STAR-STREAMS AND NEBULjE. 



339 



of origin of the many curious streams and chains of stars with 

 which the heavens abound, when we look at another amazing 

 revelation of celestial photography. I refer to Prof. Pickering's 

 photograph of Orion, taken with a portrait-lens from a mountain 

 in southern California. 



In this photograph a tremendous spiral nebula is revealed, 

 covering a space on the sky fifteen degrees in diameter, and em- 

 bracing the whole of the constellation with the exception of the 

 head and shoulders and the upraised arms of the imaginary giant. 

 The well-known nebula in the Sword, the three bright stars in 

 the Belt, the brilliant first-magnitude star Rigel, together with 

 its less splendid neighbor Beta of Eridanus, and Kappa Orionis, 

 forming the lower left-hand corner of the great quadrilateral of 

 Orion are all included within the boundaries of this vast nebula. 

 The nebula in the Sword is seen to be only an exceptionally 

 bright condensation in the nebulous system surrounding it. 



But for our purposes the thing to be particularly noticed is 

 the arrangement of the stars within the nebula. Any one who 

 has viewed Orion with a powerful opera or field glass must have 

 been struck with the curious marshaling of many of the smaller 

 stars. This is particularly 

 noticeable around the Belt, 

 where the star Epsilon, itself 

 long known to be enmeshed 

 in a faint nebula, is environed 

 with a garland of little stars., 

 which, defiling in a beautiful 

 double curve, finally stop near 

 Delta, the next star above in 

 the Belt. But, indeed, one 

 does not need a glass in order 

 to perceive similar rows of 

 stars in Orion. The most con- 

 spicuous of these, after the 

 three stars in the Belt them- 

 selves, are those that outline 

 the giant's left arm and the 



lion's skin that he is supposed to bear upon it. Another row, not 

 so striking, is, however, more interesting just at this point, because 

 it follows the curve of the great outer spiral of the newly discov- 

 ered nebula. This file of stars really begins below the Belt at Eta, 

 and, curving round between the Belt and Gamma or Bellatrix in 

 the left shoulder, includes the stars 27, 22, \J/\ if, 33, 38, and w, be- 

 sides others too faint to be visible to the unassisted eye. The con- 

 nection between these stars and the nebula seems too evident to be 

 doubted. The spiral form of the latter furnishes an explanation 



Star Garland in the Belt of Orion. 



