El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-01

I DracO, whose coils, marked by no very
| bright stars. wind upward between the
pole and Ursa Major The star in
} DracO with a small lone near II about
midway between the handle of the
/ Great Dipper and the bowl of the Little
DlDper lSee charT) Is Apna DracOniS,
which was the north polar star about
400 years ago 1t is believed to have
l been much brighter then than II Is to-
day The observer armed with good
| opera glass or field glass Will be in
terested in the clusters IN Cancer, Coma
Berenices and PerSeus, while those who
possess telescopes viii find great pleas
Ure in examining some OF the beautiful
double stars now well placed for OBJ
SerVatiOn. Among these is the cele-
1 bTaued binary Castor in GeminL A
three inch telescope with a maSnl1y1ng
power of 100 diameters will give a fine
view of Castor, throwing the two stars
composing IL sufficiently wide apart TO
show the difference in their magni-
tudes. Their actual distance apart is
six seconds of arc The larger star is of
rather less than the second magnitude,
and the smaller of near the third mag
nitude; the two stars are slowly revOlv-
ing around one another in a period of
zoo years Another celebrated binary
star is Gamma Virgins 1.-THE first star
west Of Spica in Virgo as represented
in the chart)- The two componeEts Of
this star are also about six seconds Of
arc apart They are both nearly OF the
third magnitude, and present very
interesting spectacle IN the telescope
Like the two stars in Castor they are
IN mutual revolution. the period being
something less than 200 years.
Double 8Iizar.
Attention was called IN March TO the
beautiful double Mar in the middle of
the handle of the Great Dipper. Leo
also contains very fine double star,
but one requiring rather higher telc-
scOplc power to be well seen. Still a
firstrate three inch telescope, using its
highest power, should show it It is the
star Gamma Leonis, the second one
above Regulus in the Sickle Like
Mar, its cOmpOnents show cOntrasted
cOlOrs. the larger one of the second
magnitude being yellow. and the small
er, Of the fourth magnitude, green; the
distance apart is not much more than
three and half seconds of arc
Observe the great triangle formed by
the stars ReguluS, Spica and Arcturus.
The distance from Regulus to Spica
Is about so degrees and from SPica to
ArcturSs about 80 degrees.
Partial Eclipse Of sun.
There viii be a partial eclipse Of tie
sun on April s, visible in Alaska, British
ern California and the northwestern
portions Of Nevada Idaho and Montana.
The Planets for April.
Mercury viii be a morning star on
April "A, reaching its greatest elOnga-
ton west on that date and Will be visi-
bic low in the southeast
Venus viii be stationary on April
and then begin its retrOgrade motion
with the sun, that is between the earth
and the sun, on April a. It viii be Wis
ible shortly after sunset the first part
of the month. but toward the last of the
month will be lost in the suns rays
but viii soon reappear as a morning
star early in May.
Mars Is a morning star, but too far
south this month to be we'll seen.
Jupiter is also a morning star this
month, rising about six hours before
the sun, but is to low in the southeast
70 h an -nl-
Quadrature on April g.
Saturn is nearing the sun and will
soon be lost to view in the west.
Uranus viii be IN quadrature on April
p. 1t viii be found on the first in Can
ricOrnus about midway between Jupiter
and Mars.
Neptune viii be finely placed for OBJ
servation In the evening sky this month.
Its position is shown on the map
Planetary COnfiguratiOn.
April 2, 6-23 p. m Mars and moon in
conjunction. Mars north 1 deg "A
min.
April 8, l a m. Venus stationary.
April 3, .. m Neptune stationary
April 3. 2:46 a. m. Mercury and moon
IN conjunction. Mercury north l deg
% min.
April 6. Partial eclipse Of sun, invis-
ible at Washington.
April 8, p. m Jupiter and sun at
quadrature.
April S, 2:Os p. m. Venus and moon
in conjunction. Venus north 4 deg
1 min.
April 9. 7 a. m, Mercury in descend
inng node.
April 9. 8 a. m Mercury stationary.