Astronomy with an Opera-glass

ne quarter of an apparent revolution. Then we shall find that the stars which in spring shone above the western horizon have been carried down out of sight, while t

the months of June, July, and August. The circular map represents the heavens at midnight on the 1st of June; at eleven o'clock, on the 15th of June; at ten o'clock, on the 1st of July; at nine o'clock, on the 15th of July; and at eight o'clock, on the 1st of August. Remembering that the center of the map is the point over his hea

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d Virgo, for instance, instead of being over in the southwest, as in the map, will be near the meridian; while Lyra, instead of shining high overhead, will be found climbing up out of the northeast. It would be well to begin at nine o'clock, about the 1st of June, and watch the motions of the heavens for two or three hours. At the commencement of the observat

e that the constellations are approaching the places given to them in our map, and at midnight he will find them all in their assigned position

o, you must expect to see it just rising in the southeast. You will recognize Antares by its fiery color, as well as by the striking arrangement of its surrounding stars. There are few constellations which bear so close a resemblance to the objects they are named after as Scorpio. It does not require a very violent exercise of the imagination to see in this long, winding trail of stars a gigantic scorpion, with its head to the we

a powerfully absorptive atmosphere, and which are believed on various grounds to be, as Lockyer has said, "in the last visible stage of cooling"; in other words, almost extinct. This great, red star probably in actual size exceeds our sun, and no one can help feeling the sublime nature of those studies which give us reason to thin

r 22, and belongs to Scorpio, while the farthest away, which marks the northernmost corner of the pentagon, is Rho in Ophiuchus. Try a powerful field-glass upon the two stars just named. Take 22 first. You will without much difficulty perceive that it has a little star under its wing, below and to the right, and more than

pair of stars will be seen hanging below β. Sweeping downward from this point to the horizon you will find many beautiful star-fields. The

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tars. With the opera-glass, if you are looking in a clear and moonless night, you will see it as a curious nebulous speck. With a field-glass its real nature is more apparent, and it is seen to blaze brighter toward the center. It is, i

behind it. If this star should make its appearance again, it could easily be seen with an opera-glass, and so it will not be useless for the reader to know where to look for it. The quarter of the heavens with which we are now dealing is famous for these celestial conflagrations, if so they may be called. The first temporary star of which there is any record appeared in the constellation of the Scorpion, near the head, 134 years before Christ. It must have been a most extraordinary phenomenon, for it attracted attention all over the world, and both Greek and Chinese annals contain descriptions of it. In 393 A. D. a temporary star shone out in the tail of Scorpio. In 827 A. D. Arabian astron

Scorp

other in brightness. But the next star below μ, marked Zeta (ζ), is even more beautiful. It also separates into two stars, one being reddish and the other bluish in color. The contrast in a clear night is very pleasing. But this is not all. Above the two stars you will notice a curious nebulous speck. Now, if you have a powerful field-glass, here is an opportunity to view one of the prettiest sights in the heavens. The field-glass not only makes the two sta

the cluster known as 7 M. You will see it marked on the map. Above it, and near enough to be included in the same field of view, is 6 M., a smaller cluster. Both of these have a sparkling appearance with an opera-

the universe which carry to us, across inconceivable tracts of space, the assurance that we and our little system are not alone in the heavens; that all around us

phere. The stars Zeta (ζ), Tau (τ), Sigma (σ), Phi (φ), Lambda (λ), and Mu (μ) indicate the outlines of a figure sometimes called the Milk-Dipper, which is very evident when the eye has once recognized it. On either side of the upturned handle of this dipper-like figure lie some of the most interesting objects in the sky. Let us take the star μ for a starting-point. Sweep downward and to the right a little way, and you will be startled by a most singular phenomenon that has suddenly made its appearance in the field of view of you

s also near a star-cluster. It is to be found near a line drawn from 8 M. to the star μ Sagittarii, and about one third of the way from the cluster to the

is island of stars, for much of its beauty becomes evident only after the eye has accustomed itself to disentangle the glimmering rays with which the whole field of view is filled. Try the method of averted vision, and hundreds of the finest conceivable points of light will seem to spring into view out of the depths of the sky. The necessity of a perfectly clear night, and the absence of moonlight, can not be too much insisted upon for observations such as these.

