232 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Contributions to the Sound Beach 

 Observatory. 



Miss A. P. Cobb, Sound Beach. . .$ i.oo 

 Frederick H. Getman, Ph.D., 



Stamford 5-Oo 



Mr. Charles B. Allyn, Riverside, 



Conn 5-00 



Mr. Arthur F. Estabrook, Boston, 



Mass 25.00 



Mr. L. S. Miller, Sound Beach. . . . 2.85 

 Mr, Mason Parker, Greenwich. . . 5.00 

 Mr. Alfred Gilbert Smith. 



Greenwich 25.00 



Total $ 68.85 



Previously acknowledged $932.58 



Grand Total $1,001.43 



Only $150 more needed. Please 

 clear that up before the Holidays. 



;;; H: * * * 



The Heavens in November. 



BY PROF. ERIC DOOLITTLE, OF THE UNIVER- 

 SITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



THE whole eastern half of our even- 

 ing heavens now appears a most 

 beautiful spectacle. The great 

 group Taurus has mounted more than 

 half way to the zenith ; the very beautiful, 

 bright Gemini covers a large part of the 

 sky toward the east, while above this last 

 constellation we see the very brilliant, 

 golden Capella and below it there shines 

 the bright, bluish Procyon, a most beauti- 

 ful double-sun system known as the Les- 

 ser Dog Star. 



Below Gemini, in the northeast, there 

 has again appeared that strange, faint 

 little group of the Crab, within whose 

 borders is the misty little patch of light 

 known as the Little Cloud to the ancients 

 and which even the smallest telescope will 

 show to be a loose cluster of about 150 

 suns. When, in a clear sky, this little 

 cloud grew more and more indistinct, and 

 perhaps finally entirely disappeared, it 

 was regarded as a certain sign of rain. 

 Thus it was employed as a sort of 

 weather-glass, though it would apnear 

 that the wonderfully delicate, filmy haze 



of stars forming the constellation known 

 as the Maiden's Hair should have been 

 still more useful for this purpose. 



^; ;)c ;]; >)! sj; 



A New Attendant to the Dog Star. 



Following along the horizon from 

 Cancer toward the south, we next come 

 to the wonderful Dog Star, Sirius, the 

 brightest star of the entire heavens. It 

 will be remembered that so early as 1844 

 it was known that this great sun must 

 have a companion sun revolving around 

 it, for a mathematical investigation show- 

 ed conclusively that Sirius was continu- 

 ally being disturbed by the gravitational 

 pull of some unseen body. It was not 

 until the year 1862, however, that the 

 companion was ac- tally seen in the tele- 

 scope. 



Within the last two months another 

 excessively faint little star has been dis- 

 covered near Sirius. The new body is 

 31 seconds south of the bright star and 

 of only the fourteenth magnitude ; that 

 is, it is only one one-hundredth part as 

 bright as the old companion. 



It is probable that this very minute 

 body is not physically connected with the 

 bright star but that it is almost infinitely 

 far away and only happens to lie in the 

 same direction and hence to be seen ap- 

 parently near Sirius in the sky. As the 

 latter star is, however, drifting so very 

 rapidly through space that it is displaced 

 in its apparent position on the sky by 

 no less than one three-tenths seconds 

 every year, it will require the measures 

 of but a few years to decide whether it 

 is carrying the new companion along 

 with it or not. 



The Constellation Orion. 



But most interesting of all the star 

 grouDs which have recently entered the 

 sky is the very brilliant Orion, that most 

 wonderful midwinter constellation which 

 is brighter and more striking than any 

 other star grouo of the heavens. The 

 head of this mightv hunter is marked 



