Beginner's Star-Book An Easy Guide To The Stars and To The Astronomical Uses PDF
Beginner's Star-Book An Easy Guide To The Stars and To The Astronomical Uses PDF
Beginner's Star-Book An Easy Guide To The Stars and To The Astronomical Uses PDF
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SPIRAL NEBULA
From
IN
phologruph taken
at the
101
A BEGINNER'S STAR-BOOK
An
Easy Guide
to the Stars
and
to the
Astronomical
By
KELVIN McKREADY
TVUa/'
With Charts
of the
Moon, Tables
on a
New
of the Planets,
Plan
G. P.
PUTNAM'S SONS
press
Copyright, 1912
BY
G. P.
PUTNAM'S SONS
^CI.A314015
Hew
tforft
M. AND D. AND G.
No
unregarded star
Contracts its light
Removed
But
if
We
In
it,
we
far
sight,
steadfast looke
shall discerne
as in
William Habington,
1634.
Some amateurs, I am told, believe that their efforts are rendered futile by the more powerequipment and better atmospheric advantages of other investigators. If this feeling were
well grounded, it might fairly be asked whether the great observatories are worth their cost.
For the history of astronomy teaches that much of the pioneer work has been done by amateurs,
usually with modest means and in unfavorable climatic conditions.
We may therefore inquire
whether useful work of such a nature as to contribute in important degree to the advancement
of science can still be done with simple and inexpensive instruments.
This question may
Far from believing that recent developments have
at once be answered in the affirmative.
been detrimental to the amateur, I am strongly of the opinion that his opportunities for
useful work have never been so numerous."
A Study of Stellar Evolution, by George Ellery
Hale, Director of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, pp. 243; 23; University of Chicago Press, 1908.
"
ful
preface
This book has been made in the hope that it will prove of service. It is, in a sense,
but one effort more to help those who are without technical equipment to claim through
the unaided eyes, or through simple optical instruments, their heritage in the things of
the sky. And yet the book would not have been undertaken but for the conviction that
it
represents certain
ment
of these I
new and
must
and method.
For a
fuller state-
may
trust
it
also
of the text-book;
for,
as already
And yet as a book for suppleit is especially intended for the general reader.
mentary use, and as a simple observational manual, it may be employed concurrently with
any of our modem volumes on astronomy. It is not unlikely that a little actual experience
in observation will give broader value to the use of such texts both by the general reader
and by the student, and may add an interest to the theory and mathematics of the
Even where there is no formal course in "astronomy," the student will find a
science.
real gain to pleasure, to imagination, and to a larger conception of the universe in the mere
It is worth while to know something of the things
experience of intelligent observation.
of the sky, not merely from a picture or a lantern slide, but with that sense of actuality
which comes from seeing the things themselves.
The volume is also intended for those who wish to add to their knowledge of the skies
without optical aid of any kind. Even to readers unable to use a telescope, the information
as to the telescopic objects among the stars, in the moon, etc., is of interest and value.
stated,
is
kept distinct,
it is
the more popular discussion of the moon, the planets, and the constellations.
Tables
are included indicating the positions of the planets in their course through the stars,
month by month,
The telescopic
classes,
(a)
till
(h)
Key-Maps
in three
different
(c)
Indeed,
its
trust that
diagrams, maps,
advanced students
etc.,
will
for great
care
preface
vi
has been taken to preserve accuracy of statement, to avoid the making of a mere "wonderbook, " and to keep the volume in touch with the better sources of information.
Much of
it is, necessarily, a recapitulation of elementary facts; it is frankly a book for "the beginner
'
'
and yet I have worked in the conviction that the beginner is peculiarly entitled
and sobriety of statement. The facts themselves are sufficiently interesting,
to soundness
is
it is
I cannot judge.
The whole literature of the
impossible wholty to eliminate the factor of error.
Those who know the subject best will, therefore, be the most generous in judgment; for
these will know, as none others can, what to the author must be the labor-cost of even so
elementary an undertaking.
Many
of
my
volume. The data as to star magnitudes are, for the most part, from the Revised Harvard
Photometry (1908). For the measures of double stars, for the magnitudes of components
not given in the Harvard Photometry, and for much other technical information I am in-
Ambronn
(Gottingen, 1907).
are,
none the
less
K.
New York
City,
January, 1912
a.d.
McK.
Contents
PAGE
I.
Introduction
OUR HERITAGE
II.
Objects to be Seen.
WHAT ARE THE
VARIABLES
III.
IN THE STARS
STARS?
i.
.....
STAR
THE
Learning to Observe
FOUR KEY-GROUPS
..........
LOOKING
IV,
ITS MAPS.
LOOKING
SOUTH, NOVEMBER
'
APRIL
TO.
22
-30
THE USING OF THE CHARTS, SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS A TIME SCHEDULE FOR ALL HOURS
NIGHT-CHARTS AND KEY-MAPS, TWENTY-FOUR PLATES WITH ACCOMPANYING TEXT.
V.
Objects to be Seen.
THE SUN
THE
VI.
ii.
THE
THE
62
PLANETS, AND
.......
FIELD-GLASS
IT
THE
AND USING
IT
POWERS
97
THE ASTRO-
HINTS FOR
THE BEGINNER.
VII,
VIII.
IX,
X,
An
Index
.116
.138
147
A BEGINNER'S STAR-BOOK
1lntrot)uct!on
H.
Our Heritage
in
the Stars
My
first
our time.
impulse was to
this
We
name
by taking our
and the
fields;
we
In almost every
to interest the beginner in the animal life about
all, to the objects themselves;
of education we are now trying to go, first of
and convention
to build up our knowledge less upon a basis of discipline
us.
by seeking
department
and we are seeking
and more upon a basis of
interest.