strument, but its place may be recognized. Look carefully all around this region, and you will perceive that the old gods, who traveled this road (the Milky-Way was sometimes called the pathway of the gods), trod upon golden sands. Off a little way to the east you will find the rich cluster called 25 M. But do not imagine the thousands of stars that your opera-glass or field-glass reveals comprise all the riches of this Golconda of

ike beads upon a string. Sometimes they form rays which seem to diverge from a common focus, and, what is very singular, one usually finds, either at the center of the rays,

cription that Admiral Smyth and Mr. Webb have g

e, the number thus distinguishable varying with the size of the instrument. But the most powerful telescope yet placed in human hands can not sound these starry deeps to the bottom. The evidence given

perlative power, no final resolution of its finer parts into stars. There is always the background of unres

tellation of Sagittarius are worth sweeping over with th

ntaur, half-horse-half-man, facing the west, wi

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neck, this hand being indicated by the pair of stars marked Epsilon (ε) and Delta (δ), and with the other near the tail. The stars Tau (τ) and Nu (ν) indicate the second hand. The giant's face is toward the observer, and the star Alpha (α), also called Ras Alhague, shines in his forehead, while Beta (β) and Gamma (γ) mark his right shoulder. Ophiuchus has been held to represent the famous physician ?sculapius. One may well repress the tendency to smile at these fanciful legends when he reflects upon their antiquity. There is no doubt that this double constellation is at least three thousand ye

an any other star in the heavens; but it quickly faded, and in a little over a year disappeared. It is particularly interesting, because Kepler-the quaintest, and not far from the greatest, figure in astronomical histor

upper, and a salad I had asked for was set before me. 'It seems, then,' said I, aloud, 'that if pewter dishes, leaves of lettuce, grains of salt, drops of water, vinegar and oil, and slices of eg

he may pick up, and, in particular, he should look at the group of stars southeast of β and γ. These stars have been shaped into a little modern aster

is a beautiful swarm of little stars, upon which a field-glass may be used with advantage. The star θ is itself a charming double, just within t

th gaps that might be likened to islands, and the star θ appears to be situated upon one of these islands of the galaxy. This complicated structure of the Milky-Wa

w-planets, at the rate, probably, of not less than 160,000,000 miles in a year-a stupendous voyage through space, of whose destination we are as ignorant as the crew of a ship sailing u

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-hand side is west, and the left-hand side east. It is important to keep these directions in mind, in comparing the map with the sky. For instance, the observer must not expect to look into the south and see Hercules half-way up the sky, with Lyra a little east of it; he must look for Hercule

atus calls it "the Phantom whose name none can tell." The Northern Crown, according to fable, was the celebrated crown of Ariadne, and Lyra wa

er. In short, it is a ball of suns. The reader should not mistake what that implies, however. These suns, though truly solar bodies, are probably very much smaller than our sun. Mr. Gore has computed their average diameter to be forty-five thousand miles, and the distance separating each from the next to be 9,000,000,000 miles. It may not be uninteresting to inquire what would be the appearance of the sky to dwellers within such a system of suns. Adopting Mr. Gore's estimates, and supposing 9,000,000,000 miles to be very nearly the uniform distance apart of the stars in the cluster, and forty-five thousand miles their uniform diameter, then, starting with a single star in the center, their arrangement might be approximately in c

. Now, since the dozen stars nearest the center of the cluster would each appear to our observer eleven hundred times as bright as Sirius, all of them together would give a little more than twice as much light as the full moon sheds upon the earth. But as only half the stars in the cluster would be above the horizon at once we must diminish this estimate by one half, in order to obtain the amount of light that our supposititious planet would receive on its night side from the nearest stars in the cluster. And since the number of these stars increases with their distance from the center in

istinguished. But the spectator at the center of the Hercules cluster would behold some seven thousand stars at once, the faintest of which would be five times as brilliant as the brightest star in our sky, while the brighter ones would blaze like nearing suns. One effect of this flood of starlight would be to shut out from our observer's eyes all the

ter, the other half opening upon outer space and appearing by comparison almost starless-a vast, cavernous expanse, with a few faint glimmerings out of its gloomy depths. The plane of the orbit of his planet being supposed to pass through the center of the spherical system, our observer would, during his year, behold the night at one season blazing with the splendors of the clustered suns, and at

present the appearances presented to inhabitants of worlds situated in such a system. As to the possibility of the existence of such worlds and inhabitants, everybody must draw his own conclusions. Astronomy, as a science, is silent upon that question. But there shine the congregated stars, mingling their rays in a message of light, that comes to us across

the cluster so that there can be no possibility of mistaking it for a star. Compare this compact cluster, which only a powerful telescope can partially reso

the northern firmament, but which of them should be called the chief, is very hard to say. At any rate, Vega would probably be generally regarded as the most beautiful, on account of the delicate bluish tinge in its light, especially when viewed with a glass. There is no possibility of mistaking this star because of its surpassing brilliancy. Two faint star

