The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-29
THE STARRY SKIES IN OCTOBER
Hy PROFESSOR DooLITTLE OF THE ukIvI

] SaVF EsSSOfh DOO
 No one of the bright planets is now found on our evening map, though
 Mars is still called an evening stal
 because it may yet be seen followlns | the sun in the twilight glow. and Ju. piter is high in the northeastern
 heavens by midnight But yet to the watcher of the evening skies this
 month is of special interest, for its \ very beginning witnesses the first ap- pearance of the beautiful winter
 group, Taurus, which will be seen al.
 most exactly in the east, as yet bu, a short distance above the ground The misty looking little dipper-shaped group called the Pleiades, tells of tbe cold winter days to come. for it is inc very first of the bright winter train of stars. By the end of the month the whole of the great Taurus will be well above the ground, and both the
 magnificent Orion and the bright Gemini will have entered our even
 ing sky.
 The four bright stars which form
 the great square of Pegasus are now
 almost on the meridian in the south
 With the help of figure 1 one can
 easily trace out the rest of the con
 stellation of the Winged Horse of
 which the Great Square is the most
 conspicuous part, and also the neigh
 boring constellation of Andromeda.
 stretching all the way from this groun
 to the Milky Way. which it meets in
 Cassiopeia and Perseus
 The possessor of small teIscone
 will not fail to examine the wonder
 ful nebula at A., figure 1, nor the
 beautiful but far less well known star cluster at F. The latter object coy- CTS space on the heavens about equal to that of the full moon. It is nearly in line with the two eastern stars of the triangle, at F, but consid- erably to the east of a straight line adjoining the two bright stars. H and K. The first of these last (the star at ID is a wonderful triple sun which appears as a beautiful double in a small telescope. the larger star being of a golden color and the smaller one a deep blue
 The reader will notice how Foma,- haut it almost on the meridian in the south and he will also note the pecn. liar position of the Great Dipper which now rests in a nearly upright position below the Pole. Here it looks far larger than when high in the heavens, as it was on the early eyen ings of April and May, but the er feet is purely physiological one. If book or q sheet of paper is held as screen to hide the intervening ob Jects between the observer and the horizon in the north, the star group will seem to shrink to it's usual di mensions. In the same way the spn and the moon appear to be unusually large when near rising or setting be- cause the many miles of ground over which we look to them causes us in voluntarily to adjust the vision tn a very distant object.
 It is also of interest to note how the seasonal turning of the Milky Way Is steadily progressing. AL though Tor many months this beautiful arch passes almost exactly through the zenith. it may be remembered that n August it extended upward from the south point of the horizon. while II now meets the ground in the south west. This portion will swing stead fly around. passing through the west point in November, and almost reach Ing the north point by February. after which tme the beautiful arch will sink rapidly toward the ground.
 little below and to the right of the Great Nebul in Andromeda in the position shown in figure 2. there IS a remarkably and richly colored star which increases fin brightness from the 14th to the 5B magnitude in a period of about All days. Thus when brightest it pours out about 1000 times as much light as when faintest. Its time of great est brightness will occur on the 9th of the present month. The reader may probably succeed in locating the star without difficulty at about this time. and by afterward turning his instru- nent on it occasionally he will note how very rapidly it fades away. Long before 1t reaches it's greatest faint ness however, it will become inyis- ble in any but the largest telescopes.
 A far better known variable star of exactly this same type is that called Mira-or the Wonderful Star--which will be easily seen with the naked eve n the position D of figure l. The 'eader must be careful not to mistake he bluish star at C. the brightest star 'fi the Fishes. for this one as is some- ines done; when Mira is brightest tho -wo stars form wide and nearly soual double star in this part of the ;ky
 Mira attains it's greatest brightness bout every 331 days. Its time of greatest brillance occurred this year tbout the middle of September: it was hen about as bright as the Pole Star hough it has been known to reach a brightness hardly exceeded by that of thy star in the heavens. Normally. Mira is thus much less remarkable l yariable sun than the star in Andro- neda, but as variables of this kind approach their maxima 1t cannot be l predicted how bright they will be- ome. Nor do we at all know what is iappening in these far distant suns l which causeS them sfIddenIv and | esular intervals to increase in i brightness in this remarkable way The reader who is watching the steady 1 ading away of the two variable stars | ust described may wish to also observe | ne or more eclipses of the Demon Star.