TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



365 



Milky Way is now seen stretching 

 along the horizon from the southeast 

 through the north to the southwest. 

 The winter branch is disappearing 

 and the summer branch is entering our 

 evening sky. 



^ :ji ^. ^c ifc 



The New Asteroid. 



A remarkable object was discovered 

 last February, which was described 



]f an asteroid, its path was certainly 

 very unlike that of the other asteroids. 

 Accordingly, it .was sometimes refer- 

 red to as a comet, but it was generally 

 called simply an "object" until its true 

 nature should be discovered. 



When a sufficient number of obser- 

 vations had been secured to enable its 

 path to be well determined it was 

 found to be indeed an asteroid, but one 



Figure 2. The path of the newly discovered asteroid above the sun. 



as an asteroid having a little asteroid, 

 or "moonlet," revolving around it. The 

 little companion was moving so rapid- 

 ly that it would pass completely 

 around the parent asteroid in a little 

 more than one day. The new asteroid 

 was of only the eleventh magnitude, 

 while its even fainter companion was 

 described as of the fourteenth magni- 

 tude. 



The new object was discovered in 

 the northern borders of the constella- 

 tion Gemini, but it was moving very 

 rapidly eastward ; in fact, its motion 

 was so rapid that it was doubtful 

 whether it was a true asteroid at all. 



moving in a very unusual orbit. The 

 form of this path is shown in Figure 

 2. It is the least circular of all the 

 asteroid orbits, so that when nearest 

 the sun it is far within the orbit of 

 Mars, and when farthest away it is 

 not very far from the orbit of Jupiter. 

 It may approach within nineteen mil- 

 lion miles of the earth. The only 

 other heavenly body which comes so 

 near us as this is another little aster- 

 oid named Eros, the moon alone ex- 

 cepted. Thus the new body comes 

 much nearer the earth than Venus or 

 any of the other planets of the solar 

 svstem. When it is at the most re- 