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in reality quadruple, and there is reason to think that the four stars composing it are connected in pairs, the members of each pair revolving around their common center while the two pairs in turn circle around a center common to all. With a field-glass you will be able to see that the other star near Vega, Zeta (ζ), is also double, the distance between its components being thre

to face the southwest, at the hours and dates mentioned above as those to which the circular map corresponds. He will then see the bright

h, where she bore the name of Justice, and in the golden age all men obeyed her. In the silver age her visits to men became

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en known as the Grape-Gatherer. It has borne this name in Greek, in Latin, in Persian, and in Arabic, the origin of the appellation undoubtedly being that it was observed to rise just before the sun in the season of the vintage. It will be observed that the stars ε, δ, γ, η, and β, mark two sides of a quadrilateral figure of which the opposite corner is indicated by Denebola in the tail of Leo. Within this quadrilateral lies the marvelous Fi

bout the 21st of September, is situated nearly between the stars η and β Virginis, a little below the line joi

s two chief stars, α and β, may be readily recognized west of and above the head of Scorpio. The upper one o

tors) to form Libra. As its name signifies, Libra represents a balance, and this fact seems to refer the invention of the constellation back to at least three hundred years before Christ, when the autumnal equinox occurred at the moment when the sun was just crossing the we

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among those described in the chapter on "The Stars of Spring," but it is worth looking at again in the early summe

tory is that Bo?tes was the son of the nymph Calisto, whom Juno, in one of her customary fits of jealousy, turned into a bear. Bo?tes, who had become a famous hunter, one day roused a bear from her lair, and, not knowing that it was his mother, was about to kill

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treatise on Uranography, I felt an eager desire to see it. As my search for it chanced to begin at a season when Arcturus did not rise till after a boy's bed-time, I was for a long time disappointed, and I

o see these stars well, the glass should be slowly moved about. Many of them are hidden by the glare of Arcturus. The little group of stars near the end of the handle of the Great Dipper, or, what is the same thing, the tail of the Great Bear, marks the upraised hand of Bo?tes. Between Berenice's

ast. In Aquila the curious arrangement of two stars on either side of the chief star of the constellation, called Altair, at once attracts the eye. Within a circle including the two attendants of Altair you will probably be able to see with the naked eye only two or three stars in addition to the three large ones. Now turn

ne. A constellation called Antinous, invented by Tycho Brahe, is represente

s musician Arion rode through the sea after his escape from the sailors who tried to murder him. But some modern has dubbed it w

he stars Alpha (α), Epsilon (ε), Gamma (γ), Delta (δ), and Beta (β), together with some fainter stars lying along the main beam of the cross between β and γ. The star β, also called Albireo, is one of the most beautiful double stars in the heavens. The components are sharply contrasted in color,

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oup, consisting of six or seven stars in a straight row, with a garland of other stars han

ere, and with one exception the nearest star in all the heavens. Yet it is very faint, and the fact that so inconspicuous a star should be nearer than such brilliants as Vega and Arcturus show

near it. The glass throws them wide apart, and divides ο itself into two stars. Now, a field-

lky-Way. Between the stars α, γ, ε, is the strange dark gap in the galaxy called the Coal-Sack, a sort of hole in the starry heavens. Although it is not entirely empty of stars, its blackn

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was slain by the redoubtable Hercules. At any rate, it is plainly a monster of the first magnitude. The stars β, γ, ξ, ν, and μ represent its head, while its body runs trailing along, first sweeping in a long curve toward Cepheus, and then bending around and passing between the two bears. Try ν with your opera-glass, and if you succeed in seeing it double you may congratulate yourself on your keen sight. The distance between the stars is about 1′. Notice the contrasted colors of γ and β, the former being a rich orange and the latter white. As you sweep along the winding way that Draco follows, you will run across m