PO PU I .A R A ST RO N OMV. 



279 



PdPUL<&R.?\STRqNoMY 



THE HEAVENS I> NOVEMBER. 



BY GARRETT P. SKRVISS. BROOKLYN, X.Y. 



Saturn is the reigning planet in the 

 evening sky for November this year. He 

 is well situated for observation, being 

 near the meridian at 9 o'clock in the 

 middle of the month. He is in the con- 

 stellation Pisces, not far from the vernal 

 equinoctial point, and consequently close 

 to the equator and the ecliptic at the 

 same time. The minor axis of the rings 

 is somewhat shorter than in September 

 and October, and consequently they ap- 

 pear less widely opened. They present, 

 however, a very beautiful spectacle in 

 the telescope. It is the southern side of 

 the rings which is now visible, and it is 

 upon this side that the sun will continue 

 to shine until 1922, when the rings will 

 again be edgewise toward the ends, and 

 after that their northern surface will 

 cave into the sunshine, as well as into 

 visibility from the earth. At present 

 the apparent minor axis of the rings is 

 less than one tenth of the major axis, 

 hut this will open wider and wider, year 

 after year, until in 1915 the minor axis 

 will be half as great as the major axis, 

 and the outer border of the rings will 

 he seen hiding the north pole of the 

 planet at one side, and projecting out- 

 ward from behind the south pole on the 

 other side. No greater pleasure could 

 he recommended to an amateur astrono- 

 mer, possessed of a three or four-inch 

 telescope than that of watching the 

 gradual opening of Saturn's rings, at 

 every opportunity, during the next few 

 years. As they open wider the "crape" 

 ring, the innermost of the set, becomes 

 more clearly visible where it crosses the 

 planet like a shadowy band. 



Uranus and Neptune are also even- 

 ing stars, the former setting and the 

 latter rising at about the hours for which 

 the chart is drawn — 9 P. M. November 



1st; 7 I'. Al. Nove'mber 30th the other 

 planets. Venus, Mercury, Mars and 

 Jupiter are all in the morning sky, strung 

 out in a row from the constellation Leo 

 into Virgo. Jupiter is in the eastern end 

 of Leo, and rises about 2 A. M. on 

 November 1st, and about midnight on 

 November 30th. Venus comes next, in 

 Virgo, rising between 4 and 5 A. Al. on 

 the 1st. Then follows Mars a half hour 

 later, near the bright star Spica. Mars 

 and Venus will be in conjunction on the 

 30th. Mercury, the swift-footed, ad- 

 vancing westward from its conjunction 

 with the sun on Oct. 27th, will reach 

 its greatest western elongation on the 

 13th, when it will rise before 6 A. M., in 

 the eastern part of Virgo. 



The Stars and Constellations. 

 The great attraction of the stellar 

 heavens in November is found by the 

 remarkable group of northern constella- 

 tions called the "Royal Family," includ- 

 ing Cassiopeia, the Queen, Cepheus, the 

 King, Andromeda, the Princess, and Per- 

 seus, the Rescuer, who, according to 

 the ancient myth, saved Andromeda 

 from the sea monster, when her family, 

 by the orders of the jealous sea nymphs, 

 had chained her on a rock on the sea 

 coast to become the prey of the monster. 

 This monster has sometimes been identi- 

 fied with the huge whale Cetus, which 

 is seen occupying nearly all the south- 

 eastern quarter of the sky. Andromeda 

 is recognizable by a row of three sec- 

 ond magnitude stars, the westernmost 

 of which is identical with the northeast- 

 ern star in the East Square of Pegasus, 

 which bears the name of Alpheratz. 

 This marks the head of the chained prin- 

 cess. The position of her feet is indica- 

 ted by the star Gamma, the easternmost 

 of the row. Cassiopeia, "heaven-troubled 

 queen," is placed between Andromeda 

 and the pole, and is always easily recog- 

 nized by the five stars forming the out- 



