TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



211 



is a fourth magnitude star but on ac- 

 count of its intrinsic interest even out- 

 rivals Vega, the third brightest star 

 of the sky. With it and with one other 

 star it forms a small equal-sided tri- 

 angle. It is not only a good example of 

 a double but of a double double. Even 

 with the unaided eye, if acute, it may 

 be seen as a double star. A small opera 

 glass readily separates the two doubles, 

 but the six inch at the Sound Beach 

 Observatory shows not only the double 

 but splits each component, making a 

 double double. Between the two com- 

 ponents appear two faint spots of light 

 that Sir John Herschel made famous by 

 naming debillissima. If we may call 

 the new star in Andromeda, The 

 Ghost, then we may call this The Will- 

 o'-the-Wisp, because now you see it 

 and now you don't. It demands care- 

 ful scrutiny with the most sensitive 

 part of the retina. About ten degrees 

 east of Vega, within this constellation, 

 appears the famous Ring Nebula of 

 Lyra. This is considered by some to 

 be as interesting as the Andromeda 

 Nebula. 



6. The famous colored star, Albireo. 

 This is Beta Cygni and if one thinks of 

 the beautiful constellation in the Milky 

 Way as a swan flying southward, then 

 this is the bill of the swan. If one 

 thinks of it, as is commonly done, as a 

 cross, then Albireo is to be regarded as 

 the base of a cross leaning toward the 

 north. Perhaps this is the most charm- 

 ing of all double stars. During Novem- 

 ber a number of beautiful colored stars 

 will be easily accessible. For those 

 that best like these objects a list of 

 some half dozen will be provided. The 

 components of Albireo are in sharp and 

 beautiful contrast — light yellow and 

 deep blue. It is a heavenly sight un- 

 known to one that has not used a tele- 

 scope, and to which one may return 

 again and again with pleasure undimin- 

 ished. 



7. Algol, the Demon Star. Every 

 starlovershould be able to locate Algol, 

 and to follow the perfect and regular 

 changes that occur at intervals of two 

 days, twenty hours, forty-eight min- 

 utes and fifty-five seconds ; that is, they 

 occur on every third day about three 

 hours and eleven minutes earlier in the 

 day than at the previous maximum or 

 minimum. Perhaps there is no other 

 variable about which so many popular 



articles have been written. The story 

 is as fascinating as any that can be 

 told. Algol is supposed to have a dark 

 component about the size of our sun 

 and slightly smaller than Algol itself ; 

 it does not totally eclipse Algol, but as 

 it revolves around the star gradually, 

 and regularly every three days, reduces 

 its light from the second to the fourth 

 magnitude. Can anything be more fas- 

 cinating than a black sun that circles 

 around a bright star but never com- 

 pletely hides it? 



8. The Milky Way or The Galaxy. 

 The telescope shows that here, spinning 

 together, are unknown millions of stars, 

 wath others as numerous that the most 

 powerful telescopes can only faintly 

 define. Our six inch telescope is turned 

 on various parts of this amazing collec- 

 tion of suns, suns as plentiful as are the 

 sands of the sea, and shows their segre- 

 gation, or collection, into little groups, 

 and among them, here and there, 

 amidst this streaming of dust-like suns, 

 jet black, apparently empty holes, 

 places where one might say, in popular 

 language, "The bottom of everything 

 has fallen out," and through them we 

 gaze into vacant space. 



9. Mizar. This is the big bear's 

 principal attraction. Even the naked eye 

 shows near it a small star named Alcor, 

 but the telescope will apparently cut 

 Mizar in two and show that it consists 

 of two bright stars brilliantly contrast- 

 ing in color, the larger white, the small- 

 er blue green. These two with Alcor 

 form an interesting triangle. Besides 

 Alcor several fainter stars are seen 

 clustered together over the field of 

 view. "Taken all in all," says Mr. Ser- 

 viss, "there are very few equally beau- 

 tiful sights in the starry heavens." 

 Near-bv are several interesting nebulae. 



10. The Pivot of the Top. All the 

 stars and other objects that have been 

 mentioned move rapidly out of the 

 field of the telescope, showing that the 

 earth is whirling rapidly in space, lit- 

 erally spinning like a top, and carrying 

 the telescope with it. The telescope 

 will be turned on Polaris, the pole star, 

 that is interesting not only in itself but 

 in the fact that it is the pivot around 

 which all the others are turning. The 

 pole star is not exactly the pivot, but is 

 so near that for practical purposes it 

 stands still like the pivot of a spinning 

 top, and will remain long in the field of 



