The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-02
THE STARRY SKIES IN FEBRUARY


By PROFESSOR DoOI
 On the evenings of February the bright stars of winter are seen in all their beauty The magnificent Orion is on the meridian in the south, while above this there shine out the bright stars of Taurus and Gemini and the golden Capella, all o. which are now in nearly their high rst positions in the heavens. The beau uful. blush Dog Star. Sirius, is high above the ground in the south. while ull Of the striking group Leo has now completely risen in the east, whose brightest star, Regulus, is made addi- tondlly interesting at this time by the nearness to il of the planet Saturn the two objects forming a striking pair of bright stars in this part of the heav- pns.
 THE FEBRUARY STARS
 Among the fainter stars We now see that the group Hydra, of the Water snake, las dragged one-third of it's great gth above the ground, although it will sot wholly appear on our evening ma D until May. It's brightest star. at A, IS of an orange color, while the much faint CT star, at E. is one of the most inter esting and the most rapid of the dou- ble-star systems in the heavens. Here there are three great suns revolving around one another, the two closest ones con pie ting one rev olution in about l5 years, while this double sun revolves about the central one in about 70 years. The stars at A. C and D also have dis tant companions.
 Ir the west there is the sea monster, Cetus, just sinking from view. it's bright orange star at H being the last of this extended constellation to leave our eve ming heavens. The reader may remember how. last September. it's very remark able variable star at E was quite con spicuous. and how he was warned not to mistake the greenish star at F for this one, as the variable was for short time even brighter than the neighboring star. Now, however, Mira has apparently en- tirely disappeared in small telescope. It is, in fact, at present of about the ninth magnitude and of very red color It will again be at it's brightest next ALI gust, and after midnight it will then be in excellent position for observation
 PLANETS VENUS AND MARS
 The reader who possesses a small tele- scope. or even one who is limited to only Haked-eye observation of the heavens, will find it most interesting to watch for the earliest possible view of the beau tiful planet Venus, now in the evening heavens, but very near the sun, He will at first discover it shining low in the twilight glow but he will see how it is continually mounting higher in the heav- ems, at first very slowly, but afterward much more rapidly, until by next July it will become the most brilliant and con spiCuous object in the entire sky. Even then. however, it's brightness is still in- Creasing, and it will not attain it's great est briliancy until August.
 On February 1 the planets to be looked for in the twilight glow. about half way between the west and the southwest points of the horizon, where it sets about one and one-quarter hours after sunset The western sky is then still brightly lighted and the planet could not then be seen at all were it not very bril- liant object; it is about 52 times as bright as a first magnitude star. On each suc- cessive evening Venus will be seen a little further northward along the hori- Zon; by the end of the month it will sink below the ground almost exactly at the west point. At this time it will set more than one hour and one-half after sunset, and will hence be much more easily found than a few weeks earlier When our beautiful sister world thus began to appear it was by the Greeks named Hesperus, the evening star while Phosphorus was it's name as morning star
 The planet Mars is very much fainter than Venus, but it is very near it in the SKY. On feDTudTy l MdIS IS cdSI anu north of Venus and sets one hour and 30 minutes after the sun. On February 2S it is west and south of Venus, and sets but one hour after sunset. On Feb ruary 13, at 9 a. m., Venus, in its more rapid eastward motion, will overtake and pass Mars, so that on the evenings pre- ceding and following this time the two planets can be seen together in small telescope. The contrast in their appear ance will then be very striking. The silvery Venus will be seen to be more than 70 times as bright as the reddish Mars, but it's disc will appear but slight y more than twice as great in diameter. This shows clearly how much more per fectly the wet and heavy atmosphere of Venus reflects sunlight than does the dry air of the desert Mars When near est together the two planets will be seen separated by distance but little greater tran the apparent distance across our full moon.
 THE PLANET NEPTUNE
 This most distant of all the planets is this month in the best position of the year for observation with small tele- scope, not only because it is now high ir the heavens in the early evening but because it's nearness to the bright star Sale of Paw-Paw Tonic