THE HEAVENS FOR JUNE 



very old sun, has a faint, emerald- 

 green companion very near it, and this 

 is probably revolving' about the larger 

 .star. Eighteen hundred years ago this 

 star was fainter than the star at B, 

 Figure I. It is now pouring out four 

 times as much light as it did then; but 

 whether its period of greatest bright- 

 ness has yet been reached we do not 

 know. 



The stars A, C and D are all inter- 

 esting double-sun systems, the first 

 and last being easily seen with a small 

 telescope. The star at B is remarkable 

 for its greenish color. Finally, much 

 farther east, in the constellation Ophiu- 

 chus, there is a little double star at 

 E which is of very "Teat interest, be- 



point A on the east ed^c of the moon 

 (Figure 2) at 16 minutes after 11 

 o'clock (Eastern standard time) and 

 reappearing at the point B at 30 min- 

 utes past midnight. Antares will thus 

 remain hidden for 1 hour and 14 min- 

 utes, as seen from Washington. 



The reader should not fail to observe 

 this most interesting phenomenon. 

 The observation will be much more 

 satisfactory if made with a small tele- 

 scope or a pair of opera glasses; but 

 even with the naked eye the sudden 

 disappearance of the bright star as the 

 moon passes over it will be very strik- 

 ing. As the moon is three days from 

 full, and as its eastern edge is conse- 

 quently in darkness, the star will be 



Figure 4. Showing the comparative sizes of the earth, Mars, Mercury and the Moon. 



cause the two suns in their motion 

 about one another seem to be disturbed 

 by the pull of an unseen body. It may 

 be remembered that the massive at- 

 tendants of Sirius and Procyon were 

 discovered in this way many years be- 

 fore they were ever seen in the tele- 

 scope. The body in the stellar system 

 at E may be entirely dark, or it may be 

 too faint to be visible in any of the in- 

 struments which we possess at present. 

 It has been many times searched for 

 without success. 



THE OCCULTATIOX OF ANTARES. 



An event of great interest this month 

 is the passage of the moon between us 

 and the bright star Antares. This will 

 occur on June 26, the star disappearing, 

 as viewed from Washington, at the 



seen to disappear an appreciable dis- 

 tance away from the bright edge of the 

 moon itself — that is, it will be hidden 

 before the moon has apparently quite 

 reached it. The observer will notice 

 that it will disappear instantaneously, 

 a thing that would not be possible if 

 there were any air on our satellite, for 

 in that case the disappearance would 

 be a gradual fading away. 



Unfortunately, it is not possible to 

 state for each observer the exact time 

 when the occulation will be seen by 

 him, for this differs very greatly for 

 different parts of the earth. That this 

 must be so is evident from Figure 3, 

 where the cylinder of light enveloping 

 the moon is that made by the light of 

 the star itself, and clearly to anyone 

 inside of this cylinder the star will be 



