The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-02-02
THE HEAVENS IN FEBRUARY

We have the great pleasure this month of adding to the g o'clock star map the wonderful ringed planet Sa- turn, which will be found low over the eastern horizon. Jupiter, the largest, and, next to Venus, the
 brightest of all the planets, found 8
 place on last months map and by now has attained a considerable alti-
 tude above the hori0Sn at map time. These two planets will be found in the general neighborhood of Regu1us. They can easily be distinguished. Ju- piter is the brightest and the highest in the sky; then comes Regulus and finally Saturn. The two planets, of course. can be told from the star by their steady, untwtnkling light.
 Just above Jupiter is shown the position of the very farthest planet from us, Neptune, which. however, is too dim to be observed with the naked eye Of with small telescopes for its brightness is only equal to that
 of a seventh-magnitude star now, rising about two hours too late to appear on the map; but it can be well observed about midnight near
 the bright star Spica in Virgo, Venus
 is the only. morning star at present.
 That magnificent tract of sky con-
 taining Orion, Taurus, the two Dogs
 and the Twins with all their many
 brilliant stars, will now be found ly-
 ing between the zenith anc the south
 ern horizon; and CapeIla, of Aur1ga
 is practically in the zenith itself The
 entire constellation of Leo, the Lion
 is now above the horizon, the upper
 or western end being marked by Regulus. With Regulus as a handle and stretching toward the north will Q nf ct y1,i io1,
 trace out with good likeness the form of a sickle and are known by the lat ter name. They are, of course a part of Leo. Regulus, though not one of the brightest of first-ma gnitude stars was one of the most venerated by the ancients, for 1t marked practically 1 the position occupied by the sun at 1 the hottest time of the year. Today this is, however, not the case, be- cause the phenomenon known as the procession of the eauinoXes has 1 changed the position of the equator | so as to make the sun occupy a pos- ] ition in Cancer at that time.
 At the other end of Leo is Dene- | bola, the next brightest star of the | group, of a bluiSh white color, which, 1 judging by the comments of the an- | cient astronomers was probably con- l sidered brighter than 1t is now. It is approaching the earth at the rate of | twelve miles per second and is about l thrfty-three light years away. In in- l trinsic brilliancy it is about ten times l as great as our sun. In the constel- 1 lation it represents the Hons tail and 1 for some reason was considered a | very unlucky star by the astrologers Gamma Leonis, the third brightest l of the group, will be found just north 1 of -Regulus; it is very beautiful 1 double star, which can be separated 1 in a, small telescope.
 In one of the German pulications l which have recently again begun to l arrive in this country, we have found 1 which no doubt will be of interest to l the reader and which we therefore 1 take the liberty of reproducing here The temperatures are given in Centi- | grade degrees; multiply by 9-5 to find I practically the equivalent Fahrenheit 1 degrees: