South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-06-27
BY DIR. @. s. BRAINN,
OF the Columbia Univ erSity Observatory STAFF.

must have a radiating surface OF ire
low temperature.
Scorpio is one Of the zodiacal con-
stellations, and the sun enters it's ter
ritorY In November. II is instructive
to note that at that time the sun is
only slightly above AntareS in the
sky, and to compare IL with it's pres
ent high noon altitude above the
horizon. Ares is the Greek name for
Mars, the god OF war, and Antares
means rivaling Mars. a name no
doubt due 10 its brightness and color
According TO Greek legend, Scorpio
killed Orion the Hunter and caused
the horses OF the sun TO throw Phae-
ton from the suns chariot which
once Apollo. his father. permitted
him TO drive.
A Great Triangle.
In the eastern sky we have now
the fine triangle made by the three
first magnitude stars. Vega, Deneb
and Affair. Vega, the bluish-white
beauty OF the northern heavens. is
furthest up from the horizon and
not very far from the zenith. Slight
ly to the southeastward is Affair of
nOrthWard OF Affair, in the constel-
lation Cygnus, the Swan, is Deneb.
Cygnus is sometimes called the Nor
thern Cross, and a somewhat irregu-
lar cross may perhaps be traced
among its stars, but the resemblance
Is not very striking.
OF the three stars OF the triangle.
Vega is the most interesting, not
only because IL is the brightest star
lying north OF the celestial equator
and the second brightest Of all those
visible from these northern ATTITUDES,
but also because Of the many other
scientific facts connected with It, The
sun and it's entire system are rush
ing through space with the enor-
nous velocity OF 13 miles per sec
ond almost directly toward Vega,
which, however, is itself moving in
such a way that when the sun and
its planets reach that point Of space,
which may by comparison be called
the immediate neighborhod OF
Vegas present position, that star
will be about as far from us then
as it is now, and frightful collision
will be avoided.
Vega belongs to the very hot
test class OF stars. along with Sirius,
which is its peer in beauty, and 1t
is interesting 10 note that the ele-
ment hydrogen is very prominent
in its spectrum. Hydrogen is now
considered by many scientists to be
the most primitive OF all the ele-
ments, and the theory that all the
other elements are really forms of
com binations OF elementary hydro
gen-and perhaps OF helium, too
is being given serious consideration.
This would be intimately connected
with its presence in the so-called
young stars.
As Is well known. the pole star
Polaris has no real physical connec-
ton with the celestial North Pole.
II only happens to lie near the spot
in the heavens toward which the ro-
tation axis Of the earth Is at pres
ent pointing. But this axis is very
slowly swinging about In the
heavens in a circle. which il COM
pletes at its present rate OF motion
in about %, 900 years. Vega will be
the, earth's pole star in about 10000
years. The center Of the circle
which the pole traces out is the
pole OF the ecliptic." a point which
is go degrees from the ecliptic circle.
Just as the regular pole is 80 de-
ETeeS from the CeleSNidI equdtOA.
The two next brightest stars Of
Lyra, the group TO which Vega be-
longs, are simply called Beta and
Gamma Lyrae, having no proper
names in common use. They can
be easily picked out as they are
both third magnitude stars, Beta ly-
ing TO the westward. Beta Is a
variable star, which loses one-hah
OF its brightness IN about 13 days
and then regains II. Between Beta
and Gamma Lyrae lies the famous
Ring Nebula In Lyra-