El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-02
D. GARRETT 2. sERvIss.

BY GARRETT p SEHNlSS-
1.-THE stellar heavens are remarkable
for their brilliance in January.
- High in the south, on the merid-
ian, glitters the Pleiades. a group Of
stars that has for ages fascinated the
imagination Of men, and about which
all the ancient nations invented cur
ious legends. Recent explorers nave
discovered that even the aboriginal
Australians regarded the Pleiades with
superstitious reverence. According to
the belief of the Arunta, one of the
Australian tribes, the Pleiades are, to
gether with the sun and moon, the
heavenly ancestors of their race The
chart shows the remarkable assem-
blage of brilliant consultations that
surround the Pleiades, and seem to
follow them up the eastern sky with
the diurnal revolution of the heavens
They are situated in the constellation
Taurus, which also contains the beau
tiful group Of the Hyades, made more
lustrOus by its great rose red Drill
liant Aldebaran. Then below and to-
ward the east comes the great Orion,
with his belt, and his two magnificent
Jewels Of the first magnitude, Rigel
and Betelgeuse. The belt of Orion
seems to point to Sirius, the brightest
Of the stars. East Of Sirius and higher
or farther north, is Procyon, star
with a dusky companion visible to very
few telescopes. North of PrOcyOn shine
the twins in Gemini, while high over
head, directly above Orion and Taurus
is the bright, white Capella in Auriga-
Perseus. AndrOmeda and CassiOpeia are
seen high in the north, west of the
meridian, while the Great Bear, Ursa
Major. containing the familiar figure
OF the Great Dipper" is far below the
pole in the north east. The Milky Way
crossing the sky from near Sirius in
the southeast becomes very brilliant
overhead. in Perseus and Casstopeia,
and then drops to the horizon in the
northwest the figure Of the Northern
Cross in Cygnus, which is enveioped
i'm a bright part of the Milky Way be-
ing seen sinking from right where the
latter disappears. The great Square OF
Pegasus is descending toward the ives
tern horizon, followed by Andromeda,
while the immense space occupied by
the relating barren constellation Cetus,
' covers the southwestern quarter, and
the winding Of small stars, constitute
ing the so called River Eridanus, is
seen spreading over the southern sky
below Taurus and west Of Orion.
There are several meteoric showers
in January, the most remarkable oc-
curing on the nights of the End and
3rd, the radiant point being in the
constellation DracO, below the Little
Dipper" which hangs downward from
the pole. These meteOrs move swiftly
and in long paths.
AiEoI, the Variable.
The remarkable variable star, Algol,
is well situated for observation now.
Nothing is more interesting than to
watch the great changes that this
wonderful star undergoes in a regular
period Of two days, twenty hours and
almost exactly fOr-y- nine minutes
Within a space Of few hours 1t sinks
from near to second magnitude almost
to fourth. No one who has not watched
il can appreciate what vast differ
ence this makes in its light Having
reached its minimum, or lowest point
It Immediately begins to brighten
again, and in the course OF three or
four hours completely RECEIVERS its or
binary brightness. These changes are
believed to be due to the existence Of
an invisible companion revolving close
around Algol, and partially eclipsing II
at regular intervals.
occultations of AlgOl for December,
1914 and for the season of 1915, pre-
pared by William A Mason, OF
Cambridge, Mass, will be Of interest
to our readers:
Dec. 2, 1914, GAO P NJ.
Dec 10, 1914, 1850 P. NJ
Dec. %, 1914, 7:40 P. NJ.
Jan 8, 1915, 100 (Mdt)
Jan. II, 1915, $3.50 P. NJ
Jan. IA, 1915. 6:40 P. NJ.
Jan. 81, 1915, 11:40 P. n
Feb. 3. 1915, $3.50 P. NJ.
Feb 90, 1915, 100 (Mdt)
Feb. %, 1915, 1000 P. NJ
Feb. &c, 1915, $3.50 P. NJ.
March Is, 1915, 1900 (Mdt)
March IS, 1915, $3.50 P. NJ.
March p, 1915, $40 P. NJ
The Planets for January.
Mercury will be visible as an eve
ming star in the west just after sun
set the last few days OF the month.
It Will be in conjunction with the sun
Venus will be at its greatest bril-
lancy as a morning star on Jan. 2. AT
this time the planet is 6 IA times as
bright as the maximum of Jupiter and
1SC times as bright as POlar1s. It Will
be at perihelion on the 7th-nearesi
point to the sun, and will rise about
three hours before the sun and at the
end of the month.
Mars is too near the sun at any time
this month to be visible. It viii be
approaching the earth and therefore
getting brighter, but will not be il
good position for observation for sew
eral months yet.
Jupiter is getting too low to be wei
seen this month, and by the last of the
month will set about an hour aftel
the sun
Saturn is still in view practically al
night, and is exceptionally well placed
for observation midway between Gem
mi and Taurus It will be due south
and nearly overhead, in this northern
latitude, at IL P. NJ. Jan. LIST; 10 P. NJ
the 18th, and at P. NJ. the 31st
Uranus is too near the sun to b,
seen this month
Neptune will be at opposition to thu
sun on Jan. 19. Its position in Canoe
is shown on the map Uranus anC
Neptune are telescope objects only.
The earth will be at perihelion-it
nearest point to the sun on Jan. End
Planetary CONFEDERATION.
Jan. /, 1900 NJ. Mercury and Mar
fl conjunction. Mercury south As min