeuse pronounced Bet-el-jeu-
Ze), in the right shoulder, and Rigel Cree
JED, in the left foot, and four Of the second
magnitude. These are the Three Kings"
which form the huntsman's belt, and Bella
trix in his left shoulder. Saiph, at the op-
posite corner of the constellation, in the
right knee, is Of the third magnitude.
A straight line run from Sirius to the
Three Kings and prolonged to an equal dis
tance beyond them, will strike Aldebaran,
average star of the first magnitude, in
the head Of Taurus, the Bull. Prolonged
still farther 1t will strike the Pleiades In
the Bulls shoulder. This celestial bull, by
ders, and a pair Of very long horns, the
tips OF which. marked by two stars, one
of the second and one Of the third magni-
tude, are situated about midway between
Capella and Betelgeuse.
At the left Of Sirius, forming with it and
Betelgeuse large equal-sided triangle. is
Procyon, the Smaller Dog, CAMS Minor
Sirius being CAMS Major
Midway between Capella and the eastern
horizon may be seen pair of stars Of
about the same brilliancy and at about the
same distance apart as the two Pointers
in the bowl of the Great Dipper. These are
the Twins (GeminD, Castor and Poilux, the
former Of which-the more northerly of the
two-is bright second magnitude star,
while the latter. being somewhat brighter
is admitted into the list Of the first-mag
nitudes.
How to Use the Chart.
The chart given here represents on a fiat
surface the entire hemisphere Of the hea-
vens which Is visible at the hour named
above. or two hours earlier at the close of
the month, its circumference being the hori-
zon: its center. the zenith. or the point ex
actly overhead. To compare this chart with
the heavens one should hold 1T overhead,
or nearly SO, with the marginal letter, or
letters. which indicate the point of the
horizon which he faces on the lower side.
The points of the compass will then come
right. and all the stars shown on the chart
will fall into their proper places. As II lies
.
lower side. 1t is in position for comparison
with the southern quadrant of the heavens.
To compare 1t with the northern skies We
must invert the Chart bringing the letter
to the bottom. We shall then see the
Great Dipper standing on its handle, be-
tween north and northeast, while the w
shaped figure Of Cassiopeia will be seen on
the left-in the northwestern two-thirds of
the distance from horizon to zenith, and
here Is where in the actual heavens these
consultations may be found tonight.
The Splendid Dog STAR
Sirius though reckoned a first-magnitude
star. heading the list Of the twenty stars
which form this class. is really about nine
times as bright as an average star Of the
first magnitude, and is five times as bright
as Capella, which is usually accounted the
brightest star in the northern hemisphere.
Sirius Is one Of the few stars-about one
hundred-of which the distances from us
have been determined with a greater or
less margin of uncertainty. 1t stands third
in the order of distance, not first, as was
naturally supposed formerly to be the case,
the nearest of the stars. so far as Is now
known, being Alpha Centauri. brilliant
first-magnitude star situated so far south
as never to be visible In the mean latitude
of the United States, and the next being
sixty-one Cygni, q star Of only the fifth
magnitude in the constellation OF the Swan
(Cygnus). or Northern Cross. According
to the determination of Drs. GIL and
Elkin, the distance OF Sirius is about co.,
600 times that of the sun-about nine Tight
years." as star distances are now reckoned
That is to say, light, which reaches us
from the sun in a little over eight minutes,
and from the moon In about one and one
third seconds, requires nine years to fash
across the interval between us and the
splendid Dog Star. Removed to its dis
tance, the sun would become a star of the
third magnitude-about as bright as the
star Saiph, I'm Orion.
Binary Stars.
A very large number of the stars are
shown by the telescope to be double or
multiple. They are made up of two or
more stars SO close together that to the
naked eye they appear. If visible at all, as
a single star. In some 600 or 700 OF these
cases it has been found from observation
nent stars are undoubtedly connected with
each other physically; their changing reia-
tive position show that they are circling
about each other; or, to speak more strict
ly, about their common center of gravity,
like the two balls Of dumbbell tossed
into the air. Such stars are called binary
stars. A notable example of the stars of
this class is Castor. Even small telescope
separates this star into two of nearly equal
brilliancy, which have been found to be
cIreling about each other In a period, prob
ably, of about 200 years. Within the last
few years The spectroscope has been the
means of discovering quite a large number
of binary systems of which the components
are so close as to be inseparable with the
largest telescope. The first discovered Of
these very interesting stars is Mixar. the
middle star in the handle of the Dipper: the
second Is Beta lkurigae. the second magni-
tutle star which stands in the right shoul-