And
There are
of mathematics
is,
BcGinner's Star^Book
develop the broader knowledge of the observer. These facts are stated in untechnical
language, and they are intended to be suggestive rather than complete.
In the hope,
moreover, that the reader may be moved to seek elsewhere for fuller materials, the names
of a few useful books
But
sufficient
him
at once to the
more
all, astronomy is not the most important thing, by any means, that the
have to teach us. To know them is to know a world that is intrinsically beautiful,
a world full of the immense and the illimitable and yet not vague, inchoate, confused,
but coherent, and of exquisite precision in the definiteness and consistency of its order.
Really to dwell in such a world and to dwell in it intelligently and responsively is to be
more completely "at home" within the universe in which we live, for Carlyle's phrase
And if there be "no time" in our hurried and busy generation for a sense of the
is just.
mystery and order of the stars, is not this itself one of the reasons why we should take
time for them, and for the healing power of those silences to which they league their unceasing invitations?
Our life, just now, is not too rich in imagination, nor too deeply
moved by the sense of reverence or the touch of wonder.
First of all, therefore, and as a basis for all that any optical instrument may contribute, I have attempted in this little book to bring the reader to such a knowledge of the
stars as may be acquired by the employment of the unaided eyes and the average mind.
But both the eyes and the mind must be employed. Not that the task is at all exacting.
Indeed I am familiar with no other class of useful and interesting information so quickly
I am speaking, of course, not of technical astronomy
or readily acquired by the beginner.
but of the stars themselves their groupings, their movement, their seasons, their individual
characteristics.
But eye and mind must be employed not disemployed, as is too often
the habit of those who flit vaguely and absently from topic to topic among the various
fads of the "nature-lovers' " cult, really seeking anything but nature and loving nothing
but the vague sense of being "broad." Yet fifteen minutes of real reading by day, and
(even more important) fifteen minutes of attentive looking at the actual sky by night,
will shortly put the real clues of the subject into the hands of any interested learner over
the age of twelve. Young people who know their way about the skies as familiarly as
they know their way to the post-office are not more remarkable mentally than those who
do not they are as real as the boy who can easily quote the batting averages of his favorites
For, after
stars
ur
in cricket or base-ball, or the
woman who
some
This
and
especially true
is
in
more
on misty nights.
The
it
beginner
On
is
and
cost of instruments.
We
cannot say that their use, valuable as it is, is wholly necessary to a pleasurable
knowledge of the stars. Still less can we say that the occasional use of optical help,
however great, will ever serve as a substitute for the interested, intelligent use of the
unaided eyes. Yet as we use our eyes, most of us wish to see better than we do; the
use of an opera-glass soon makes us wish to use a field-glass or a "spy-glass"; and
the use of these will soon suggest, at least in
many
telescope.
scope of large
some
kind,
is
desirable.
and inexpensive
The almost
glasses.
It is true
that op-
be sufficient aperture,
average eye.
is
made
So wide, however, are the reaches of the universe that even such changes do not always
objects of vision with impressive "size."
The largest subjects take on dimensions that to the beginner seem of very meagre bulk.
Yet the real telescope, however
small, will show as I have said
the characteristic objects of astronomic interest.
It
may not show all the star-clusters, but it will show enough to illustrate charmingly just
what a star-cluster is. The small instrument will not show all the double stars or all the
endow our
BeGinncr'0 Star^^Book
conformations upon the surface of the moon; but to the real observer it will reveal stars
of varying colors
double, triple, and quadruple; and it will make the face of our moon
a spectacle of increasing fascination. Its larger mountains, "seas," and
"craters,"
be detected with an opera-glass, and much of its beauty and impressiveness may be
caught with even the smallest of telescopes. At a cost of from $20 to $150, according to
size, quality, and equipment, the average man or woman can command an instrument that
will open a new world of abundant and varied interest.
its
Maps
once asked an accomplished watcher of the skies how he had managed to begin,
successfully.
His reply was "I had a friend." There could have been no
and to begin
better answer.
There is, indeed, no better help toward learning to recognize the stars and the stargroups of the sky than the friend who knows and who is able and willing to teach. But
such a friend is not always present; and it sometimes happens that such a friend, even when
present, will
is
map
is
always helpful;
we
and such an aid is
meet one of the real difificulties. The vault of the sky does not appear to us as a flat surOur earth seems to us to revolve on its axis at the centre
face but as "an inverted bowl."
of a hollow sphere, lighted from the sun by day and from the moon and the stars by night.
As we look away to the horizon, whether toward the north or east or west or south, we
seem to be gazing not at a flat wall but at concave impalpable surfaces which, bending
inward, meet at the zenith overhead.
Now if these northern or western or eastern or southern skies were fiat, it would be
a simple matter to map them precisely as they are. But just because these surfaces are
not flat but like parts of the inner surface of a hollow sphere, we cannot draw or print
them on a fiat surface without causing a certain amount of distortion in the picture. This
distortion is not great at the centre of the map, but at the edges we must always remember
In order to reduce this disto allow for it in comparing the map with the actual sky.
tortion as far as possible I have here abandoned the attempt to present the whole sky in
a single map. Two maps are given for each "sky," one showing the stars as the observer
But where, at the edges of the
faces directly north, one as the observer faces south.
not to ignore it or
best
to
face
it frankly
maps, distortion does appear, it has seemed
conceal it but to deal with it as inevitable, to point it out, and to show so far as
possible how we may allow for it and correct it.
especially important
if
;^
Here, however,
2-inch telescope, and a 3-inch, are telescopes in which these lenses are, respectively, 2 inches or 3
inches in diameter. A 2-inch will bear a magnifying power, for the average eye, of from 15 to 70 diameters; a 3-inch,
from 25 to 1 10 diameters. These are low estimates. The trained eye can of course utilize far higher magnifications.
instrurnent.
no.
