The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

H, while at f there is the reddest bright
star of the northern heavens.
If the arc of circle is ina gined
drawn through the North Star and the
westernmost star of Cassiopeia, at b,
this will very nearly meet the upper
left hand corner of the Great Square at
lC. If this arc Is produced still farther
it will cross the Celestial equator very
nearly at the point v, at which the
center of the sun in the course of it's
annual journey crosses the equartor in
sping time. This is the fundamental arc
in astronomy, corresponding to the me-
ridian of Greenwich on the earth, and
from it the positions of all the heav-
enly bodies are reckoned It's position
also always indicates the astronomical
time. Thus, when the ever turning
sphere brings this arc into coincidence
with our meridian. our astronomical
clock should register hours minutes
0 seconds; six hours later. when the arc
and our meridian are at right angles to
one another. the clock should indicate
hours 0 minutes seconds, and so on.
The beginning of the astronomical day
thus occurs at all different hours Of
the civil day and night in the course Of
the year. The star lies within three
minutes of the fundamental arc and thus
by noticing the position of this star,
(Which never sets In this latitude) the
observer can estimate quite approXi-
mately the astronomical time. The star
B. is in fact, the hour hand of the Ce-
lestial clock. moving forever In a circle
about the pole, but this Celestial clock
hand moves on the dial of the sky in
contrary direction to that of our ter
restria1 clocks. The star d also lies
| near the fundamental arc; the three
stars, B, c and D have therefore. some
times been. known as the Three Guides
The possessor of small telescope will
find that each of the stars marked X
is an interesting double star; at l. is
the beautiful Double Cluster In Rerseus
and at N is the Great Nebula of An
dromeda. Throughout this part of the
Milky Way, from Perseus to Cygnus,
many most brilliant fields and star
clouds will be found. The early eve
nings of the month also afford excel
| lent opportunities to observe the varia-
Bile star Algol. at r. This star will
be partially eclipsed by it's darker COM
panion and hence reach its greatest
| faintness on November 2 at 0 hours 10
minutes a. m. on November at hours
s minutes p. M, and on November at
! 5 hours 81 minutes p. IN. On the gath
and 27th of the month eclipses will
again accur in the evening.
The Planets in November
| Mercury reaches it's great distance
east of the sun on the evening of No
vember l. 1t may then possibly be
| found very near the ground in the
southwest just after sunset, but it is
now. SO very far south in the sky that it
can only be observed with difficulty
| This is,a very unfavorable elongation of
the planet Mercury will pass to the
west of the sun and become a morning
star on November 23.
| On November Venus rises. very near
the east point of the horizon, about
| one and one-half hours before sunrise:
| by the end of the month it will rise
far to the south of east and only about
one hour before sunrise. This planet
will soon be lost in the suns rays.
] Mars is Just entering the evening sky,
and will be seen to rise in the north
| east just is minutes after the star A,
Figure /. This most interesting world
| is rapidly coming into a more favorable
position for observation. It's distance
from our earth diminishing from S3.-
000, 900 to but 66,O0O.000 of miles during
J the present month. 1t will be seen
moving very slowly eastward among
the stars of Gemini until November 2S.