THE HEAVENS IN JULY 



53 



leads downward nearly to the Balances, 

 and then, turning eastward, passes the 

 whole length of Scorpio to the star at 

 N, Figure I, after which the Serpent's 

 body extends northward along almost 

 the exact center of the Milky Way 

 until the tip of the tail is finally reached 

 at the bright star, K, in the constella- 

 tion of the Eagle. 



The stars at A, B, F and C are re- 

 garded as belonging, not to the Ser- 

 pent, but to the Serpent-holder, Ophiu- 

 chus, and this great constellation in- 

 cludes nearly all of the remaining stars 

 in this region of the sky between Scor- 

 pio and Hercules. The star at C is 

 easily seen with the naked eye to be a 

 pair of stars, and these mark the right 

 hand of Ophiuchus, the left hand 

 grasping the Serpent at the pair of 

 stars A and B. 



These two star groups are among 

 the oldest of the constellations. No 

 less than four of the brightest new 

 stars of historic times, appeared in 

 Ophiuchus, one of which, known as the 

 celebrated Kepler's Star, shone out 

 near the star at L, Figure i. All of the 

 stars marked X are double stars, 

 though some of them may only be 

 seen double with a moderately large 

 telescope. But this region is particu- 

 larly remarkable for the large number 

 of star clusters which it contains. One 

 of these will be found at H, a little 

 below and to the right of the star M ; 

 a still larger one is at R, nearly mid- 

 way between the stars N and O, and 

 there are a great many others, most 

 of which require a large telescope for 

 their observation. But so seen, they 

 are remarkable and wonderful objects. 

 Each is composed of hundreds or thou- 

 sands of stars, gathered together into 

 an approximately spherical ball, 

 though whether each particle of the 

 cloud is a sun so great as our own we 

 do not yet know. 



Besides these two important constel- 

 lations, there are many other interest- 

 ing groups which can best be studied 

 at this time of year. Turning to the 

 east, the strange little figure known as 

 the Dolphin, or Job's Coffin, will be 

 seen about one-third of the way to the 

 zenith, while above this is a line of six 

 little stars forming the Arrow, which 

 is speeding eastward from Hercules to 

 slay the Eagle of Jove. Turning north- 



ward we see the great Dragon swing- 

 ing high above the Pole, a constellation 

 which in early times was even longer 

 than now and enclosed both of the 

 Bears in its folds. The head of the 

 Dragon is a conspicuous and easily 

 found figure ; this, with the nearby star 

 at T, Figure i, was called by the early 

 Arabians the Five Dromedaries. It 

 may be added that the head of the Ser- 

 pent at D, Figure i, is from its figure 

 sometimes called Saint Andrew's 

 Cross. 



THlv PLANETS IN JULY. 



The planet Mercury reaches its 

 greatest distance east of the sun on 

 July 25, and for a few evenings before 

 and after this date may be seen shining 

 low in the twilight glow, a little north 

 of the west point of the horizon, for 

 about an hour after sunset. 



Venus passes from the west to the 

 east of the sun on July 5 at 9 P. M., but 

 although by the end of the month it 

 will have moved so far into our even- 

 ing sky that it will not set until one- 

 half hour after sunset, it will not even 

 by that time have drawn so far from 

 the sun's rays that it can be well ob- 

 served. This planet is now oeyond the 

 sun, at its extreme distance from the 

 earth. 



Mars is moving so very rapidly east- 

 ward that during the month it passes 

 entirely across the constellation of 

 Leo ; it is moving eastward almost as 

 rapidly as the sun itself and therefore 

 it remains continually visible in our 

 evening sky. It will not be finally over- 

 taken by the sun and so become a 

 morning star until next November 4. 

 The planet is now, however, very far 

 away from us and in very untavorable 

 position for observation. It, in fact, 

 now shines only as a star of the second 

 magnitude; that is, is but very little 

 brighter than the North Star and very 

 far inferior to the nearby star Regulus, 

 which a few months agu it far exceeded 

 in brilliance. 



But the most striking object in the 

 evening heavens is undoubtedly the 

 great planet Jupiter, which shines out 

 brilliantly in the south, almost in the 

 center of the constellation of the Scor- 

 pion. This world, which has proceeded 

 so little in its development that it is 

 still a great ball of heated vapors 

 nearly 90,000 miles through, is seen 