(/i,\)
IN
PERSEUS
BcGinncr'0 Star=Book
In at least one other respect the system of mapping here adopted will be of special
service. The reader is provided not only with a series of Key-Maps on the right-hand pages,
but also with a series of Night-Charts, on the left hand, showing the actual sky, without
lines or symbols.
The observer is thus enabled while looking at the pages of his book, to
more
lines
while presenting
by omitting most
to present
it
all
just as
it is
we
But
or as nearly so as
leave out
all of
reduce
the
number
if
we may.
at
all it is
have been
some
presenting only one group at a time
few
we should
of the
best, perhaps,
the relation
of
Two additional reasons have seemed to me important: I have wished to make the
volume not only a good book with which to begin, but, as already suggested, I have tried to
make it also a book with which to go on. Not that the advanced observer will care to stop
short of manuals larger and more technical; their use will be both interesting and necessary.
And yet the simpler book, if sound in method, should not be so simple as to be
outgrown before the aid of more pretentious manuals can possibly be utilized. Secondly,
the detail of the maps has seemed to me to be justified by the needs of the telescopist.
It has always seemed to me absurd to declare that the intelligent beginner must postpone
The
till he has mastered the constellations.
the
private
if
schools
and
in
hands
our
both
in
largely
telescope would
point
beginner could quickly learn where the objects of interest may be found, and how to
the pleasure of using a small instrument
be used far
more
ur
and others
maps
Such
to meet.
By
placing the general descriptions of the star-groups directly under the Night-Charts on
the
left,
right,
we
in his
of the constellations
It is
What
wonder, therefore, that he cannot "lazy himself into it" as he might lazy himself
into a new game.
But the subject is not difficult. Its possibilities are quickly available.
Its rewards are not delayed.
They come with the first steps, and with succeeding steps
One
"Proceed
on what
you do learn. Take one thing at a time. In such case, each item of progress may be
made a secure basis of association group may be added to group, fact to fact, till suddenly
as one learner, in delighted amazement, expressed it
"the constellations will seem to
walk down to you out of the sky."
Your landscape here upon our earth may change with each mile of your joumeyings.
Your skies, however, will remain. Whether in San Francisco or New York, whether in
are richly multiplied.
slowly, at the first."
Do
much
at once.
Get
London or Florence, the same skies, approximately, will arch themselves over you, and
spread above you "the loved familiar roof of home." They will unite you with past ages
and older
cultures,
whether
Roman,
you
to
And while they touch the larger emotions and open broader
horizons to the mind, the imagination to which they speak is not that vague illusion of
the inchoate which a superficial hour so often confuses with the splendor of the sublime,
but the imagination which springs from the evidences of precision and exactitude, from
the lands of the present.
of law.
It is
a wholesome world in
Ye
I will
vain
each
man
free;
still!"
Xiglit.
NEBULA
From
tN
CYGNUS, KNOWN AS
N. G. C.
6992
bject0 to be Seen
HH,
Zhe
Stellar
Morib
Stars?
will often
or Saturn or Jupiter
the question.
suns set so
inconceivably far
away
What
in space that in
of light.
We
many
instances
of their heat.
Star Distances
So far away are the fixed stars that the mile as a unit of measurement becomes almost
Astronomers have therefore sought a longer "yard-stick" and have taken
speeding at a velocity of 186,324 miles
for this purpose the distance travelled by light
a second or over 1 1 million miles a minute in a year of time. This unit of measure,
meaningless.
This star
is
Alpha
is
{a) in
The
The nearest of
4.3 light-years distant.
America is Sirius, 8.7 light-years distant.
is
and North
which reaches our eyes to-night started on
its
9
all
8 years ago.
Or, to state
10
Beoinncr'0 Star^BooK
will
be found on
p. 139.
Of these, six different magnitudes, or degrees of brightness, are recognized. A sixthmagnitude star is barely visible with the unaided eye, even under good atmospheric conditions; a fifth-magnitude star is a little brighter, and so on till we reach the brightest
the stars of the first magnitude. A few of the stars, however, are so very much brighter
than the average first -magnitude star that decimals of unity, figures lower than i, have
been called into use. The star Sirius, indeed, is classified as of magnitude i .6, which means
that it is over ten times as bright as a star of precisely the first magnitude; nevertheless
Sirius is listed, in a general way, among the stars of the first magnitude.
It is thus always
important for the beginner to remember that the smaller the numeral of classification the
brighter the star, and vice versa.
Of first-magnitude stars there are twenty; a list of them
will be found on p. 140.
The making of so brief a list as that on p. 140 will not seem to the beginner to present
many difficulties, but that all of the stars of the six larger magnitudes should be accuTheir number, as we look upward
rately listed and classified will seem almost incredible.
on any clear and cloudless night, will at first seem fairly limitless. Yet, including all of
the first six magnitudes, there are really only about 5000 such stars stars visible to the
unaided eye in the total sphere of the heavens. As we see only half this number at
once (for naturally we cannot survey the skies beneath our feet), the number visible at
any one time must be reduced to about 2500. When we realize moreover as has often
been pointed out that those near to the horizon are largely obscured to us by mists,
trees, houses, etc., it is evident that the number actually before us at any given hour is even
Newcomb puts the total at from 1500 to 2000. The use of a telescope will,
smaller.
But, though
making their apparent revolution once each 24 hours, their places in relation to each other
have been practically unaltered for unmeasured centuries. As we watch them, we quickly
learn mentally to group the fainter ones about the brighter, according to outlines or figures
* The two most important catalogues of the stars by magnitudes are that made by the Royal Observatory at Potsdam, Germany, and that made by the Observatory of Harvard University, U. S. A. A list of the 70 brightest
stars is printed on p. 140, showing their relative magnitudes.
