The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-12-04
THE STARRY SKIES IN DECEMBER
By Protector Barton of the University Of Pennsylvania

Vega, the brightest of the summer
stars. is now in an inconspicucus po-
sition in the northwest tat A figure
winter stars and the most brilliant
of all, is just appearing in the south
east at b. accompanied by many
other bright stars. Cygnus, the north
ern eros, now stands in its natural
upright position In the west. The
dippers in the north are in unfavor-
able position. Csssiopeia, which lies
on the opposite side of the pole from
the big dipper (Ursa Major) is nearly
overhead. This constellation is often
Identified by its resemblance to thu
letter w. 1t represents woman,
Cassiopea, seated on her throne. In
this part of the sky We find con-
stellations named for Cepheus, my
biological king of the Philippians.
Cassiopeld, his queen. and Andro-
media, his daughter. who was chained
to the rock to be devoured by the sea
monster, but who was happily res
cued by Perseus. Rescuer and rescued
married, of course. and we suppose
lived happily forever afterward. They
are placed as adjecent consultations.
Cassiopeia had compared her
beauty favorably with that of the sea
nymphs. They were so indignant
that they sent the sea monster.
When Cassiopela was houored by be-
ing placed in the sky as q constella-
ton her enemies. the sea nymphs.
succeeded in having her placed near
the pole so that half of the time she
would be turned head down in HUI
mility.
The constellation is often called
Cassiopeia's chair. If we look at the
stars we can imagine that we see
the form of the chair on which Cas-
siopeia sits (the top of the chair to-
ward the pole) But as often hap
pens in such cases when we examine
the Figures as they have come down
to us from ancient times we see that
the real chair bears no resemblance
to the one we have picked out nor
to any other arrangement of the
stars.
The star Eta cassiopeia cat C, fig
ure y is a very interesting double
star. 1t consists of bright orange
colored star with fainter one close
to 1t of a purple color. Purple Is not
common color among stars. The
contrast makes this among the mos.
! interesting colored double stars in
the whole sky. Unfortunately, it Is
not seen well with small instruments.
! This star is more than a double star
it is binary star; that is, double
star whose members. or components.
as they are called, move about each
others orbits. The revolution ~ the
orbit requires about 800 yards This
star Is one OF about dozen binary
stars whose distances have been fair
| ly well determined. When the dis
| lance and the period are known we
can use the law of gravitation to de-
| termine other facts about the star.
Eta Cassiopeia is found to be about
| Is light-years away say SO trillions
of miles; that Is, million times as
| far as the sun. This means that 1t
is among the nearer stars. From this
distance we learn that the stars are
Ala times as far from each other on
the average as the earth and sun.
| that the two stars combined are liz
times s massive as the sun and that
they give out Ia times more light.
The Winter SO1stice.
The sun is farthest south December
| 20. 4:0S a. m. eastern standard time.