Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-01
THE NOVEMBER SKIES
An Ordinary Opera Glass
Will Be a Great Aid.
EXHIBIT OF LEONIDS
TWENTY YEARS SINCE BIG COM
ETs WERE SEEN.
Appearance Of These Celestial Visit
ants May Now Be Ex-
pected.
EXHIBIT OF LEONIDS

about pm. at a considerable altitude in
the northeast is Capella, in the left shoulder
Of Auriga, the Wagner. Somewhat lower,
in the northwest, Is the equally brilliant
Vega, or Alpha Lyrae. Observe that these
two rivals in splendor stand on nearly OPP
posite sides of the Pole Star and about
equally distant from it. Low in the west
Is Affair, in the Eagle. and at about the
same altitude, little west of SOUTH stands
the lone star Fomalhaut, the eye Of the
Southern Fish. In the east Orion Is rising,
both Of his Observation-Disclosures, in the
right shoulder. and Rigel, in the left foot
being above the horizon, but too low to be
seen at the hour named. Directly above
Betelgeuse stands the reddish star Aide
baran, the Bulls Eye" always easy to
identify from its position at one corner Of
the v-shaped cluster Of the Hyades, which
form the Bulls face.
The very brilliant star seen low in the
southwest is the planet Jupiter. Still far
Their west and Just about to set is Saturn,
appearing as an orange-yellow star of the
first magnitude
Consultations.
The principal consultations now above
the horizon besides those already pointed
out, are Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Pegasus
and Cygnus, the Swan. better known as
the Northern Cross. nearly overhead: Cetus,
the Whale, or Sea Monster, which fills near
ly the whole lower half of the southeastern
quadrant Of the heavens, and Is notable
chiefly for its great size; Aries, the Ram,
at high altitude between east and south
east, and easily identified by means of the
pair of starS-one of the second and one of
the third magnitude-which stand in his
head; Perseus, who stands at the feet Of
Andromeda. brandishing in his right hand
yf,ib ror6 or,1 1aff
the terrible Medusa Head Directly above
the star Aldebaran may be seen the spar
king little cluster of the Pleiades, and at
about the same distance above Affair, in the
west, stands the hardly less beautiful Dol
phin. known also to modern star gazers as
Jobs Coffin.
Opera Glass Objects.
Turn the glass first upon the Pleiades. The
naked eye. unless exceptionally keen, sees
but six stars in this little cluster. of which
the brightest. Alcyone. is of the third mag
nitude. The glass will easily bring into
view twenty or thirty other stars, besides
increasing the brilliancy of those before
seen. One who beholds the beautiful spec
tacle for the first time will hardly suppress
an exclamation Of admiration and will Won
der that he never thought to try the ex-
pertinent before. Now lower the glass and
look at the Hyades. The rudy splendor
-Suculae, the Stockings, was one of the Ro-
man names of this cluster-may be counted
by the dozen. This cluster is, perhaps a
finer opera-glass object than even the PIei-
AIDES.
Examine next the Fly, just above the
Pleiades, and the central portion of Perseus,
and survey Cassiopeia, in search of those OF
her gems which escape detection with the
naked eye, especially about the star Gam
ma, the middle star of the five which form
the wv" Now sweep slowly the region be-
tween Cassiopeia and the Northern Cross.
You are surveying one of the richest por-
lions of the Milky Way, and even your
glass, which only partially resolves the
milkiness Of this region, will give you some
idea of the vast number Of tiny stars
brought out here by large telescope or
better still, on Photographic plate. Espe-
cially rich is the region near and to the
north of the star Alpha Cygni in the head
of the Cross.
About midway between the center of Cas-
siopeia and the middle bright star In Per-
seus may be seen little heck Of nebulous
light, which even an opera glass will show
to be star cluster. It Is the famous double
cluster in the handle of the sword of Per-
seus. Unfortunately for us telescope of
considerable power Is required to exhibit it
in it's full glory. When thus seen, it is
undeniably the finest object of Its kind in
the heavens.
The nebuia in Andromeda also can be
seen well only through a large telescope:
but even through an opera glass 1t can be
seen to be something quite different from
an ordinary star, and. in fact, 1t was dis
covered before the invention of the tele-
scope. 1t lies near the northernmost of the
three stars which form the belt of Andro-
media. At 0 o'clock tonight 1t will be very
nearly in the zenith.
The Leonids.
About the middle of the month we may
look for the annual exhibit of the meteors
known as Leonids. from the circumstance
that they all shoot from the direction of a
point in the constellation Leo-a point near
the center Of the Sickle. which forms the
Lions head and shoulders. Unfortunately
there will be a full moon at the critical
time, SO that only the brighter of the me-
teors will be visible. Another circumstance
unfayorable for the most Of u.s. who are
not astronomers. accustomed to ail-night
yigils. is that these particular meteors
never appear In any great number until
after midnight, and usually are the most
abundant in the morning hours.
The failure of these meteors to appear n
force last year or the year before. as as
tronomers had confidently predicted that
they would do, is by no means sufficient
grounds for giving up all expectation thar
there will ever again be witnessed any or
those astonishing showers of which SO
many are on record. The failure means
simply that as. ronomers know less 75ont
these meteors than they have supposed
they did. We have records extending back
over one thousand years of the occasional,