Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-03-30

1t will be remembered how Ariadne,
the Cretan princess, assisted by the
Greek here, Theseus, 10 Stay the
Minoteur giving him a clew of threau
by means of which he found his way
out Of the labyrinth in which the
great beast lived. When Ariadne be,
came the wife of Theseus, this golden
diadem was the crown which he gave
her. 1t is a pity that the ancient
name of Ariandne's Crown which re
calls so pretty a legend should have
been changed in later days.
Like the Pleiades, this constellation
was used to mark the seasons. Thus
Vergil wrote:
But il thou pIow to SOW more soin
grain,
A wheat or barley harvest 10 obtain,
First let the morning Pleiades be set
And Ariadne's shining coronet,
Ere thou commit thy seed TO ground.
Unlike Arcturus, the stars of the
crown were supposed to have a most
favorable influence astrologically.
At the point X, Fig. l, is one of the
most remarkable new stars which has
ever appeared. On the 18th of May,
1866, this object was seen TO blaze out
suddenly as star of the second
magnitude. 1t remained visible to the
naked eye for only eight days, fading
rapidly away to the tenth magnitude
and then slowly growing brighter
again. 1t has remained visible in the
telescope ever since as a yellow, ninth
magnitude star.
This was the first new star ever
studied with the spectroscope. This
instrument showed that at the time OF
its greatest brightness the star was
an enormously hot sun entirely sur
rounded by great masses or incandes-
cent hydrogen which for some cause
had been suddenly forced out from the
interior of the heated globe.
The bright star b. commonly called
point from which the April shooting
stars appear to come. The stars OF
this shower are by no means numer-
Gus, but careful watch during May
or the latter part of April will usually
be rewarded by the appearance of
few of them. They are bright and OF
a dull yellow color, and move slowly
across the sky.
New Comet.
The bright comet discovered by Bo-
reilly has been moving rapidly toward
the east. On March l ii was at e, Fig.
l, on April j, ii VIII be at ID, and on
April 15 at L. When first discovered
the comet was so bright that it was
visible even in fouT-nch telescope,
but on January Il it passed around
the sun and since then II mas been re,
cedinG very rapidly from the earth
and consequently growing fainter. II
is now only visible in the largest
telescopes. The body appears to be
moving around the sun in an elliptic
path, the period being seven and one
half years.
The Planets.
Venus and Jupiter are now too low
in the west to be shown in Fig. l the
small rectangle L. n. is therefore en-.
larged in Fig, and the paths OF the
planets during the month are maIkeI
on it. The Plelades at p, and the
stars I r and are the same in both
figures if the observer viii look in
the west for these stars soon atter
sunset he will have no trouble in find
ing all the stars OF Fiji. :, since only
the brightest are marked.
The observer should not fail to look
for the planet mercury, the little body
which so few people have ever seen.
He will best find 1t BY noticing its POSI-
ton with reference to Jupiter ana
Venus and this ne can readily do from
the map. On April 4 Mercury will set
one and one-half hours after sunset
Through a telescope the planet IS
seen to pass through phases Just as
the moon and Venus dc. When
Mercury is fun it appears smallest
an when a narrow crescent largest
as shown in Fig. 8.
The positions OF Mars and Neptune
are shown in Fig !. Fig. shows
three drawings Of Mars made from
the telescope. In each OF these the
polar ice cap can be clearly seen.
The other planets are TO near the
sun to be observed In the early even
ing during April.
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