3i6 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



it is advisable to consider the distribution of the lucid stars as a 

 whole. 



Dr. Gould finds that the stars brighter than the fourth magnitude 

 are arranged more symmetrically relatively to the bright stars we have 

 just described than to the galactic circle. This and other facts sug- 

 gested to him the existence of a small cluster within which our sun 

 is eccentrically situated and which is itself not far from the middle 

 plane of the galaxy. This cluster appears to be of a flattened shape and 

 to consist of somewhat more than 400 stars of magnitudes ranging from 



Fig. 4. Northern Hemisphere. 



the first to the seventh. Since Gould wrote, the extreme inequality 

 in the intrinsic brightness of the stars has been brought to light and 

 seems to weaken the basis of his conclusion on this particular point. 



A very thorough study of the subject, but without considering the 

 galaxy, has also been made by Schiaparelli. The work is based on the 

 photometric measures of Pickering and the Uranometria Argentina of 

 Gould. One of its valuable features is a series of planispheres, showing 

 in a visible form the star density in every region of the heavens for 

 stars of various magnitudes. We reproduce in a condensed form two of 