Zbe
Stellar
Morlb
us
illogical,
SPIRAL NEBULA,
From
KNOWN AS MESSIER
51
In one respect, however, a change has already come. The ancient world saw in these
groups of stars the figures of birds or animals or m^^thological heroes. These fancies
It was possible to designate the location
served, for many centuries, a useful purpose.
of a star, for example, by reference to it as the brightest star in the head of the Dragon,
But this method
or in the left foot of Andromeda, or in the head of Taurus, the Bull.
12
Beatnner'0 Star*=BooFi
was necessarily crude, and never very accurate. In the seventeenth century (1603), a
German astronomer named Bayer pubHshed a series of star-maps in which most of the
brighter stars in each group were designated by letters of the Greek alphabet.* Roman
letters came also to be employed, as well as our ordinary Arabic figures, i, 2, 3, etc.,
For
so that these shorter and easier symbols have gradually passed into universal usage.
readers of this book who may be unfamiliar with the Greek characters I have ventured
First the whole Greek alphabet,
to simplify in two ways the using of these symbols.
with the names of the letters, is printed on p. 33. As many, however, will not wish to
trouble themselves to memorize the alphabet as a whole, I have also given in the text
for example, the Beta (/?) of
itself the English names of the Greek letters wherever used
Perseus; the Gamma (y) of Andromeda, etc.f Thus, the beginner who has no knowledge
of Greek will not only be able to follow the notes below the maps in their references to
the stars, but will soon gain almost without knowing it a working knowledge of the
Greek symbols.
The old mythological names for the star-groups or constellations are still retained.
So also we still keep the ancient names for many of the individual stars. But the figures
and shapes of heroes, etc., are usually so difficult to discern, so many are now quite uncertain in outline and without real helpfulness to the beginner, that they are falling more
and more into disuse. In this book, while some of the more obvious are pointed out in
the notes, I have frankly omitted them from the maps. Experience has convinced me
that they are not of serious value in the learning of the constellations and that the effort
to trace them sometimes withdraws attention from the interest of the stars themselves.
For the stars themselves, in the light of our modem knowledge, possess an ever deeper
intrinsic interest.
however
small,
we shall
Not only
find that
we must add
many stars
2000
not seen before, but stars noted quite clearly with the unaided eye will now be seen to be
two instead of one. Castor, for example, one of the brightest stars in the constellation
Gemini, is thus found to be a "double." Each of the components, if these could be set farther
apart in the sky, would prove bright enough to be clearly seen without opera-glass or teleThey are really so near together, that the two stupendous suns look to the unaided
scope.
eye like one star. A magnifying power of 70 will show their separation. The companion orbs are in revolution about a common centre of gravity; and Castor is therefore
called a binary.
We shall come upon other binaries as we take up the study of our maps.
We shall find also that not only are some of the stars binary in character but that
there are cases in which the components are so close together that no telescope will ever
be able to divide them. The division has been detected by the spectroscope; and these
to the
list
of the 1500 or
stars visible in
our sky.
shall
we
see
* The suggestion had first been made by the Italian, Alexander Piccolomini, in 1559.
For all technical purposes
astronomers now designate the positions of stars by right ascension and declination, the celestial equivalents of
longitude and latitude, see note 14, p. 32.'
t In many text-books, and in the technical literature of astronomy, the references to individual stars are made
merely by the use of the Greek letter in connection with the Latin genitive of the constellation name. For
example, the star Alpha (a) in Lyra, is thus written a Lyrae; Delta (S) in Orion, is written S Ononis, etc.
Knowing that there are many interested students of the stars to whom Latin and Greek forms are confusing, I
have not only included the English names of the Greek letters, but have used English prepositions for Latin
genitives.
We may thus simplify the course of the beginner without sacrifice of accuracy. See also p. 141.
^be
Stellar
movi^
13
telescope
is
is itself
Castor
to which
components
we have
visible in a small
a spectroscopic binary.
are apparently
many
as
is
Observers
and there are instances in which the stars seem to have chaftged their
somewhat, since the earliest period of observation. The subject is accordingly
In the calm, unhurried watching of a double star through a
full of interest and charm.
good instrument on a clear moonless night, one has the same exquisite pleasure as that
awakened by the flash of two contrasted jewels, each enhancing the subtle thrill and radiance
of the other.
The smaller component, as it clings close within the light of the larger,
will often look like a tiny dewdrop trembling within the splendor of some golden globe.
The observer knows that he is really gazing upon two mighty suns at so great a distance
from us that the imagination is utterly inadequate even to its elementary appreciation
and that these close-bound stars revolve about their common centre probably divided
by many hundreds of millions of our earthly miles. Yet a night which lies thus about us
wearing suns for jewels never loses its appeal even for the hardened astronomer. The
expressions of enthusiasm for the wonder of the stars, of delight in their mystery and charm,
have chiefly come in every age not from the "mere amateur " as the cynic might suggest
but from Kant or Laplace, from Kepler, the Cassinis and the Herschels.
in other objects
colors,
The Variables
In the
Autumn
Key-Maps on
we shaU find at
Arabs as "Algol."
usually
marked
as
Beta
(yS)
known
to the
(See
Speaking of Tennyson's remarkable knowledge of the stars and of the accuracy of his poetic references to scienNorman Lockyer says: "I visited Tennyson at Aldworth [his home] in 1S90 when in his 82d year.
One of the nights during my stay was very fine, and he said to me, Now, Lockj'cr, let us look at the double stars again,'
and we did. There was a two-inch telescope at Aldworth. His interest in astronomy was persistent until his
death."
