South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-11-30
The Heavens in December
By Dr. Brainn of Columbia University Observatory Staff
BY Dr.. G. S. BRAININ.


ton Stan.
The eastern half OF the evening
sky is Respondent with brilliant
I frst-magnitude stars; we welcome
back TO our 9 o'clock map that part
OF the celestial sphere which con-
tains Orion and its near neighbors,
with no less than eight frst-magni-
tude stars. Nearest the meridian and
highest above the horizon are Capel-
la OF the constellation Of Auriga and
I Aldebaran Of Taurus, the former a
| beautiful clear white. the latter OF
rather a yellow tinge.
! Orion itself is a group which is so
/ unique in appearance that II is very
easily recognized and fixed in the
memory, as It contains the famous
Belt Of Orion. This is composed Of
T three stars OF only the second mag
nitude, but lying almost exactly
i along straight line. with the cen
/ ter one exactly half way between
/ the outer two; there is no other
| such arrangement in the heavens.
About map time the Belt Will be
/ found very nearly perpendicular to
/ tire horizon in the east, but as the
/ stars rise the line becomes more
| horizontal. This. however. will not
be found TO interfere with the ease
/ of locating the group.
Northward of the Belt is the red
| dish first MAGNITUDE star. Betelgeux
/ cor Betelgeuze) and the second mag
nitude Bellatrix; to the south is
white Rigel. Orion is the Great
Hunter; Betelgeuze marks his right
shoulder. Rigel his left foot, and
fainter line Of stars running off from
the Belt in the general direction Of
Rigel represents the jeweled scab-
bard Of his sword.
( On good clear nights one Of the
stars of the scabbard will be OBJ
served to be somewhat hazy in ap-
pearance. quite different from the
other stars. This is by no means an
optical Illusion, for the haziness is
due TO the fact that this is really no
star at all. but the famous Nebula
Of Orion, one Of the very finest
/ sights in the heavens for anyone
who has access to even a small tsle-
scope. With this aid 1t will be seen
as a luminous cloud OF irregular
shape, occupying a considerable por-
ton of the sky. In IL are a number
Of real stars, which probably are
parts Of the nebular structure, con-
densed masses or nuclei. Long-ex-
posture photographs, which bring out
pa~ts e the neDula too faint even
Tor observation Of the telescope, are
extremely beautiful. The naked eye
sees only the brightest portion Of
the nebula, for the entire thing oc-
cupies an area Of sky equal 10 about
Sour full moons. Due to its enOr-
nous distance from us the actual
size. not the apparent size, is no ire
mendous that numbers would con-
vey no N Gaming to our brain; but If
! the sun and its entire system Of
planets were placed within the
volume occupied by this glowing
mass of gas it would be relatively
| smaller than .pinhead in the largest
room the reader ever entered.
The Belt may be used as a guide
post for the recognition of several
stars. Extending it's line 10 the west
it points toward Aldebaran, not far
from which will also be found the
naked-eye cluster of the PIeiades
and extending it eastward it points
out TO us the giant star Sirius the
Great Dog, than which there is no
brighter star in the entire heavens
Northward from Sirius is Procyon,
the Lesser Dog, also a first magni-
tude star, and notheastward from
Orion will be found a couple Of first
magnitude stars which are famous
throughout the world as Gemini, the
Heavenly Twins. Castor is the one
nearer the pole: Pollux is slightly