Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-10-12
THE HEAVENS IN OCTOBER,
The study Of the Constellntions-rosi.
tious Of the Planets,

a beginner in the study OF the constella-
tions are the groups OF stars which lie
near the pole, for these, in our latitude,
are visible Mt all hour Of tho night and
IN all seasons of the year. How this hap
pens can be very clearly illustrated by a
simple Photographic observation, which
can he made with any camera.
Choose a clear mUonless night, point
the camora toward the pole star. and
EXPOSE for a couple Of hours (using the
largest stop When the plate Is develop
ed the stars will appear. not as points.
but as long trails, owing to their appar.
ent motion of the heavens, which causes
the SUN, moon, and stars to rise end set
IL really a rotation about q fixed point.
which astronomers call the celestial pcle.
Each star describes a circle about this
pole every day. IL the star Is near the
pole, the whole OF this circle Is above
our horizon, and the star never sets.
For stars farther from the pole, a larger
and larger part of the circle lies below
the horizon. stars in the southern sky
describe circles about the south celestial
role, which is as far below our horizon
as the north pole is above it. so that
sorrc southern stars are only visible to
us for a small part of their circuit. and
others still farther south never rise
above our horizon at all.
If We make Il print from our negative.
and mark the beginning or end of each
trail with II conspicuous dot Ito avoid
confusion due to overlapping trails.) we
can easily identify the stars visible on
our photograph. and in particular the
,,ulc star. 1t will be- seen that the latter
is not Exactly at tho celestial pole, but
is some little way off in the direction Of
C~assiopoia. We see also that our photo
graph shows much fainter stars close TO
the pole than some distance away. This
is because the close circumpolar stars
nave shorter trails, so that their light
is less spread out on the plate. and IA
fainter star can thus produce a visible
impression.
~ tn. circumpolar consultations. tho
most familiar is the Great Bear. At tine
present season this IS not very consp'cu-
aus. MS it lies below the pole, with the
Dlrpcr close to the northern horizon. and
the pointers almost under tho pole star.
A line drawn from the middle OF the
dippcr handle through the pole leads us
To- C~assicpeia. whose principal stars from
Il zigzag line in tho Milky Way. res
embling an irregular letter W. a. line
drawn to the left through the pole star
ut right angles tn this last line. points
out the h"Hd Of DracO. formed by a qua
,lrilateral of stars. of which the faintcst
is double. much too clos" for tine naked
eye, but soparahlc WITH Il strong field
glass. The constellation extends in a
long line of stars. first upward tc the
| right. then down to the left. then again
to the right. above the dippcr. Within
its curve it incloscs the smaller con-
stcllation of Ursa Minor, which contains
one other star about equal in ttightncss
to Polaris.
The remaining ciicumpolar constolla-
TORS are inconspiouous. Ccphcus. wkich
hes between Draco and Cassiopeia. be-
ing tho most prominent.
70 the east of Cassioroia and below il
is Perseus. whose principal features are
q curved line of stars in the Milky Way,
and q single bright star south of them,
which is the remarkable variable Algol
Pctween Perseus and Cassiopeia is n
bright spot in the Milky Way. which tho
telescope shows to be a very fine star
cluster.
Pclow Pcrscus on the left Is Auriga
recognized by the very bright stat
Capella and the irregular pentason which
II forms with the neighhoring stars. Or
the right is Taurus with the unmistak.
able group of the Pleiades, and the
bright rcd star Aldebaran. The very
bright object between them is the plane
Jupiter. The great square of Pegasus is
southeast of the zenith, and Andromeda
lies hotween it and Perscus. "ygnus and
.Aquiia lie in the Milky Way to the west.
ward. and Lyra farther northwest, with
Hercules below it,.
Below the groups already narlc1 are
Tie dullest Of the zodiacal consultations
Sagittlrius Is Just setting. C%aprIcornus
follows il, marked only by Il pair OF
Affair. Apuarius comes next. and car
be Identified by IA little group. shaped
like the letter Y. lying on its sl.le. whicf
lies southwest CT the great square al
Pegasus. Pisces has 10 conspicuous
stars. but Aries contains a small hur
rather conspicuous triangle, with very
unequal angles, which lies below An.
dromeda and to the right of Perseus.
The large constellation Cetus fills the
southern sky. but contains nothing tc
delay us at present. The isolated bright
star low down in the south is Fonalhaut
in tho southern Fish. Saturn. which is
a good deal brighter. is higher up and
farther west.
THE PLANETS.