The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-01-30

Jupiter is the evening star this
month, and he CLOVIS with, undimin-
ished brightness, but he is hoticeably
nearer the horizon at 8 o'clock than
he was month ago. By II O'Clock
he sinks well down into the nlists
along the horizon and out of sight
for most of u.s.. Saturn is climbing
on toward the meridian just about
this same time, and the view spread
out before us is not to be supposed.
Castor, Pollux and Saturn are nearly
in a straight line. in the order named,
from the north. Saturn, Procion and
Sirius make another straight line and
just to the west is the grandest of the
consultations, Orion. To see this ar
ray rise in the east or to see it spread
across the southern sky, as we can
this month, is to see the best the star
ry heavens can command
& The morning sky is also OF inter-
est this month, for both Venus and
Mercury are visible as morning stars.
The latter has his greatest westerly
elongation, or angular distance from
the sun. on the 18th, and on that date
as we'll as on several nights preceding
and following, can be observed just
before sunrise. These two planets
will be found quite close to each 9th
err.
New Consultations.
Last month we were able to put on
our map only a part Of the constella-
ton Of the Lion, Leo, butt this months
map contains the whole Of it. In ad-
dition to possessing the first magni-
tude star Regulus, the star DeneboL
la and the stars which form the
Sickle, Leo has a peculiar prominence
in the older systems of astronomy, be-
cause the Sun was in this constella-
ton at the time OF the summer SOL
stice, or midsummer. several thou
sand years ago, at about the time
of the first scientific and systematic
study of the sky. AT the present
time the solstical point is in the con-
stellation of the Twins, near the mid
point of a straight line drawn from
Pollux to Aldebaran in Taurus. i
sDenebola, next to Regulus, the
brightest star in Leo, is in the east
ern end Of the group and marks the
lions tail. From the way the older
astronomers speak of this star, it ap-
pears that Denebola must have been
markedly brighter than at present.
Just to the north of Regulus is a
bright star, which is Gamma Leonis, a
famous double, which can be easily
resolved by small telesca pc into two
components Of different colors.
The Milky Way.
The Milky Way now stretches
through the zenith in a direction al
most north and south, and along it's
path are found many of the most i'm
portant consultations and stars Those
who live away from the dust and
glare Of the large city can trace it's
path and recognize Cepheus and Cas-
siopeia to the northward; next, Per-
seus with the remarkable variable
star Algol; almost in the zenith is
the constellation of Auriga, the Cha
rioteer, with the white star Capella to
mark it; then, Gemini the Heavenly
Twins, and Taurus, Orion the two Dog
groups, and away into the southern
horizon is Argo Navis, the Ship.
But it is not alone for the impor-
tant consultations found along it's
path that the Milky Way, or Galaxy,
is important, for the Milky Way it,
self has been the subject Of much
study and scientific investigation In
general, we may say that the Milky
Way is composed of millions of stars,
of the fainter magntiudes apparently,
but not necessarily OF little intrinsic
or absolute magnitude, for their dis
lance is very great. The number Of
them has never been estimated. In