The Heavens in December. 
By Professor Samuel G. Barton of the University of Pennsylvania. 
T HE approach of the brilliant sum- 
mer star. Vega, to the northwest- 
ern horizon indicates the arrival 
of winter. This is confirmed by the 
appearance on our map for the first 
time of Sirius and Procyon in the 
southeast and east. Taurus, containing 
can be seen with the naked eye. is lo- 
cated at A. Figure i. With the naked 
eye it is not a brilliant object, but it 
can be seen readily enough with a black 
sky. Opera glasses show it very easily. 
Its appearance is that of a hazy star 
without a sharp boundary. It has fre- 
•NORTH 
Figure 1. The Constellations at 9 P. M., December 1. (If facing south, hold the map upright. If 
facing east, ho’d East below. If facing west, hold West below. If facing north, hold the map inverted.) 
the Pleaides, better known than the 
constellation itself, is well up in the 
eastern sky. leading the array of bril- 
liant winter constellations. The north- 
east is barren. The nebula in Andro- 
meda. which is the only nebula which 
quently been mistaken for a comet. Just 
under the great scjuare in Pegasus, at 
B. may be seen the “circlet” in Pisces, 
a series of rather faint stars arranged 
somewhere nearly in the form of a 
circle. The stars in Perseus may be 
