El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-01-26
Average Person Often Dis
appointed, But Astrologer
Finds Much of Interest.
By DIR. c. 5. BRAININ.

may perhaps DC dCCOA4lc4
unfortunate by some Of Us
= that the sky is not evenly span
gled with its beautiful stars so
that every part Of the evening heav-
ems might boast OF first magnitude
stars While there is not a single
square degree Of sky from pole to
equator and to pole again that does
not TEEN with astronomic wonders. to
the astronomer who unfortunately
lacks a telescope. il is the brighter
stars which are OF the most interest
Il happens that there Is a part OF the
heavens which Is peculiarly rich in
first magnitude stars and that that
part Is in excellent position for study
in the winter month Of February. The
entire armament contains only 20
stars Of the first maEnitude-accord-
ing 10 the most recent classification
and Of these. no less than seven are
gathered in the area OF sky now "
ing approximately between the zenith
and the horizon and stretching but a
few degrees TO either side Of the me-
ridian.
Just a trifle west Of the zenith is
Capella. in the constellation AuriEa,
whose magnitude is 90. a little less
only than Vega OF the Tyre We
know few facts about this star: Its
WHICH present Is dnQuL
? IL million times 80 million miles IS
increasing at the rate of about 20
miles per second; by combining its OBJ
served brilliancy with this enormous
distance from US il Is calculated that
the intrinsic brightness Of Capella IS
not less than 200 times that OF the
sun, and finally We know that what
appears both to the naked eye and in
the telescope as a single star is
proved by the spectroscoDe to be a
stellar system OF two cOmpOnents.
All Sorts of starr.
South and west of Capeila is AIDE
baran in Taurus, the Bull, and 20 the
south again lies the premier constel-
lation of them all. Orion. the mighty
hunter. The reddish star higher up
above the horizon is Betelgsuze;
the white star near the horizon
is RigeL Between them is the
Belt consisting of three stars in
a straight line with the middle
one about half way between the
outer two. though the stars them
selves are only OF the third magnitude
their peculiar CONFORMATION has made
them probably the best known group
of stars in the heavens. They consti-
tute the belt from which hangs the
hunters sword scabbard OF which is
shown by the line OF lesser stars run
ming from the belts southern end IN
the direction of Rigel The Belt
makes the constellation a very easy
one for the amateur TO find and TO re-
member and he must note that when
the constellation rises and sets. the
Belt is not horizontal but nearly YER
teal One Of the stars OF the scab-
bard subgroup mentioned above is \
little different from its fellows When
the atmospheric conditions are favor
able this star appears distinctly hazy
and. when a telescope is turned upon
IL. il is found TO be no star at all but
the famous Orion nebula which COW
ers an area of sky about a degree
square. In the midst Of il are stars;
the brightest four are arranged in a
group TO be called the ''Trapezium"
from its likeness TO the geometrical
figure OF that name
some Probabilities.
It IS probable that these four stars
are really systematically connected
with the nebula, not merely along the
same line Of sight from the earth
and only apparently connected with
it They may be condensation cen
tiers OF the nebular system and the
nebuia may become resolved into a
system OF planets with four suns
The belt Of Orion may be used as
pointers: il We extend the imaginary
line OF the Belt in an easterly dtrec-
ton we reach Sirius, the monarch OF
the stellar world seen by us. While
not intrinsically the brightest. II GER
tainly is that in apparent magnitude
The blush Wilderness of the light
which il sends forth heightens the
splendo-- Sirius is also a double star:
the lesser OF the two being one half
as heavy and one twenty thousandths
as bright as the other. II Is just
& bout zoo years ago that HALEY made
the discovery that Sirius has a slight
periodic motions with respect to the
stars. The light Of Sirius
takes 81 years to reach US travelling
at its enormous velocity OF $4,000
miles per second. in spite of which it
is one of the nearest cosmic neigh
bors of the solar system. To the
northeast lies Procyon. the Lesser
Dog, and to the north OF the latter is
the group of the Twins with the first
star. Pollux- We have
thus accounted for the seven first
Of which we boosted
above: we may add also that people
living south Of latitude 81 degrees y.
can add an eighth 10 the list. Campus.
in Carina. the second brightest star
In the heavens, which will be found
close 20 the south point of the horizon
at the time OF the map.
Recurrence Of Eciipses.
Since the movements of the earth
and moon which enter into the astro-
1omic CONFORMATION required for an
eclipse are all periodic, IL follows nee
that after a certain interval !
All the conditions will recur again in I
exactly the same manner. The synodic ]
period OF the moon as the period l
slapsing between two new moons IS ]
allied, is exactly % days and - hours !
eng The time it takes the moon TO /
pass from a node back again TO the 1
same node is q days and hours.