180 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[August, 1901. 



of arc in a thousand years. Beta Capricorni is also a 

 beailtiful double in the opera-glass, the fainter star being 

 of a sky-blue tint. The only other stars of any gi-eat 

 brightness in the constellation are Zeta, Gamma and 

 Delta, which mark the fishtail. Delta is indeed the 

 brightest star in the whole asterisni, and bears the name 

 Deneb Algiedi, the " tail of the goat." Following Zeta 

 by about the same distance that Alpha is from Beta, 

 the opera-glass will show as a faint point of light 30 

 Messier, a large cluster of remarkable richness. 

 " Down from bright Vega, cast your gliince across the Dolphin's space 

 Then just as far again you'll "find the Waterbearer's place." 



Aquarius is one of the straggling constellations, and 

 pretty ncaxly overwhelms Capricornus. He has been 

 figured from time immemorial as a man pouring out a 

 stream of water from a pitcher ; but for some reason, 

 which is now lost to us, his right arm is stretched back- 

 wards to the fullest extent possible so as to reach over 

 almost the entire length 8f Capricorn. The figure is by 

 no means clearly marked out in the main. The stream 

 from the pitcher can be traced in the number of faint 



LVNX 



/ URSA •• 

 * MAJOR • 



CANES 



^^ CAMELOPAROUS 



PER5EUSJ&1 " URSA MINOR 



,<?• <-'■ >i«^ * HERCULES • , 



>^ PISCES ' • «";"^. ^^^''' *" ' . i *• 





The Midniglit Sky for London, 1901, August 5. 



stars in the eastern portion of the constellation, which 

 lead downward in wavering curves to Fomalhaut, a star 

 of the first magnitude and one of the four ancient Royal 

 Stars. Dwellers further south can recognize Fomalhaut 

 without any difiiculty, since Achernar lies just mid-way 

 between it and Canopus. But at 2 o'clock in the morn- 

 ing in the present time of the year it is impossible for 

 English obseivers to mistake the star; it lies low ctown 

 on our southern horizon without any serious comj)etitor 

 near it. 



Its name Fomalhaut simply means " the Fish's 

 Mouth," for strangely enougii through all the long 

 centuries that the starry symbols have come down to 

 us, Aquarius has always been shown as pouring forth 

 his stream of water into the mouth of a fish ; soirely 

 the strangest and most bizarre of symbols. 



Fomalhaut, Beta Capricorni and Alpha Aquarii form 

 the points of a triangle which is nearly equilateral. 

 Alpha Aquarii is known as Sadalinclik, the " fortunate 



star of the King "; Beta Aquarii, one-third of the way 

 from Alpha Aquai-ii to Beta Capricorni, is Sadal Sud, 

 " the luckiest of the lucky," supposed to refer to the 

 good- fortune attending the passing of winter. Alpha 

 and Beta mark the two shouldei-s of the waterpourer, 

 and three bright stars near Alpha, Gamma, Eta and 

 Pi, with a fourth, Zeta, almost in the centre of the 

 triangle, mark the body of the pitcher from which 

 Aquarius is pouring. 



The outstretched arm of Aquarius is marked by a 

 slightly curved line of stars extending from Beta 

 Aquarii to Alpha Capricorni. Two fairly bright stars, 

 Mu and Epsilon, near Alpha Capricorni, give the place 

 of the Waterbearer's hand. In the middle of the arm 

 is Nu, a much fainter star, and about a degree and a 

 half preceding it. Just barely within the power of an 

 opera^glass to reveal it as a faint point of light, is one 

 of the most wonderful of the planetary nebulae. Mid- 

 way between Alpha and Beta Aquarii, but above the 

 line joining them, is M. 2, in the head of the Water- 

 pourer ; "a heap of fine sand" where each grain is 

 a sun. 



Those who have the opportunity of observing from 

 southern or ecjuatorial regions, will find the brightest 

 and most easily recognized of all the new constellations 

 due to Dircksz Keyser, just south of Piscis Australis, 

 the constellation of which Fomalhaut is the chief star. 

 This is Grus, the Crane, and five bright stars distributed 

 at equal distances along a gentle and regular curve, 

 whilst a bright second magnitude star precedes them, 

 form its principal characteristics. The Microscope, 

 interpolated by Lacaille between Sagittarius and Piscis 

 Australis, and the Sculptor's Tools, now more generally 

 known as the Sculptor, which ho added below Aquarius, 

 are as destitute of features of interest as the designs 

 are of appropriateness to their celestial svu-roundings. 



PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE NEBULAE W V. 32 



ORIONIS, y IV. 2 MONOCEROTIS, Ijl IV. 28 



CORVI, AND y I. 139 (M. 61) VIRGINIS. 



By Isaac Roberts, d.sc, p.e.s. 



NEBULA y V. 32 ORIONIS. 

 R.A. 5h. Im. 57s. Decl. 3° 29'-4 South. Epoch 1900. 

 Scale— one millimetre to twelve seconds of arc. 

 Repeeences. 



N.G.C. 1788. G.C. 1005. h 347. y V. .32. Rosse, 

 Ohs. Neh. and Gl, p. 46. 



The photograpli was taken with the 20-inch reflector on 

 February 28th, 1890, between sidereal time 5h. 44m. and 

 Sh. 4ni., with an exposure of the plate during two hours 

 and twenty minutes, and it shows the nebula to be cloud- 

 like in form and extending in north preceding to south 

 following direction with fainter nebulous extensions 

 towards the north following. There are dark areas which 

 indicate that we can see, through gaps in the nebulosity, 

 into the lightless void beyond it ; the larger gap being on 

 the south and south preceding sides, with a solitary faint 

 nebulous star-like condensation near its centre. 



One star of about 9th magnitude with a comes of 13-14 

 magnitude are apparently involved in the northern part of 

 the nebula, and in the south foUou'ing end is an apparently 

 nebulous star of about 10-11 magnitude; there are also 

 seven or eight stars of less brightness than 13th magni- 

 tude contiguous to the nebulositv ; some of them are 



