The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-30
THE HEAVENS IN AUGUST.
(By Dr. c. s. Brainin of the Column bia University Observatory Stafr.)

High up in the August sky and, in the early days of the month. almost exactly overhead at map-time, is the brightest star of the northern cles- tial hemisphere, the blue-white Vega. Shining with a light which very much resembles that of the cleo tric arc street lamp in color, 1t is, next to the great Dog Star Sirius, the brightest of all the stellar world visible to us in this northern 1ati- tude. You should have no trouble in 1oca ting it by the help of the sur rounding conhsurations. And we may we'll admire it, as the ancients did. who saw in it and the constellation Lyra, to which it belongs, the won derfuI Tyre or harp of Orpheus, who descended into Hades, there to re- gain from Pluto his bride. To the Romans, it's morning setting marked the beginning of Autumn.
 Nor does Vega lack in scientific in terest- Due to the phenomeon known to the astronomer as the Procession of the euuinoxes (the slow motion or the equinoxes along the ecliptic circle), the North Pole Of the heavens is gradually moving its position among the stars. Near the star Alpha Crsae Minoris, or Polaris, now, it will BIdUudIlS move away dnu III som Q 12,0oo years Vega will become the pole star again. as 1t once was in the dim past ages, when the Earth was younger.
 The distance from Vega to the Earth has been determined. with con- siderable accuracy, to be about 129 Hght-years, this unit being the dis tance light covers in one year, travel ling at the rate of 6.000 miles per second. Furthermore, the apex of the Suns way the point in the heavens toward which the Sun and its attendant family are speeding with Q velocity of about twelve miles per second, is situated in the constel- lation of Hercules, not far from Vega
 But we are in no danger of collision with that star. for 1t Is also moving through space with extreme rapidity, and 1t will have obligingly moved it. self out of the way by the time we reach that particular corner of space Our friends who like to calculate can figure for themselves from the data above given how long 1t will be be- fore we are near where Vega now is about fifty billion years. A trans atlantic airplane could cover the dis tance in one-tenth the time it takes the Earth.
 Other Stars in Jyra.
 The next two brightest stars in the group of Lyra are easily distinguished and form a triangle with their su- perior, which gives the group it's characteristic appearance. The more westerly of this pair of third-magni- tude stars is Beta Lyrae. which Is a remarkable variable star, for 1t changes periodically by a whole stel- lar magnitude. This change takes place in about 13 days and Is due to the fact that Beta Lyrae is really system of two stars revolving about their common center of gravity. II so happens that the plane of this revolution passes through the Earth very nfarIy, and therefore each star successNely eclipses the other, thus diminishing the total brightness of the couple as we see it. Of course, all this movement Is visible neither to the na1ed eye nor in the strong est telescope; it has been discovered by means of the speotroscope.
 Slightly to the southeast of Beta is the other third-m agnftude star, Gam ma Lyrae. If we draw an imaginary line running from Beta to Gamma. near a spot lying about one-third of the way Beta lies the famous Ring Nebula in Lyra. Seen in the telescope it appears like faint, ring-lke cloud, with a star in the center. It differs from terrestrial atmospheric cloud in that it really eTnits its own light, while the natter all shine by