TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



209 



Mars, tliough destined soon to enter 

 the borders of our evening star map, 

 is still a little too far east to be shown 

 in Figure i. During November it 

 moves from Cancer well into the con- 

 stellation Leo. On November i it is a 

 little above and to the east of the re- 

 markable cluster of stars known as the 

 Praesepe, while by November 30 it has 

 reached a position only slightly to the 

 right of Regulus. On the former date 

 it rises about 10 o'clock, and on the 

 latter half an hour earlier. This planet 

 is still drawing steadily nearer to us. 

 its distance decreasing during the pre- 

 sent month from 122 to 99 millions of 

 miles. It will not, however, be in its 

 best position for observation and be- 

 come a striking object in the evening 

 heavens until next spring. 



Jupiter, which is seen shining bril- 

 liantly in the south, a little to the west 

 of the meridian, is now the most beauti- 

 ful and conspicuous object in the even- 

 ing sky. This planet is always a most 

 satisfying object for examination in a 

 small telescope. If the air is reason- 

 ably steady its beautiful rose-colored 

 bands and its four bright moons can 

 always be seen, and if the observer 

 has the patience to watch this world 

 for only a few hours he can see clearly 

 that it is turning around under his 

 telescope. In fact, any marking which 

 is seen emerging at the right-hand edge 

 of the planet will pass completely 

 across the disc and disappear at the 

 left-hand edge in less than live hours : 

 and, meanwhile, the bright moons will 

 be seen to be rapidl}- changing their 

 positions, some transiting across the 

 planet's disc, some passing l^ehind it 

 and some passing into the planet's 

 shadow and becoming eclipsed, so that 

 altogether the wonderful system af- 

 fords perhaps the best study in a small 

 telescope of any object in the entire 

 heavens. Eclipses, etc., of the moons 

 will be seen to occtir in unusual num- 

 bers on the evenings of November 2. 

 9, 22 and 27. 



The beautiftil planet Saturn will be 

 seen in almost the center of the constel- 

 lation Gemini, a short distance up from 

 the east point of the horizon in the 

 early evening and by midnight it will 

 have risen high in the heavens. The 

 rings of this planet are now widely 

 opened and it forms a beautiful object 

 in a small telescope. The planet is now 



between the bright stars A and B of 

 Figure i. It is at present retrograding, 

 or moving westward over the sky, and 

 will pass the star at A on December 27. 

 This westward motion of Saturn will 

 continue until March 11, when it will 

 have reached the position C. After this 

 it will run rapidly eastward, nc^t, how- 

 ever, finally passing the star at B until 

 June 21. The eastward motion of Sat- 

 urn carries it entirely arotmd the sphere 

 in about 30 years, but in the course of 

 this motion it retrogrades no less than 

 29 times, so that its actual path among 

 the stars is a very complicated one. 



The November Shooting Stars. 

 If the observer will go out of doors 

 toward midnight about the middle of 

 the month and face northeast he will 

 see an occasional shooting star dart 

 outward from the constellation Leo. 

 move very swiftly across the sky and 

 disappear. These are the November 

 shooting stars. Each one is a little 

 meteoric body which is moving with 

 a high velocity about the sun and 

 which, colliding with the upper regions 

 of our air, is rendered luminous and 

 speedily consumed by the great fric- 

 tion to which it is stibjected. The 

 earth happens to run into this stream 

 of particles, consequently they plow 

 through our air with a speed of about 

 40 miles a second and are hence very 

 cpiickly consumed. The stream of 

 August meteors on the contrary over- 

 take the earth, and therefore enter our 

 air with a velocity of only about eight 

 miles a second ; these shooting stars are 

 hence consumed but slowly, and travel 

 in long paths across the sky. For these 

 reasons also the light of the November 

 meteors is of a deep bluish color, while 

 that of the August meteors is yellow- 

 ish or red. The former meteoric swarm 

 is following about the sun the exact 

 path of a comet known as Tempel's 

 Comet : it is indeed believed to be noth- 

 ing less than the remains of this com- 

 et, which has been drawn out along its 

 orbit for a great distance owing to the 

 tidal action of the stin. Each year in 

 November our earth runs into this 

 swarm of meteroic particles and there 

 results what we observe as the Novem- 

 ber shower of shooting stars. 



No star seemed less than what science 

 has taught us that it is. — Cooper. 



