THE HEAVENS 



271 



The Stars and Planets 



BY rROEESSOR S. A MITCH ELL, COLUMBIA 



UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY. 



Written solely and expressly for "The Guide 



to Nature." Information on astronomical 



subjects freely given. — E. F. B. 



There is no keener pleasure to the 

 average educated person than an in- 

 telligent aquaintance with the heaven^ 

 and the magnificent objects there be- 

 held. The names of the beautiful stars 

 as they change their places from night 

 to night and month to month are read- 

 ily learned by any one who is sufficient- 

 ly interested to devote a little time 

 once in a while to a study of the 

 heavens at night. To add interest and 

 novelty to the old familiar constella- 

 tions, the planets are continually 

 changing in brightness and position — 

 wandering stars, as the Greeks called 

 them. Occasionally, there flashes in 

 the sky a brilliant comet with its wide 

 flowing tail, and at such times every 

 one is interested in astronomy. 



There is always something new to 

 watch in the sky, and these astronom- 

 ical columns each month will be de- 

 voted to a simple explanation, devoid 

 of technical language, of what is worth 

 paying special attention to. No knowl- 

 edge of astronomy will be necessary to 

 read these lines with profit, but the 

 more one understands the grand old 

 science of astronomy, the more will he 

 be able to read with pleasure and ap- 

 preciate the simplicity and order re- 

 vealed in Nature. 



At this season of the year, the most 

 beautiful portions of the whole heavens 

 are held up in the evening sky for onr 

 inspection. At eight o'clock at the 

 middle of December, we see on the 

 horizon south of east the most brilliant 

 fixed star in the whole heavens, the 

 ■"dog-star," Sirius. North of east, and 

 also near the horizon, we see another 



first magnitude star, Procyon. To the 

 west of Sirius and Procyon, is seen the 

 magnificent constellation Orion with 

 the three stars of equal magnitude 

 forming the belt of the warrior. Higher 

 up in the sky is the group of stars 

 called the Hyades, with the yellowish 

 star, Aldebaran, as its chief star, and 

 still higher up, the Pleiades. Between 

 these beautiful groups, the Hyades and 

 Pleiades, is a brilliant yellow or red- 

 dish object, the much discussed planet, 

 Mars. It was at its greatest brilliancy 

 in November, when it was brighter 

 than it will be for a dozen years to 

 come, and it is now slowly on the wane. 

 However, it will for many months be a 

 magnificent object, and subject of close 

 study alike to the professional and 

 amateur astronomer. It needs no tele- 

 scope to readily ascertain that mars is 

 not a fixed star, but it is changing its 

 position. By noting its place with re- 

 spect to the Pleiades, you will see that 

 during December, Mars is moving 

 westward among the stars till it gets 

 west of the Pleiades (and a little south 

 of them). On December 29th, the 

 planet becomes stationary in the sky, 

 and then reverses its motion and moves 

 eastwards. 



To the west of Mars is Saturn, the 

 wonderful. It too was at its greatest 

 brilliancy in November when it was 

 about eight hundred millions of miles 

 from the earth. The possessor of a 

 small telescope will find a never-end- 

 ing source of pleasure in watching the 

 splendid ring system of Saturn. 



The beautiful star in the east these 

 cold winter mornings is Venus, and 

 still farther to the east is giant Jupiter. 

 It is worth while getting out of bed to 

 see these two brilliant objects before 

 sunrise. 



Venus is so bright it may be seen in 

 davtime if one cares to look. 



