288 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



side becomes turned more and more 

 away from us its apparent shape be- 

 comes that of an ever-narrowing, bril- 

 liant crescent. Throughout the earl} 

 part of April it is the night side of the 

 planet which is turned almost directly 

 toward us. This dark portion has been 

 seen at times to be very faintly illumi- 

 nated from some source originating in 

 the atmosphere of the planet itself and 

 which is very probably an electrical dis- 

 play more or less closely resembling 

 our own Aurora Borealis. Venus will 

 pass to the west of the sun and become 

 a morning star on the morning of April 

 24. 



The planet Saturn is now moving slow- 

 ly eastward in Taurus, nearly midway 

 between the llyades and Pleiades. The 

 rings are very widely opened out, and 

 this whole wonderful system is still 

 excellently situated for observation. 



Jupiter and Mars are still in the 



morning sky, the former rising about 

 three hours and the latter about two 

 hours before sunrise. It will be 

 many months before these objects will 

 be seen in our evening heavens. 



The remarkable variable star, Mira, 

 which lies in the constellation of the 

 Whale, will reach its greatest bright- 

 ness this year on April 12. At this 

 time it is expected that this usually 

 very faint star will shine out with a 

 somewhat greater brightness than that 

 of Polaris. Unfortunately, during 

 April the sun will be so near this part 

 of the sky that the variable can hardly 

 be observed. During March, however, 

 it may be seen in the southwest for 

 more than two hours after sunset, and 

 the observer who is familiar with its 

 usual appearance cannot fail to be 

 struck by its sudden and wonderful 

 increase in brightness. 



THOUGH NOT 

 THE DOG STAR, 

 I AM A "STAR" 

 DOG. 



And this is a re- 

 markable "star" pho- 

 tograph of a startled 

 expression. 



Cut by courtesy of 

 "Our Dumb Ani- 

 mals," Boston. 



