The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1934-05-01

nearest thlrd-magnitude star, Beta
HydrI, ID twelve degrees distant.
Only n fifth-magnitude star In close
enough TO the south pole 70 merit
the appellation OF pole star. In
beauty and interest, however the
stars of the southern sky do not
yield TO the northern constella.
lions.
Campus To DC Seen
High In tho heavens the eve
notes ut once the brilliant star
Campus, In Cnrina, the ships keel
which In the second brightest stnr
In the entire heavens, exceeded In
brillinncy by Sirius alone, which
rides low over the horizon almost
exactly below Campus. In reality
the latter In a much greater star
than Sirius for Its luminosity In
equivalent TO about $1,000 suns
like ours combined into ono. IL Ia
indeed one OF the largest stars
known In our galaxy for its dis-
tanco from w Ia about $50 light
years. A quarter OF the way around
the sky to the eastward In n fine
grouping OF bright stars belonging
to the consultations OF Cruz, the
Southern Cross, and Centaurus,
the Centaur. The Cross is near Ca
nopug and u quite easily recognig-
ed by It's shape although only one
Of tho four points In marked by q
fjrst magnitude star. Az seen from
the south pole, the upper point In
Alpha Crucis of frat magnitude
and the eastern end OF the cross
bar In marked by Beta Crucis, q
star OF nearly the first magnitude,
slightly loss bright than Regulus.
Another second magnitude and
third magnitude complete the Eg-
ure. Within the boundaries OF the
cross In q beautiful telescope
cluster containing numerous coli
ored stars. WI
Just beyond the Cross lies Gen.
taurus with It's two brilliant flrst
magnitude stars Alpha and Beta
Centauri. Alpha Ia the more east
crly star and In the third brightest
star In the sky, exceeding even our
northern favoritc, Vega. Thus both
the second and third starss In the
order OF brightness are invisible
from these northern ATTITUDES. AL
pha Ia actually tho nearest TO us OF
all the brighter stars and second In
this respect only 70 a small neigh
VVtutk HtuT GhUCu IIO&iUu NtUs
tnuri, which 10 invisible 10 the un-
aided eye. The distance of Prox-
lima In az iight-years and Alpha IN
OIL OF a light year further away.
Alpha In really double star, the
larger component being very like
the sun both In luminosity and In
spectrum type. Beta Centauri IL q
much more distant and much Iarg-
err ot0r than Alnha
AcIacsnar Invisible
Still another first magnitude star
which IL invisible TO the north In
Achernar, Alpha Eridani, which
lies opposite centaurus In the sky
and at about the same altitude. II
Ii almost as bright a. Procyon and
In blue-white In color like Regulus.
The constellation OF Eridanus IN
named after the river into which
the mythical Phaeton. won OF APP
oIlo, fell when he attempted 10
drive the golden chariot Of the
sun.
The southern portion OF the
Milky Way extends up from the
horizon through CAMS Major. past
Campus. and on through the
Cross and centaurus. In the re-.
gion OF the Cross In the famous
'coaI sack" an irregular area al
most devoid of stars which Nv
rcndiIy visible 70 the naked eye.
Here we have, undoubtedly. a
great mass OF gaseous nebular ma
teriaI that screens from our view
tho starry background of the gal.
axy. Near the south pole lie the
two Mngellanic clouds which ape
pear like small portions OF the
milky way that have broken away.
The greater OF those lies halfway
between Campus ana the poia; the
lesser about halfway between Ach-
ernar and the pole. Both clouds
are great aggrsgations OF stars and