TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



in 



nitude" but some estimates include a few- 

 more. Of these twelve only the follow- 

 ing eight are visible in this latitude. 



A Few of the Other Bright Stars You 

 Should Know. 



Aldebaran 1 'ollux 



Antares c • 



Deneb t P1Ca 



Polaris Fomalhaut 



Denebola Regulus 



Famous Variables. 



Algol (Beta of Perseus) — a short 

 period (little less than three days). 



Mira (Omicron of Cetus) — a long 

 period (about eleven months). 



Delightfully Companionable. 



Rigel (dainty blue with tiny compan- 

 ion) 



Xi of Ursa Major ( Mizar, a double, 

 with Alcor)- 



***** 



A Few Best Double Stars. 



Gamma Andromedae (Almaack). 



Gamma Arietis (Mesartim). 



Gamma Leonis 



Albireo 

 Castor 



Eta Cassiopeia; 

 70 Ophiuchi 

 Omicron Eridani 



Quadruple : 



Epsilon Lyra;. 



***** 



Star Clusters. 



Naked Eye : Pleiades. Hyades. 



Opera Glass : Praesepe, Coma Bereni- 

 ces. 



Telescope: Double in Perseus, 13 M in 

 Hercules, 35 Gemini. 



Nebula : 



Andromeda, Orion. 



***** 



How Far Away Are They? 

 The distances of the planets from the 

 sun < and also from each other) as shown 

 in their table of specifications are meas- 

 ured in millions of miles- Even the near- 

 est stars are too far away for such a 



measuring scale. Light travels about 

 186,330 miles per second. The distance 

 that light travels in a year is used as a 

 measuring unit in stating the distances of 

 the stars. The nearest well-known and 

 very bright star is Sirius which is 8.6 

 light years distant- ( A faint star, La- 

 lande, is 6.9 light years). 61 Cygni is 8- 

 light years- 



Many of the brightest and well-known 

 stars are so far away as to be beyond 

 measurement. The well-known Pleiades 

 are supposed to be so far away as to take 

 the light (travelling at 186,330 miles a 

 second) 250 years to reach us. Of course 

 such distances are not only unmeasure- 

 able but inconceivable ! 



A Trio of Good Ones. 



G is the first letter in good, and the G 

 of the Greek alphabet is Gamma. When 

 I was showing some of my favorite 

 double stars to visitors in the Astro- 

 nomical Observatory, it occurred to me 

 that I had a trio of good ones and that 

 they all are Gammas, and therefore 

 not only really good, but alliterative^ 

 good. They are Gamma Andromedae, 

 Gamma Arietis, and Gamma Leonis. I 

 believe that the second one was, ac- 

 cording to some authorities, the first 

 discovered. The first in the list is 

 surely what our feminine gazers would 

 call the sweetest companionship of all ; 

 a well-known astronomer says that the 

 third is the brightest and most spec- 

 tacular. As the small boy might say, 

 "They are all beautiful ;" but an astron- 

 omer might well exclaim, "They are 

 Gamma, good !" 



Inconceivable Distances of Stars. 



It is probable that the stars in the 

 Milky Way are' from seven hundred to 

 a thousand "light years" away, and as 

 the power of stellar photography has 

 increased, more remote stars are con- 

 tinually revealed. Just think of it ! 

 Many of these stars we see not as they 

 existed in our own time or even in that 

 of our forefathers, but as they were 

 before man lived on earth ! Perhaps 

 there are some that the people of this 

 world will never see. — Henry Handy 

 McHenry. in "Popular Astronomy." 



The Moon. 



Pale wraith in the sky in morning light. 

 It illumes and glorifies the night. 



— Emma Peirce. 



