156 



THE GUIDE TO NATUR1- 



the V-shaped Hyades, with the great 

 reddish Aldebaran at its lower end. To 

 the eye the Pleiades may seem to con- 

 sist of but six stars, though if the night 

 is very clear two or three more may be 



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• < * 







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• • 



Figure 2. Photograph of the Pleiades, showing the 

 remarkable clcuds of cebulous matter. 



detected, but in a pair of opera glasses 

 a quite dense and most interesting clus- 

 ter is at once revealed. 



As he looks at this most interesting 

 star group, every member of which is 

 a sun, he may consider that this is 

 almost the very earliest object about 

 which human records have come down 

 to us. It was watched and written of 

 in China 4,300 years ago; the earliest 

 sacred books of Egypt tell of the time 

 when the Vernal Equinox was at these 

 stars, and that year was known as the 

 Great Year of the Pleiades. In all the 

 centuries which have passed since this 

 time of the very dawn of history, the 

 steady westward motion of the equinox 

 has now only carried it to the point V 

 of Figure 1 ; it will not complete the 

 circuit of the heavens until 26,000 years 

 have passed away. 



Numberless legends are associated 

 with this beautiful little group, the peo- 

 ples of almost all nations connecting 

 them with the affairs of Earth for 

 either good or evil. But of more impor- 

 tance is the modern discovery that the 

 stars of the Pleiades are actually asso- 

 ciated together as they seem to be, 

 forming a little group in the depths of 

 space. And delicate photographs show 

 that throughout the group there exist 



vast clouds of faintly shinning nebulous 

 matter which not only surround some 

 of the larger stars but span with faint, 

 straight lines the inconceivably great 

 distances from star to star. Either we 

 are witnessing here the last stages of 

 the formation of a cluster of great suns 

 from an original nebula, all of which 

 has not yet been absorbed, or else these 

 suns are ejecting radiant matter, just as 

 matter is driven away from our sun to 

 form its corona, but on an inconcev- 

 able vaster scale. We do not know 

 whether what we see is a dissipation 

 of matter or a building up of new 

 worlds. But now as at the time of the 

 earliest dawn of history the Pleiades 

 attract us as one of the most wonderful 

 of all the objects in the heavens. 



The reddish star Aldebaran is so far 

 distant that the light with which we 

 view it started on its journey to us 2& 

 years ago. This sun pours out nearly 

 200 times as much light as our own, 

 and it is moving away from us at a 

 speed of 30 miles a second. In the 

 southeast at M, Figure 1, the observer 

 should also note the remarkable vari- 

 able star Mira, which is now only of 

 about the fourth magnitude, while due 

 south the royal star Fomalhaut has 

 now reached its highest position in the 

 sky. 



The Eagle, the Dolphin and the 

 beautiful Northern Cross shine out 

 high in the northwest, while east of 

 these the Great Square of Pegasus now 

 forms the most consoicuous figure in 

 the southern sky. The reader should 

 not fail to examine the wonderful 

 nebula of Andromeda at N, Figure 1, 

 concerning which and other similar 

 nebulas the question is again being 

 discussed whether they may not each 

 be a great universe of suns at an un- 

 imaginable distance away. 



THE PLANETS IN OCTOBER. 



Mercury passes to the east of the 

 sun on October 4, but does not attain 

 its Greatest distance until November 

 19. It can be seen with difficulty to- 

 ward the close of the month very near 

 the ground in the southwest for a short 

 time after sunset. 



Venus is steadily moving outward 

 from the sun's rays, setting slightly 

 more than one hour after sunset on 

 October i f which time is increased to 

 1 hour and 45 minutes by October 31. 



