Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-28
THE SKIES IN MARCH
Locating the Celestial Equator
and the Ecliptic.
SIX CONSULTATIONS
WELL REPAY THE STUDY OF
AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS
Origin Of Their Names is Often
Shrouded in Mystery-Planets
Of the Month.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star,
Orion. with Its splendid train Of first mag
nitude stars-Sirius Procyon, Betelgense,
Rigel and Aldebaran-now occupies at 8
pm. the southwestern quadrant Of the
heavens. In striking contrast with this
brilliantly decorated region the southeast
ern quadrant, in which the principal constel-
lation is the enormously long Hydra, or Wa
ter Snake, contains but one star which
reaches the second magnitude, If we except
Spica, now barely above the horizon, little
south Of east. This lone second magnitude
star is Cor Hydrae. the Hydra's Heart. 1t
stands about midway between the horizon
and the zenith. little east of the meridian.
The Hydra's Head, marked by q snort
curved line Of three or four stars, of which
the central and brightest Is Of the third
magnitude. is above and at the right Of
the heart" and very nearly south.
Trace with a finger a line on the sky. be-
ginning with the exact western point in the
horizon, passing through the center Of
Orion five degrees south Of Procyon and on
to the exact eastern point in the horizon.
You have located the celestial equator. All
stars north Of this line are in the northern
hemisphere; all stars south Of it in the
southern hemisphere. At the point where
1t crosses the meridian its distance from
your zenith measured in degrees u the
same as the latitude Of your station.
The Ecliptic.
Barely above the horizon, between west
and northwest, may be seen the pair Of
stars which mark the head OF Aries. Be-
ginning at a point In the horizon about
midway between these stars and the exact
west, sweep second line on the sky, pass
ing between the Pleiades and Adlebaran
about five degrees south Of Pollux-the
more southerly Of the Twins, now nearly
overhead-ciose to the star Regulus, in the
handle Of the Sickle, and on to the eastern
horizon. striking 1t at point just north OF
Spica, and you will have located the half
OF the suns apparent path through the
heavens. which Is now above the horizon.
This Is the line known In astronomy as the
ecliptic.
The elliptic and the equator are both
great circles Of the heavens, which cross
points, one Of which is at about three-fifths
Of the distance from Regulus to Spica.
The Zodiac.
The ecliptic runs along the center of the
belt Of twelve consultations known as the
zodiac-that is. the animal girdle). The six
zodiacal consultations now above the hori-
ION at o'clock, named in order from west
to east this being the direction in which
the sun passes through them) are Aries, the
Ram; Taurus. the Bull; Gemini, the Twins;
Cancer, the Crab; Leo, the Lion, and Virgo.
the Maiden.
= Aries is marked by pair of stars of the
third magnitude, rather closer than the
two pointers In the Great Dipper which
range in a direction northeast and south
west. These two stars are in the Rams
Horns, as the figure is depicted upon the
old celestial charts. The upper and brighter
of the two is Alpha Arietis and is common
ly called, for short, simply Aretis. The
lower is Sheretan. Near this lower star Is
a star of the fourth magnitude, which is
placed by the chartmaker in the Rams left
ear. These three stars constitute prac-
tically the whole of the constellation Aries
fifth magnitude. How they came to sug-
gest the notion of a ram is one of the thou
sand and one mysteries which still envelop
the old consultations In spite Of all that
has been written in explanation Of them.
Aries is the first of the zodiacal constella-
lions, and in a manner leads the flock, and
it has been suggested that the constellation
owes it's name to this circumstance. The
explanation is rather far fetched, and Is
given here for only what 1t is worth.
Constellation Of Taurus.
Taurus, the Bull, is constellation nearly
as fragmentary as the Ram. 1t consists Of
little more than head and shoulders and a
pair of very long horns. The head is
marked by the star Aldebaran, of the first
mdgnHuQe, ana the v shape CLUSTER Oh the
Hyades. The still more beautiful cluster
of the Pleiades is in the bulls shoulder.
The tips of the horns are marked by two
stars of the third magnitude, which form a
rather noticeable pair about twice as wide
as that In Aries. and which lie nearly mid
way between Capella. in Auriga, and Betel-
geuse, in the right shoulder of Orion. The
most bull-like feature of this constellation
is the face, formed by the Hyades, the
bright star Aldebaran making an excellent
eye. Indeed. this star Is sometimes called
the Bulls Eye. 1t SENS not unlikely that
this very suggestive face was the germ Of
the constellation.
Gemini.
Proceeding eastward from Taurus we
come next to the constellation Gemin., the
Twins the two brighter stars of which,
Castor and Pollux. may now be found at Q
O'Clock, almost directly overhead. Upon
the chart the Twins are represented as two
youths, the two bright stars being in their
heads, while their feet are about midway
between their heads and the constellation
Orion, now In mfdheavens In the south
west. No one who has ever searched this
part OF the heavens for these twin youths
Will need to be told that they are not here.
the original Twins were
simply these bright stars and nothing more.
They were double. or twin stars. not twin
youths The. chart-maker alone Is response
BILE for these figures. Furthermore. the
names Castor and Poliux do not belong to
tinct Fair of twins, the heroes of legend
who. II comparative mythology can be
trusted. had originally no connection With