THE STARRY HEAVENS IN OCTOBER 



199 



The Starry Heavens in October. 



BY PROFESSOR ERIC DOOLITTLE OF THE 

 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

 Our first autumn month is always 

 distinguished by the entrance of the 

 beautiful star group Taurus — the first 

 of the bright train of winter constella- 

 tions — into our evening sky. At nine 

 o'clock all of the constellations will 

 have risen from the ground except the 



in our evening heavens, to remain 

 with us throughout the entire winter. 

 The October Stars. 

 Following along the eastern horizon 

 toward the north, we meet next the 

 bright star, Capella, now at about the 

 same height from the ground as the 

 Pleiades, that great golden sun so ex- 

 actly like our own sun but so immeas- 

 urably larger, while above this we 



5outH 



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

 facing east, hold East below. If facirg west, hold West below. If facing north, hold the map inverted.) 



bright star which marks the extreme tip 

 of the lower horn of the Bull, this, in 

 turn, appears a few minutes later and 

 the whole constellation, with its two 

 beautiful bright clusters known as the 

 Hyades and the Pleiades, will be seen 



find the group of many rather faint 

 stars known as Perseus, among which 

 is the remarkable eclipsing star at B, 

 Figure i. This star will be darkened 

 this month on October 14, at 11 130 P. 

 M., on October 17 at 8:15 P. M., and 



