148 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Starry Heavens in September. 



BY PROFESSOR ERIC DOOLITTLE OF THE 

 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



With the arrival of the autumn 

 months our evening skies again pre- 

 sent the transitional a>pect between 

 the stars of summer and those of win- 

 ter. The great summer group of 

 Virgo has quite disappeared and only 

 the extreme eastern borders of Scorpio 

 linger with us, while the very brilliant 



are those belonging distinctively to the 

 heavens in autumn. Almost overhead 

 there shines out the very brilliant 

 Vega ; exactly south is the golden Al- 

 tair ; high in the west rides the great 

 Arcturus, and finally, in the southeast, 

 we see the beautiful, reddish Fomal- 

 haut — the Solitary One — which to the 

 astrologers portended eminence, for- 

 tune and power. This last star is the 

 most trulv of all an autumn star, since 



NOBTrt 



30UTH 



Figure 1. The Constellations at 9 P. M,, September 1. (If facing south, hold map upright. 

 East below. If facingwest, hold West below. II facing north, hold the map inverted.) 



If facing east, hold 



and interesting Taurus — the first of 

 the bright winter groups — is just be- 

 yond the eastern borders of our even- 

 ing map, but has not yet entered the 

 early evening sky. 



The September Stars. 

 Meanwhile, the stars which we see 



it is only seen in our evening heavens 

 during the autumn months ; in Decem- 

 ber it will withdraw from our skies un- 

 til another autumn has come. 



The beautiful Northern Cross is now 

 at the very highest point of the heav- 

 ens ; the great H-shaped Hercules is a 