Tennyson as Student and Poet of Nature, by Sir Norman Lockj'cr and Winifred L. Lockyer, London, 1910.
*
tific
matters, Sir
'
1;
14
At
tude.
"BcQlnncv's Star^^Book
its light
It stays at
loses
fail.
"minimum,"
its
it
point of faintest
bril-
20 minutes; and then, in approximately 33^ hours its light again increases
once more reaches the brightness of a second-magnitude star. After remaining at
its greatest brilliancy for 2^/2 days, its decline begins anew.
There are known at present
more than 1000* variable stars, although the stars of the Algol type are only about 80
liancy, for
until
it
number. Most of the variables are too small, however, to be seen with the unassisted eye
but some of the brighter of these stars are easily observed without optical aid of any kind.
The true explanation of the variations in Algol was suggested as early as the i8th
century, but no final proof of its validity was afforded till the more recent researches of
The chief point of interest to the beginner is that Algol
Vogel, Pickering, and Chandler.
is attended b}^ a dark companion, the two bodies being in revolution about a common
centre of gravity or about another body invisible with our instruments. As Algol passes
behind its dark companion, the dark companion is interposed between Algol and our
Thus the brighter star is eclipsed by the dark one, and this eclipse corresponds
earth.
in
The
star
of eclipse,
known
Maps
as
increasing in brilliancy
till it
it
is
much
longer
becomes
reaches
change
Its period of
its
sufficiently bright to
so
must
We
have already found, in connection with the double and multiple stars of the sky,
that the components of such bodies are often different not only in size but in color. A
little careful attention, however, will show us that color is a characteristic of all the stars,
whether double or single. At a first view on a clear, moonless night, all may seem alike;
but closer observation will show that while some are white, some also are yellow, others
Says Sir Norman Lockyer: "The stars shine out with variare a deep orange, others red.
ously colored lights. Thus we have scarlet stars, red stars, blue and green stars, and indeed
stars so diversified in hue that observers attempt in vain to define them, so completely
do they shade into one another. Among large stars, Aldebaran, Antares, and Betelgeuze
are unmistakably tinged with red; Sirius, Vega, and Spica are of a bluish white; Arcturus
and Capella show a yellow hue like that of our sun.
If
4000.
we include those comprised within star clusters, and not classified individually, the total would be nearer
Additional variables are discovered each year.
SPfRAL NEBULA
I''ri>m
IN
pluitii.i;ral>h
lahii
at thr
15
H. V.
24
Beginner's Star*Booli
stars,
be met
the
compound
lit
up by
What wondrous
coloring
must
systems, one sun setting, say, in clearest green, another rising in purple
or yellow or crimson; at times two suns at once mingling their variously colored beams!
remarkable group in the Southern Cross produced on Sir John Herschel the effect of a
superb piece of fancy jewelry.' It is composed of over lOO stars, seven of which only
exceed the tenth magnitude; among these, two are red, two green, three pale green, and
one greenish blue."
Impressions quite so striking are not within the range of the unaided eye, nor even
within range of the instruments available to the average amateur, but the varied beauty
'
of the familiar star colors as seen in ordinary telescopes will find increasing appreciation as
knowledge grows and as mind and eye become more practised in the art of accurate discrimination. As we have already seen, there is much authority for the contention that
colors other than the various degrees of white, yellow, and red are due to optical illusion;
these "illusions" are permanent factors in our scene, even as viewed
but, where
as here
by the best eyes and the best instruments, they remain for the practical observer as legitimate impressions. The questions as to how these illusions arise, and as to how they may
be said to differ from the admitted hues of white, yellow, and red, only add to the interest
of the subject.
star,
among
all
moreover,
is
We have
seen that
the stars visible to the unaided eye from the latitudes of Europe or North
is
Yet as
light, at
its
very
the nearest.
* Kapteyn accepts the almost insensible parallax of Gill and Finlay (o."oo7), undoubtedly the most accurate
thus far obtained. See the table of parallaxes and star-distances, p. 139.
A. & C. Black, London, 1903.
t Prohhms in Astrophysics, by A. M. Gierke.
'
;
'
its rising
and
setting,
will
17
We soon come to know it and to count upon its friendly shining. Even
of its own.
though
familiar
the
be
with
varied
discoveries
concerning
facts or
we may not always
it, its identity
It is said that an old tailor when testifying in
will become, in instinctive ways, familiar.
"They
"How," asked
the tailor.
the judge,
'
'
are
are your
'
my
stitches," said
Are they
No, sir.
you think,
stitches.''
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
recognition
memories
it is
who with
us once watched
its rising
of
changes that have come; of changes that have not come, but that still wait the will and the
Thus is it that the return of the stars may be as the greeting of old friends.
labors of men.
an individual
which
we can know them only in masses or clusters. Just as men and women, however distinct
they may be in their own personalities, will often seem from the standpoint of a spectator
At certain points in the sky we
to "lose themselves in a crowd," so is it with the stars.
them gathered so close together that it becomes impracticable to try to distinguish
them from one another. These dense masses of stars are called "clusters." Some of
find
these are visible only in a telescope, though the telescope need not, in
all cases,
be a very
we
The
more
precisely.
P. M.)
about
and as the stars rise each evening about 4 minutes earlier than on the evening
before, we shall see them each night at 8 p. m. a little farther advanced upon their way.
In January, at the same hour, we shall find them, accordingly, too high overhead for convenient observation; but by April ist, we shall again find them conveniently placed for
observation at the northwest.
As the stars make the complete circle of their apparent
revolution once in every twenty-four hours, we can anticipate this yearly march through
the months if we desire by "watching out the night." The sun's shining will of course
make them invisible by day, but we may be quite sure that the Pleiades are actually in
October
1st;
* "
Many
went
to rest.
