PLEASURES OF THE TELESCOPE. 



749 



has a comparatively small orbit, and its components are never 

 seen widely separated. In 1S2G their distance was O"?"; in 1880 

 theyconld not be split; in 1891 the distance had increased to 

 0-36", and in 1894 it had become 0-53", p. 12:5. The period has 

 been estimated at one hundred years. 



While the group of double stars in the southern part of Coro- 

 na Borealis consists, as we have seen, of remarkably close binaries, 

 another group in the northern part of the same constellation com- 

 prises stars that are easily separated. .Let us first try C The 

 powers of the three-inch are amply sufficient in this case. The 

 magnitudes are four and five, distance G'S", p. 300. Colors, white 

 or bluish- white and blue or green. 



Next take o-, whose magnitudes are five and six, distance 4", p. 

 200". With the five-inch we may look for a second companion of 

 the tenth magnitude, distance 54", p. 88. It is thought highly prob- 

 able that o- is a binary, but its period has simply been guessed at. 



Finally, we come to v, which consists of two very widely sepa- 

 rated stars, v^ and v^, each of which has a faint companion. With 

 the five-inch we may be able to see the companion of v-, the more 

 southerly of the pair. The magnitude of the companion is vari- 

 ously given as tenth and twelfth, distance 137", p. 18. 



With the aid of the map we find the position of the new star 

 of 186G, which is famous as the first so-called temporary star to 

 which spectroscopic analysis was applied. When first noticed, 

 on May 12, 18GG, this star was of the second magnitude, fully 

 equaling in brilliancy a, the brightest star of the constellation ; 

 but in about two weeks it fell to the ninth magnitude. Huggins 

 and Miller eagerly studied the star with the spectroscope, and 

 their results were received with the deepest interest. They con- 

 cluded that the light of the new star had two different sources, 

 each giving a spectrum peculiar to itself. One of the spectra had 

 dark lines and the other bright lines. It will be remembered 

 that a similar peculiarity was exhibited by the new star in Auri- 

 ga in 1893. But the star in Corona did not disappear. It dimin- 

 ished to magnitude nine and a half or ten, and stopped there ; and 

 it is still visible. In fact, subsequent examination proved that it 

 had been catalogued at Bonn as a star of magnitude nine and a 

 half in 1855. Consequently this "blaze star" of 1866 will bear 

 watching in its decrepitude. Nobody knows but that it may blaze 

 again. Perhaps it is a sunlike body ; perhaps it bears little re- 

 semblance to a sun as we understand such a thing. But what- 

 ever it may be, it is there, and it has proved itself capable of 

 doing very extraordinary things. 



We have no reason to suspect the sun of any latent eccentrici- 

 ties like those that have been displayed by " temporary " stars ; 

 yet, acting on the principle which led the old emperor- astrologer 



