296 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



present too close for ordinary telescopes, although it was once 

 within their reach ; 2 729, double, magnitudes six and eight, dis- 

 tance 2", p. 26, the smaller star pale blue. Try it with a four- 

 inch, but five-inch is better ; 2 816, double, magnitudes six and 

 half and eight and a half, distance 4", p, 289 ; i/' 2, double, magni- 

 tudes five and a half and eleven, distance 3", or a little less, p. 

 322 ; 905, star cluster, contains about twenty stars from eighth 

 to eleventh magnitude ; 12G7, nebula, faint, containing a triple 

 star of eighth magnitude, two of whose components are 51" apart, 

 while the third is only 1"7" from its companion, p. 85 ; 1376, star 

 cluster, small and crowded ; 1361, star cluster, triangular shape, 

 containing thirty stars, seventh to tenth magnitudes, one of which 

 is a double, distance 2"4". 



Let us now leave the inviting star-fields of Orion and take a 

 glance at the little constellation of Lepus, crouching at the feet 

 of the mythical giant. We may begin with a new kind of object, 

 the celebrated red variable R Leporis (map No. 1). This star 

 varies from the sixth or seventh magnitude to magnitude eight 

 and a half in a period of four hundred and twenty-four days. 

 Hind's picturesque description of its color has frequently been 

 quoted. He said it is " of the most intense crimson, resembling a 

 blood-drop on the black ground of the sky." It is important to 

 remember that this star is reddest when faintest, so that if we 

 chance to see it near its maximum of brightness it will not 

 impress us as being crimson at all, but rather a dull, coppery red. 

 Its spectrum indicates that it is smothered with absorbing va- 

 pors, a sun near extinction which, at intervals, experiences an 

 accession of energy and bursts through its stifling envelope with 

 explosive radiance, only to faint and sink once more. It is well 

 to use our largest aperture in examining this star. 



We may also employ the five-inch for an inspection of the 

 double star t, whose chief component of the fifth magnitude is 

 beautifully tinged with green. The smaller companion is very 

 faint, eleventh magnitude, and the distance is about 13", p. 337. 



Another fine double in Lepus is k, to be found just below i ; 

 the components are of fifth and eighth magnitudes, pale yellow 

 and blue respectively, distance 2"5", p. 360 ; the third-magnitude 

 star a has a tenth-magnitude companion at a distance of 35", p. 

 156, and its neighbor y8 (map No. 2), according to Burnham, is 

 attended by three eleventh-magnitude stars, two of which are at 

 distances of 206", p. 75, and 240", p. 58, respectively, while the 

 third is less than 3" from ^, p. 288 ; the star 7 (map No. 2) is a 

 wide double, the distance being 94", and the magnitudes fourth 

 and eighth. The star numbered 45 is a remarkable multiple, 

 but the components are too faint to possess much interest for 

 those who are not armed with very powerful telescopes. 