Did
Glitter like a
swarm
Tennyson: Lockslev
Hall.
BcGinner's Star*Booh
our sky at all seasons of the year about 1 6 hours out of every 24. The watching of
such a group for a few nights, not out of a window but under the actual sky, will, in itself,
LARGER STARS
{For view
at
IN
From
to reader's right
prove a good beginning in astronomy and will do more to make clear the apparent motion
of the stars than any amount of theoretic description.
(See also pp. 22 and 24.)
I say
^be Stellar Morl^
19
"apparent" motion, because of course the movement of the stars, in the sense in which
It is our earth that really moves.
I have here employed the word, is not real.
Let us assume that about October ist we are looking at the northeast (nearer east
than north) and that at 8 P. M, we discern the five or six brighter stars of the Pleiades just
Indeed, if the horizon is shut
rising above the horizon; at 9 P. M. they will be higher still.
off by high woods or tall buildings, or by clouds or fog, we may have to wait till 10 p. M.
before we can get a good look at them. At corresponding hours on November ist or Decem,
To the average eye, under fair conditions, five or six stars in the Pleiades can be seen:
under especially good conditions, seven. An abnormally good eye can see from eight to
ten.
With the use of an opera-glass the average opera- glass magnifies about 3 diameters
The use of a modem prism binocular,
as many as twenty can usually be counted.
magnifying from 7 to 10 diameters, will reveal more than fifty; a small telescope
will add many more; a large telescope will add almost a thousand; and, finally, the camera
for, inasmuch as the photographic plate is more
will bring the total to nearly 2500
sensitive than any eye, the camera when adjusted to the telescope will reveal many stars
that are beyond the reach of any instrument employed without photographic aid.
No
instrument gives a more beautiful representation of such a cluster than the small telescope
with a low-power eye-piece.
The use of low magnifying powers in the observation of clusters and nebulae is essenOther clusters will be indicated in
tial, as will be more fully set forth hereafter.
The location of the double cluster in Perseus, of the
direct connection with the maps.
"Bee-hive" in Cancer, and of several others if the night be moonless and very clear
can be made without optical help, but there can be little appreciation of their real beauty
without the aid of a field-glass, or a small telescope though even an opera-glass especially
when brought to bear on some of the coarser groups is no mean assistance. We may say,
Spanning the
indeed, that the whole Galaxy or "Milky Way" is in one sense a cluster.
sky "as a beautiful belt of pale light" it makes when the moon is not shining one of
the most marvellous fascinations of a summer evening. Turning an opera-glass or field-glass
upon it, we discover that it is not a mere waste of glowing cloud but that it is composed of
thousands upon thousands of stars stars that seem small because of their great distance
from us, but which are, in many cases, far larger than our sun. The telescope, as we shall
Key-Maps,
will
show that
certain sections of
it
and impressive.
The nebula
through space.
most remarkable nebulae are spiral in forni, and their luminous gases seem
condensations, though no telescope however great has ever
with
star-like
charged
Some astronomers regard the
resolved these points of condensation into true stars.
shining
fall
Some
of the
20
Beginner's Star^Booli
them as
motion, throwing
off their
IN
ANDROMEDA, MESSIER
a photograph taken
at the
31
Yerkes Observatory
from
its centre.
But
so great
is
their distance
from
^be
Stellar Morlt)
we have caught
21
as yet
no visual evidence
The nebulae, however, are not brilliant objects in small instruments. They are disappointing except to those fortunate enough to command facilities far beyond the range
And yet it is of interest to get such glimpses of them as we may,
of the average purse.
even if we may not be able to command an impressive view of them. For even the
highest optical aid can do little more than afford a suggestion of the facts. The longer
diameter of the great nebula of Andromeda is more than 500,000 times the distance which
divides our Sun from the Earth; p. 118; and hght, speeding from end to end of this mass
IN
ORION
more than 186,000 miles a second, must take eight years in which to complete the jourThe mere observation of such an object is worth while, however inadequate our
view of it; and something of the beauty of at least one of these mysteries of the sk\the great nebula of Orion is, as we shall see, within the range of our smaller instruments:
at
ney.
"a
Which
is
Vivien.
1I1I1I
Before taking up
the larger
two or three
outlines of
to
maps
The
it
stars that I
all
fied.
is
Xcarning
By
first
try to do
than
is
as
we
shall
we can perhaps see more clearly just how these star-groups look, not only at their highest
apparent altitude, but when they are rising and setting. With the star-groups toward
the north, in the neighborhood of the pole, the problem of life-like drawing is quite simple.
First of all, therefore, let us take the familiar "Dipper,"
sometimes, in England and
Canada, called the "Plough."
Looking North
All
Seasons
The seven stars which form the "Great Dipper" are always in our northern sky.
That we do not see them by day is wholly due to the fact that the daylight hides them.*
The Sun is so much brighter than any of the stars that, whenever its light is in our
But toward the day's close if the air is clear we can
sky, the stars are blotted out.
begin to see the brighter stars, and as the night comes on we find that the stars have been
above us and about us all the while. As we watch them we soon see that they, like the
Sun, seem to move from east to west; taking about 24 hours to complete their round.
This as in the case of the Sun ^is, however, only an apparent motion. And there is
another apparent motion of the stars, that which brings us the star-changes of the
seasons.
In each case, that which really moves is, of course, the earth. One of these
movements is that of the earth through its orbit round the sun; the other movement
on which we here dwell is the earth's rotation on its axis.
