The Heavens in February. 
By Professor Samuel G. Barton of the University of Pennsylvania. 
T HE appearance of the sky in the 
early evenings of February is un- 
questionably more beautiful than 
that of any other month of the year. 
This is chiefly due to the presence of 
Orion, the finest of all constellations, 
at its best in the southern sky. Seven 
of the ten brightest stars ever visible 
at B, nearly directly overhead. Scarce- 
ly less brilliant are Rigel at C and 
Procyon at D. The other of the seven 
mentioned are Betelgeuse at E, Alde- 
baran at F and Pollux at G. The three 
not seen are Vega, Arcturus and Altair. 
There are forty stars brighter than the 
2.0 magnitude in the whole sky, of 
NORTH 
Figure 1. The constellations at 9 P. M., February 1. (Hold the map so that the 
direction faced is at the bottom; that is, if facing east hold east at the bottom as 
south now is.) 
here are now visible. Sirius, easily the which thirty are visible here at some 
brightest of all of the fixed stars, is at time. Twenty-two of them are now 
A, Figure I. Capella, a very close rival visible. Of these thirty, five are in the 
of Vega for the honor of being the constellation of Orion, four in Canis 
second brightest star visible here, lies Major, three in Gemini and two in 
