190 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



which are still very far from having 

 attained the compact condition of our 

 sun. Thus the average density of all 

 of the Algol variables is probably not 

 far from one-third of that of our sun, 

 while recent computations show that 



Figure 2. The square of Figure 1, enlarged to show 

 the position of the variable star at K. 



one of the fainter stars of this kind in 

 the Southern Cross is actually less than 

 one hundredth part as dense as our 

 air. Yet this body appears to us as a 

 bright and non-transparent star ; when 

 passing before its companion star it 



membered that the material of our own 

 sun formed an equally rare cloud when 

 this had not yet contracted far within 

 the present orbit of the planet Venus. 

 THF PLANETS. 



Mercury reaches its greatest dis- 

 tance east of the sun on the morniner 

 of November 19. The planet is then 

 far below the Celestial Equator, and 

 so if seen at all can only be detected 

 in the extreme southwest for a short 

 while after sunset. 



Venus is rapily moving out from the 

 sun's rays, passing Jupiter in its east- 

 ward motion on the evening of Novem- 

 ber 7. By the end of the month it sets 

 two and one-half hours after sunset 

 and may readily be detected in the 

 southwest, low in the twilight glow. 



Mars enters the morning sky on No- 

 vember 4; Jupiter is drawing rapidly 

 nearer the sun, though it does not pass 

 to the east of this body and become a 

 morning star until December 18. Both 

 of these planets are in an unfavorable 

 position for observation during this 

 month. 



Saturn is high in the east, nearly 

 midway between the Hyades and the 

 Pleiades, and presents a beautiful ob- 

 ject for study in a telescope of mod- 

 erate power. It is exactly ODposite the 

 sun (and so is due south at midnight) 

 on November 23. 



Figure 3. Appearance of Saturn and its rings. At persent we see the ring even more widened than hen 

 shown, but there is little trace of the shadow of the ball on the rings because Saturn's shadow- 

 now extends almost directly away from the earth. 



hides the light of this body from us The November Shooting Stars may 



exactly as if it were opaque, for the light best be seen after midnight from the 



of the hidden star is unable to pene- 14th to the 16th of the month. They 



trate the many millions of miles of dart outward in all directions across 



tenuous matter of which its attendant the sky from the constellation Leo, 



star is composed. Remarkable and sur- which is then well up from the ground 



prising as such a result is, it is to be re- in the east. 