We know that as we sit in our car in a railway station it will sometimes seem to move
when that which moves is not our train at all, but the train just outside. So as our earth
turns on its axis once in each twenty-four hours the stars themselves do not revolve, but
they do seem to revolve within this period of time. The axis on which they seem to turn
and
its
ends
will
except that
stars to north
be longer,
and south.
wheel's hub,
like
Xearning
to
bserve
23
thus at a point in the sky corresponding to the pole of the earth. If we can find
this hub we may be sure that at this point there will be no motion of the starry sphere;
that round it the other stars will seem to turn; that as we come nearer to it their circles
hub
Is
grow smaller
of revolution will
A
FOUR POSITIONS OF THE DIPPER
are pointing
is
midway between
This star
is
called "Polaris" or
24
By May 20th,
BcGinner's Star*=BooI?
at about the
We
revolution about a central pole; secondly, that the stars in the Dipper
and Alpha
(a)
called
apparent
marked Beta
(yS)
in
stars
which the
must
stars revolve
The
is
fact
is,
so near to
it
that
it
may
fairly
a tiny
celestial
is
if
it
makes, as
the polar-hub
will,
revolves,
it
still.
yet,
is
because Polaris
quite small
so
however,
place ourselves
Polaris,
we could
of the
heavens
is
all
ordinary
make a
larger circle;
from
and the farther
from the pole we look among our northward stars the larger will be the circles of revolution.
Of the two Pointers, Beta (/3), of course, wall mark a greater circle as it revolves
than the star Alpha (a). And yet all the stars of our sky that are no farther from
the polar-hub than the outermost star of the Dipper, can describe their circles of
revolution without being carried below our horizon.
northern
The
They
skies.
stars,
saril}^ as
will neces-
the wheel turns, dip below the horizon for a longer or shorter period; and the
may
therefore imagine the spokes of the revolving wheel as they extend gradually
bending inward toward us, and forming the ribs of a vast including globe. We stand
inclosed as it were
at the sphere's centre.
The circumpolar stars turn with the sphere itself, but as they lie so near the pole, the
Sometimes, as we face the
circle of their revolution never carries them out of sight.
north, we find the Dipper above the Pole Star, sometimes below it sometimes it is a little
Sometimes it is a little to our left,
to our right, slowly climbing upward as in position B.
with the bowl turned downward as in position D, but it is always before us in our northern
sky.
Yet with the sphere's turning, the stars farther from the pole, like bright points
fixed on the inner surface of its concave sides
as these arch themselves above and below
the horizon appear and disappear according to their hours and their seasons. Let us
make
this
still
clearer
by turning
Xearnina
to
beerve
25
November to April
Looking South
makes
above it for only about lo hours in the 24. As it is so far from the pole we will face now
towards the south. On the same evening, November 20th, let us first realize as we face
southward that we have put the pole at our backs. The east, therefore, will be now at
our left; the west will be at our right. At 8 P. M. on November 20th, the stars of Orion,
perhaps the most beautiful of the constellations, begin to appear low down in the eastern
sky.
By 9 o'clock these stars will probably be clear of the mists that in Autumn so often lie
at "the edge of the world"; and by 9:30 or 10 they will be well placed for observation.
This group
is
now,
let
B by
;
5 A. m. it will
upward ;* by
reach position C; by 8 a. m.
it will
have
30
set.
Most of US, however, do not care to watch through a whole night, even to follow the
march of such a constellation as Orion. We will prefer to follow the other method. Remembering that the stars rise each evening four minutes earlier than on the evening before,
we can just as well follow Orion through his march across the sky b}' looking for him through
We shall need more time than one
the hours of the early evening at successive dates.
night or one week or one month. As Orion comes to position A four minutes earlier
each night, so it will be four minutes earlier when he reaches position B and b}' 8 P. M.
At 8 in February they will be
in January we shall find these stars nearer to B than to A.
We
shall thus have almost six
be
at
C.
they
will
April
8
p.
m.
in
B,
and
by
quite at
months in which we shall find Orion conveniently placed for observation among the stars
;
diagram is placed at this point, however, not only in order that we may
follow the course of one star-group, but in order that we may also get some idea as to how
Orion looks as he rises and sets. The impression given in the diagram is not perfect. I
have already explained that inasmuch as the stars are not arranged on four straight
This
little
The Princess.
26
Beginner's Qtav^lBooli
seem to dot the inner surface of a hollow sphere it is impossible to map them
But through such a diagram as we have
perfectly on a flat surface like the page of a book.
just made, we can help to bring to ourselves a clearer picture of some of the positions of
the star-groups that make the circles of their revolution far out from the pole. We can
see how they slant, or tip, as they rise and set.
If we attempted in our larger maps to show this slant or tip for every group we should
have to make a globe. We could not do it well on paper without involving ourselves in
more technical and practical difficulties than the beginner would care to try to understand.
This slant or tip of some of the constellations is, on the other hand, very quickly understood in the light of a little actual observation. Moreover, many of the star-groups show
little if any distortion in the maps; and as we look farther from the equator and nearer
walls but
we find
Crow (or
group.
Corvus, the
It is
it
less
conspicuous.
the Raven)
and near
it
we
Looking South
Those who have seen the
^April
figures of beasts
to August
and birds
sky have
here found the Raven's eye and beak in the stars at the upper left-hand comer, the feet
comer
from the beak, and a halfupper corner to the right. Others have drawn or imagined the Raven
quite otherwise; for example, with the beak low down at the right as though picking up
a grain of com. All such "pictures" are interesting or uninteresting according to our
moods. Let us find our chief interest, however, in the stars themselves.
The stars of this little group are not especially bright, but the outline which they present
It will give us additional light on the lessons already suggested, and
is clear and simple.
we may gain from it at least two other helpful points.
