The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-01

esting objects for study among the win
ter stars. He is probably familiar with
the great nebulas at A and (Figure
II, with the beautiful double cluster at
G, the diffuse cluster at d and the
bright star clouds which lie in the
Milky Way between the consultations
of Perseus and Cassiopeia. A beautiful.
compact cluster of about 500 stars will
also be found at e. another most beau
tiful cluster is at F. about one third of
the way from Sirius to the star at X.
while a short distance beyond the stars
l. and NJ. and almost in line with them,
viii be found one of the most beau
tiful of all clusters accessible to a small
telescope. There is here a wilderness
of stars, not only gathered together in
a central cloud. but also extending out
ward in curved and knotted streamers
in a remarkable way. Though this
cluster can be distinctly seen in an ope-
ra glass, 1t requires a telescope of per-
haps three inches aperture to reveal
its true beauty, for most of the stars
are very faint.
The most recent measures indicate
that the great nebula of Andromeda
Cat A. Figure u is approaching us with
the remarkable velocity of but little
less than 200 miles a second This rap
i'd drift of so vast a cloud through the
depths of space suggests a reasonable
explanation of the new star which sud-
denly appeared near the nucleus of the
nebula in the year 1885 1t seems not
improbable that this sudden appearance
may have been caused by the collision
OF the nebula with a dark sun: the
friction and bombardment to which this
was subjected as 1T plowed through
the great cloud would have raised it to
an intense brilliance so that 1t would
appear to us as new sun.
The Eclipse of the Sun
OF the four eclipses of the year 1914.
the first to occur will be an eclipse of
the sun on the evening of February "a.
the eclipse beginning at hours as min
utes p. NJ, and ending at 9 hours Al
minutes P. NJ. eastern standard time.
This eclipse is very unimportant one.
partly because the moon at this time
is so far from the earth that on ac-
count of its small apparent size it will
not enirely hide the sun, and partly be-
cause the eclipse will only be visible
from the extreme southern part of the
earth. Only those observers will be
able to view this eclipse whose position
on the earth is below the line MNP,
Figure 2. From nearly all parts OF this
area the moon vii be seen to move but
partly on to the sun, from points along
the line ABB. however. the disc of the
moon will be seen to move completely
on to the slightly larger suns disc,
which latter will therefore be seen to
shine ont in the sky as an intensely
brilliant ring of light. From this APP
pearance, eclipses of this kind are called
annualar or ring eclipses.
The Planets in February
Mars and Saturn remain most con-
spicuous objects In the evening heavens
throughout the month. The former
planet is rapidly receding from the
earth, Its distance increases from 66
to So millions of miles during February.
ard in consequence of this it is contin-
ually growing fainter. BY the end of
the month 1t will be but third as
fright as it was at the time of its
closest approach in January, but even
at that time 1t will shine with 2E
times the brightness of a first-magni-
tide star. For many weeks the red
planet mas been much more brilliant
han the nearby Saturn. but by the end
Of February they will appear to be
of almost equal Brightness: by next
June Mars will appear but one-sixth as
fright as the larger world.
Both planets are in excellent posi-
tion for observation. Mars moves very
slowly westward in Gemini until Feb
ruary IL. at which date II begins TO
ncve slowly eastward. it's position
hanging but little during the month.
nturn is to the left of the Hyades
early in line between Aidebaran and
he star which marks the tin of the
1crthern horn Of the Bull
The planet Saturn has no leas tba n
10 satellites. The two largesfSof these.
named Titan and Iapetus. are visible in