Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-08-14
THE STARS IN AUGUST,
Fall Of Meteors the Leading Feature of
the Month.

I'll VI M6UoOTB Inc LehQ1nR feaCur9 Oh
the Month.
With August here once more, the meteora
may be scen flashing their silent but won
derful message which man was so long
learning to read. For hundreds, perhaps
thouands of years the annual fall of the
August meteors has been seen, but for the
greater portion of that time an Ignorant
populace regarded them as stars wrenched
from the armament and cast upon the
earth. In England they were formerly,
and in some retired districts are still, re-
ferred to as st. Lawrence's tears from the
fact that the principal shower occurs about
Aug. 10, which is the day given to that
saint. The shower does not reveal itself
in "A constant downpour, but In the course
of the night vast number OF mcteors find
their way into our atmosphere. Any clear
night of the year watchers Will observe
mcteors, and during the early days of Au-
gust from FIVE to fifty times as many will
be seen as at any other time of the year.
Some time In the past, hundreds, thou
sands, perhaps millions, of years ago, a
vast body of loosely associated particles of
matter drifting through space on the travel
of none can may tell how many thou
sands of years came within the powerful
attraction of the sun. More than a thou
sand million miles away each tiny scparat o
fragment yielded to the summons and be
San its long descent toward the centre of
the system into which it had wandered.
Whatever the distance which the stones or
fragments of metal fell during the first
second of their descent, they fell three
times as far during the next, live times As
far during the third, and so on with ever
increasing velocity. while minutes, days
and years went by Swifter and swifter
they 1es, ended, through the unrcsis ting
ether of space, with the momentum gath
cred by long years, falling toward a body
"A of
three hundred thousand times as great as
that Of the earth. But they did not fall to
the surface of the great body that was
pulling them down All the time through
more than fifty years of steady descent
they continued the slow. sidewise move
incnt, due to the original impulse which
brought them within the limits Of the
solar system. The movement. though
comparatively slow, was yet sufficient to
carry the falling bodies millions of miles
To one side of the central body toward
which they were desceding. Having
passed around to the other side of the sun
without striking, the terrific impetus
gained in tho fall of thousands of millions
of miles was sufficient to overoo ONE the
restraining attraction of the sun and cause
the fragments to soar away into space in
the direction whence they had come.
In passing around the sun some of the
little bodies came in collision with the
the swiftest cannon ball. they were set on
fire by friction with the atmosphere.
Others that did not fall to the earth were
checking by it's distributing attraction and
continued their fight with a velocity and
momentum little less than would other
wise have been the case. Other planets
in less degree. according to their proNim-
ity and mass. contributed in varying de
gree to the same result, and the metcoIs S.
instead of passing off into space, lost
their momentum and fell back again. after
rising something more than fifty years.
Ever since that time they have been
falling and rising, falling and rising again,
making complete circuit once in some
thing more than u hundred years. So
numerous are the little bodies that they
are scattered along the entire course ira
Ncrsed. and every year the earth passing
through the stream, which 1t does in
August each year, receives multitude of
these fragmentary relics of some mighty
work Of the Creator, in an age and place,
of the universe so remote that the mind
stops appalled, in its contemplation.
The radiant of the August meteors is
in the constellation Perseus. which is now
seen III the northwest soon after sunset
1t is marked by a bending bow of three
bright stars. and in the Milky Way, he
tween the horizon and the W-shaped fig
ure in Casscopea. The constellation An
dromeda lies east and south of Perseus.
and stretches away, long row of bright
stars. ending in the Great Square of
Pegasus.
The variable star Algol. the most won
dcrful object in the whole sky, may b.
found by remembering that it forms a
triangle with Mirfac, the middle star Of
the three in Pcrseus and AlmaaCk, the first
of the bright stars in Andromeda. Algol
is usually of about the brightness of these
other stars, but it is Of the second magni-
tude At regular intervals of something
less than three days however. 1t sinks to
the fourth magnitude, remaining partially
obsCurcd for several hours. These changes
sre occasioned by the passage of a vast
satellite between the star and our line of
vision. oft"ncr than not these changes
occur At times unfavorable for our obser-
walton, in the daytime. or in the wee sml'
hours. Aug. s, about midnight: Aug, &.
about p m; Aug. %. at IL p. m; Aug.
81. at 7 p. m, will be good opportunities
for seeing Algol at its minimum of bright
ness.
Jupiter rises as the sun goes down, and
shines through the night. The great plan
ct Is now in the most favorable position
of the year, and shines with n splcndor
far exceeding any of the fixed stars There
can be no question Of identity when the
brilliant and beautiful planet rises in the
eastern sky Equally easy to identify Is
Saturn, which is the nearest to Jupiter of
any of the conspicuously bright stars.
Both planets are in the part of the sky
whore tho sun stands in winter.
West of Saturn In the Milky Way is Tho
constellation Sagittarius. with the Little
Milk nippcr. Still further west the Scor-
pion stretches its long outline across the
southern sky The deep red star Antares
will command attention from every eye
Vega. the splendid white star in the con-
stellation Of the Tyre. is well up in the
Sky. lust west OF the richest Oortiop If