Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-07

in the west, will definitely
withdraw from the evening
sky during the present month
and become a morning star. Among the
brilliant consultations and planets which
fill the western heavens 1t will hardly be
missed. however, except to the possessor
of a small telescope who Is accustomed
to watching the appearance and changes
of its wonderful ring system and the
motions of its satellites, especially as the
very brilliant Venus, which replaces 1t.
has now become the most conspicuous
object of the entire heavens.
Toward the third week of the month
the planet Mercury will attain its great
est distance east Of the sun, and will be
in such a favorable position for OBJ
servation that every one who has not
hitherto seen this little world will have
an opportunity of easily viewing it. At
this time it will be no less than one and
one-half hours east of the sun, and SO
far north of the celestial equator that it
enters the borders of our evening map.
The observer should not fail to look for
this most interesting little world at this
time.
Another most interesting planet which
is steadily approaching the evening
heavens is the great Jupiter. but this Will
not enter our evening sky during the
present month. During the early MORN
ing hours. however. it is most consptcu-
Gus. as it shines out with its golden ra-
dance in the south. on the eastern border
of the wonderful summer branch Of the
Milky Way.
Beside the planets, or wandering stars.
whose positions in the heavens are con-
ff oh no
progression of the consultations has
since last month considerably modified
the face Of our evening sky. Arcturus.
that immensely great and distant sun,
now rides high in the heavens in the
south; the brilliant groups OF Tsrsus,
Orion and CAMS Major have disappeared
for the present year. and Gemini has al
ready sunk half way below the ground.
But in the southeast we see the striking
Scorpion. almost entirely risen. while
bordering the eastern horizon from the
south through the east to the northwest
is the beautiful summer branch Of the
Milky Way. bearing upon its golden
stream the bright constellation of the
Swan. To the south is .Aquila with its
bright star Affair at A. Figure 1. yell
| low star which is drifting rather rapidly
! across the face Of the heavens. notwith-
| standing that it is SO far distant from us
| that the light with which we view it
| started on its long journey toward us
| nearly sixteen years ago.
| To the right of Affair is the singu-
| lar little sky figure known as the Dol
| phin or Jobs Coffin; above this and
! lying along the exact center Of the Milky
| Way is the beautiful northern cross. now
| entirely risen above the ground, while
| above the cross and now half way to the
zenith there shines out Vega. the most
brilliant of all the stars of the northern
sky.
*
The temperance of these summer
stars has again brought the wonderful
cluster of suns in Hercules into favorable
position for observation, and the observer
should not fail to examine this with a
small telescope. 1t will be found at the
point B, almost in a straight line be-
tween the stars and D. 1t is indeed
SO brilliant that it may be clearly seen
with the eye alone when the air is
clear and the light of the moon is absent
But even in a small telescope the appear
velous beauty. There are here thousands
of stars which from the unreasonable
depths of space have been gathered to-
gether into one compact mass, and al
though great streams of suns extend out
from the cloud In every direction. II still
has an approximately spherical form. In
small telescope only the stars near the
borders are separately distinguished,
those nearersthe center merging into one
uniform light. But under the highest
powers the swarm is resolva BILE to its
very center. no less than $1,000 separate
stars having thus been counted. Whether
any or all of these distant suns have sys-
| TENS of worlds. more or less like our
own. revolving about Them we at present
have no means Of knowing.
| This most interesting little world will
be in so unusually favorable a position
for observation during the coming month
that the reader should not fail to obtain
view of it. On the evening Of June Is
he will find it shining i'll the twilight
glow. far to the northwest for an hour
and a nalf after sunset, but it also may
readily be detected on several success
siye evenings both before and after this
date The path which this planet purzues
about the sun lies far within the orbit
of Venus. Mercury. in fact. beng but
little more than one-third as far from the
sun as the earth is, and consequently the
planet is almost always hidden in the
suns rays. 1t can only be seen with the
eve Just after sunset or just before sun
rise a short distance from that part of
the horizon below which the sun is shin
ing.
When, however, the observer sees the
nlaret for the first tine he will proha h1y