TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



263 



when so many people were making ori- 

 ginal discoveries. An astronomer, 

 Hooke, was looking at a comet through 

 his telescope. Near that comet he made 

 a startling discover)'. He found Gam- 

 ma Arieties and the Mesartim. "I 

 took notice that it consisted of two 

 small stars ver}- near together, a like 

 instance to which I have not yet met 

 with in all the heavens." That was the 

 first double star ever discovered. 

 Previously to that no one even imag- 

 ined such a thing as a double star. You, 

 my friend, may be in that condition of 

 mind. Come to the observatory and 

 change your mind. You may exper- 

 ience Mr. Hook's surprise and grati- 

 fication. Gamma Arietis is a little 

 twin jewel in appearance but in fact 

 it is two mighty suns millions of miles 

 apart and each probably as big as our 

 one. Every astronomer that has ever 

 seen Gamma Arietis calls it a "fine 

 double." a white and a pale gray. It 

 is indeed a "fine double." but Almaack 

 is a "splendid double." Those that 

 have access to a large telescope say 

 that the little star is itself a double 

 so that the system is really a triple. 

 Rut if the little twinkler were divided 

 into four, it would not bring to my 

 mind so much pleasure as does its glim- 

 mering orange beside the emerald 

 green of its brighter companion. There 

 are other "splendid doubles" in the sky 

 at the present time, but I think that, 

 as T keep AA'ang as my standard of 

 comjiarison for comic operas, so you 

 will keep Gamma Andromedae, the 

 Almaack, as the standard of excellence 

 bv which vou will judge all "fine dou- 

 bles." 



In mv Dcrsonal opinion this is the 

 finest double in all the heavens. It is 

 mv favorite. Well, wait a moment. 

 Tt is difincult to tell which is the best. 

 Of course you know T had a mental 

 reservation regarding the astonishing 

 blue and the dainty little companion 

 of Rigel in Orion. Almaack and the 

 bhie Rigel. "I could be happy with 

 either were t'other dear charmer awav." 



The .Stars ! W^ords fail mc here. 

 They filled my soul with a something 

 deeper and a w^orship truer and higher 

 than I had ever known in my three 

 score -^-ears. — l\Trs. David ^^^ fackson. 

 Rartville, Pa. 



Baseball Diamonds in the Sky. 



BV W. B. CL.^RKE, M.D., IXDI.XN AWJMS, 

 INDIANA. 



Professor Doolittle's article, "The 

 Heavens in November," in your Novem- 

 ber issue interested me. While not an as- 

 tronomer nor a student of astronomy, 

 though perhaps 1 may be accused of some- 

 times being a stargazer, it is possible that 

 I have made an astronomical discovery 

 that may interest the lovers of baseball, 

 from the President down. 



As I gazed at the professor's circular 

 representation of the constellatitjiis in 

 their respective places, I thought I saw- 

 something", and then went out and scan- 

 ned the sky for verifications, and found 

 them, just as any other tyro can do these 

 starlight nights if no strong and discon- 

 certing electric lights are near. I enclose 

 a diagram of what I saw, the interpreta- 

 tions being in red ink. 



The aforesaid lovers of baseball, 

 whether "our" team finished high or low, 

 should be delighted to learn of my dis- 

 covery that beautiful baseball diamonds, 

 full of stars, make nightly appearance in 

 the heavens at this late season of the year. 

 It has not been determined what league 

 these unchanging diamonds belong to, nor 

 have scores of their games yet been re- 

 ceived, but it is evident, reasoning from 

 the popular Martian philosophy of these 

 war times, that there is such a league. A 

 little to the east of directly overhead (in 

 the middle of Indiana) is a plainly out- 

 lined diamond, the prettiest of the whole 

 lot ; north of that another nearly as well 

 defined, and four smaller and less perfect 

 ones in the west, east and south, but 

 whose teams are evidently traveling as 

 their pitchers are not visible. 



The plainest, most conspicuous and 

 most perfect diamond is in the great 

 Milky \\'ay ( perhaps appropriately, as in 

 baseball it is the public that is getting 

 milked ) and belongs, as Astronomer Doo- 

 little would locate it, a la constellation, to 

 the Cygnus Club (right in the swim) ; 

 the next most perfect belong's to the 

 Pegasus Club (running well) ; two others 

 to Ursa !Major and Ursa ]\Iinor (continu- 

 ally growling at tlie umpire), with Cetus 

 and Draco and ]:)erhaos Lyra trailing 

 along behind. Any of the "fans" can 

 easily find Cygnus and Pegasus any fine 

 evening, and then can have my head for 

 a football if they can't. 



In Cygnus all the players are in almost 

 perfect position, with the umpire, with a 



