THE HEAVENS FOR MAY 



399 



the brightest star of Orion (at A, 

 Figure i), hut this, unlike Arcturus, is 

 in a very different condition from our 

 own sun. It has apparently proceeded 

 much farther in its development, and 

 is approaching the point of extinction. 

 To the east of Bootes is the delicate 

 arc of stars known as the Northern 

 Crown, or Ariadne's Crown, of which 

 the star at D is sometimes called the 

 Pearl of the Crown. This star is re- 

 ceding from us at the rate of twenty 

 miles each second. Indeed, all of the 



Throughout May and June occa- 

 sional faint shooting stars may be seen 

 to dart outward form Corona, but the 

 display will at no time be a striking 

 one, for the stream of particles from 

 which this shower comes is a very thin 

 and scattered one. The observer 

 should also not fail to examine the 

 wonderful star-cluster at E, about one- 

 third of the way from the star F to the 

 star G. Here there are 60,000 stars 

 crowded together in a compact cluster, 

 which may be seen with a small tele- 



30UTH # 



WEST 



Figure 2. 



I IORTH 



The path followed by one star about the other in the double-sun system, Gamma Virginis, at B, 



Figure 1. 



stars of the sky are in motion in all 

 imaginable directions, but so immense- 

 ly far are they away from us that we 

 cannot usually perceive any change in 

 their positions until after the lapse of 

 hundreds, or even thousands, of years. 

 Thus, Arcturus, for example, which is 

 moving with wonderful swiftness, re- 



scope, or even with the naked eye, 

 though to bring out its full beauty a 

 large glass is required. A wide cluster 

 will be found in Cancer at the point H, 

 Figure 1. 



THE NEW STAR IN T GEMINI. 



On March 12 of this year, a bright 

 new star was discovered in the con- 



quires more than 1000 years to alter stellation of the Twins at the point 



its position in the heavens an amount shown in Figure 1, almost in a di- 



so great as the apparent distance across rect line between the stars C and D. 



the face of the moon. At this time it was nearly as bright 



