'< IPULAR ASTRONOMY. 



i23 



his flaming' belt, composed of three 

 bright second magnitude stars in a 

 short row. Just on the edge of the 

 eastern horizon the king of the stars, 

 Sirins, is seen blazing and flickering 

 with prismatic lines. Above Taurus 

 shines the bright Capella in Auriga, a 

 star fully the equal of the great brilli- 

 ants of Orion, and east of Capella may 

 be seen Gemini with its twin stars Cas- 

 tor and Pollnx. Near the horizon, east 

 of Gemini and north of Sirins shines 

 the first magnitude star Procyon. If, 

 as is usually done, we count both Cas- 

 tor and Pollnx as first magnitude stars, 

 then this remarkable group of constel- 

 lations contains eight stars belonging 

 to the first rank, and several of the 

 second. On a clear evening the spec- 

 tacle that they offer is a most impos- 

 ing one for any contemplative onlook- 

 er. All of these stars are immensely 

 larger than our sun, and two of them 

 — Rigel and Betelgeuse — are probably 

 thousands of times more luminous 

 than our great god of day. The won- 

 der is increased by the fact that Betel- 

 geuse is variable, being sometimes 

 twice as bright as it is other times. Its 

 changes are slow and irregular, and at 

 present it is in one of its brilliant 

 moods, fully equalling if not exceeding 

 Rigel, from which it differs in color. 

 Full in the south, and covering a vast 

 space, is the great constellation Cetus, 

 the Whale, whose most remarkable 

 star Mira, a wonderful variable, is now 

 sinking in brightness, and in a few 

 months will be invisible to the naked 

 eye, only to brighten again next year. 

 North of Cetus, and close to the mer- 

 idian, we see the little constellation 

 Aries, the leader of the zodiac. North 

 of Aries, stretching east and west, ap- 

 pear Andromeda and Perseus, the head 

 of the former touching the northeast- 

 ern corner of the great square of Pe- 

 gasus, nearly under which shines Sat- 



urn. Between Andromeda and the 

 Pole star is the zigzag of Cassiopeia. 

 Away over in the west, sinking with a 

 bright part of the Milky Way, appears 

 the Northern Cross in Cygnus. Relow 

 the Cross, toward the north, glitters 

 the brilliant Vega in Lyra. The Great 

 Dipper in Ursa Major is under the pole 

 in the north. The Little Dipper hangs 

 bowl downward, its handle pinned by 

 the Pole Star at the upper end. Far 

 down in the southwest the lone Fomal- 

 haut, in the Southern Fish, flames up- 

 on the horizon, sinking from sight as 

 Sirins in the opposite quarter rises 

 higher and glows more brilliantly. 



December is one of the richest 

 months in the number of its meteor 

 showers, although it possesses none 

 comparable with the great showers of 

 August and November. The brightest 

 occur on the nights from the ioth to 

 the 1 2th, inclusive, the radiant point 

 being near the heads of the twins 

 in Gemini. These meteors are swift 

 in their movements and have short 

 tracks. On the night of the 25th there 

 are usually to be seen meteors, radia- 

 ting from a point somewhat further 

 west, which are remarkable for their 

 slow deliberate motion. 



There will be a central eclipse of the 

 sun, the third solar eclipse of the year, 

 on December 22-23, but it will not be 

 visible in the United States. The as- 

 tronomical winter begins on the 22nd, 

 when the north pole has already been 

 buried for nearly three months in 

 night. 



The latest ephemeris of Morehouse's 

 comet, indicates that it will be in peri- 

 helion on Christmas day. It was at its 

 brightest in October when it was pass- 

 ing south between the Northern Cross 

 and Lyra. This comet is a small tele- 

 scopic object, whose tail has undergone 

 some remarkable changes, entirely in- 

 visible with the naked eve. 