Corvus rises at the southeast, shortly before the time when we find Orion setting at
the west. On April ist at 8 P. M. we shall find it a little above the horizon at the position
marked A. If we follow it through its whole course in a single night, we shall find that
by II 15 p. M., Corvus has advanced to position B and by 3 A. M. to position C, setting
about 4 A. M. Or, as we have already explained in relation to Orion, we can follow its march
across the sky by keeping an occasional look-out for it, from week to week, in the skies
of the early evening.
While at 8 P. M. on April 1st it will be found near position A, it may
be observed at the same hour at position B on May 20th, and at position C by the 20th
at the
opened wing
at the
of July, unless the long daylight of July should then prevent our seeing
You
will note,
in fact, Spica
is
however,
how
associated with
it.
which
it
it
how
moves.
closely,
You
will
Xearning
how Corvus
to
beerve
2-]
not only
will
^June
Looking South
The
star-groups at which
take something a
little
we have been
to November
if
the beginner
is
not able to
"make
it
out" at the
first
or second
them
in the series of
"why and how" of their moveThe more we can understand, the greater our pleasure is likely to be; but it is
also true that the more we watch and actually observe, whether with the telescope or the
unaided eyes, the more certainly shall we understand. To assume, however, as is so
often done
that we cannot find pleasure and interest in the stars till we can clearly appreciate the theory of their motion is as absurd as to claim that we cannot enjoy a landscape
or a sunset till we can explain the how and why.
As the month of June begins we shall find at 9 p. m. as we face southward that the bright
As the stars rise higher and as
star Altair and its two companions are rising on the left.
observation
is
ments.
the mists along the eastern horizon are left behind, they form a small but striking group.
28
The lowest
Beginner's Star*=16ooft
not so bright as either of its companions, and yet if the night be clear
these three almost equidistant points of light form one of the finest landmarks of the
Summer
By 9
star
is
sky.
P.M.
C by
on June
we
1st
A; at position
4 A.M.; at
B by
12:30 A.M.;
Or, preferring to
of a single night,
watch
it
we may
during the early evenings of June at position A, during the early evenings of
July and August as it advances from A to B and during the early evenings of September,
October, and November from B to C and from C to D.
observe
it
But there
I
would now
sign-post
in
two other groups in the sky, through practically the same hours, to which
your attention, Altair and its two companions point like a straight
two directions. As they point upward we shall find them guiding us in
are
call
the general direction of Vega, the white splendid star of the constellation Lyra.
It is
^<7
v/to^
.-s^
distant from Altair about twice as far as the distance between Corvus and Spica (now
southwest as Altair rises) or thirty degrees. As Altair moves toward position B, Vega
also will be found so much higher in the sky that, as we continue to face south, we shall
have to undergo some discomfort in looking up at it. But toward this brighter star,
Altair still makes, with its two companions, the same shining pointer from every position
and
at every hour.
And
downward
as well as upward.
By
position B,
we
shall see
is
it
stars,
because
its stars
it
looks as
little like
we
faint,
little
It is
Just
by
Altair
and
in their
Alpha
that
its
companions
march
(a)
it is
all
may at
first
seem
Here, however,
Indeed,
It is also interesting to
still
it is
another star
is
will
show
to the group.
Xcarnino
to
or a group
is
by
bserve
detail,
29
said to culminate
when
reaches
it
its
We
may
all
and thus building up, through personal interest and initiative, a star-knowledge of his own.
The associations of such a knowledge will be enriched not only from our study of the
skies but from the frequent references and allusions of conversation, of science, of letters.
Words and phrases that were enigmas begin to have a meaning. Similes and metaphors
Much of the scientific news of
that were quite barren become suggestive and fruitful.
the day and many of the noblest passages in the world's literature we no longer read with
a sense of vague helplessness, but with at least some measure of comprehension. We know
what m^onth the American poet suggests as he refers to the hour "When Leo sleeps and
Capricornus wakes"; and we can tell to what particular season Tennyson had reference
when he wrote
"It
at a time of year,
fell
of the blest."
Tennyson: Maud.
GIACOBINI'S COMET,
DECEMBER
1906.
W,
fuller schedule
is
maps themselves.
In the
quite adequate.
2.
those
The notes under the Night-Charts on the left-hand pages will be chiefly used by
who wish to employ no optical instrument. The notes under the Key-Maps on the
field-glass, or telescope.
As the planets are constantly changing their positions they are not given on per3.
manent Star-Maps. On p. 82, fob, the places of the greater planets are indicated month
by month for each month till the year 1931. Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Mars are
usually such conspicuous objects when above the horizon that the beginner may find their
march through the constellations a little confusing, for they frequently obscure the outlines
of the star-groups as
of each
map
in the evening
New York
is
or Chicago.
5.
The
of each
map
are also inconveniently placed for observation, for the mists which so often obscure the
make difficult work both for the eyes and for the telescope. The notes placed
below the Night-Charts and Key-Maps are chiefly concerned, therefore, with the stargroups that are well placed for immediate study. As all the groups repeatedly recur in
the maps, the method thus indicated involves no neglect of any part of the sky. As
you face due north or south begin with the sky directly before you.
horizon
In each case, however, the map represents somewhat more than the sky straight
For each sky the map comes round a little to the right and left. In this way,
the maps for north and south at any given hour cover much of the east and west also,
6.
ahead.
30
centre.
Look
straight
away
^be
The
7.
Iflsing of the
Cbarte
31
presence of the Great Dipper, always in the sky, makes the northern groups
The
p. 25,
movement, from east to west, is shown by the arrows in the upper corners of the maps.
In the maps of the sky southward these arrows may be taken to suggest not only the general
direction in which the constellations move but the slant or inclination of the constellationThis apparent slant or inclination of these figures
lines, as the star-groups rise and set.
We see that Orion and Corvus,
is more clearly and fully set forth on pp. 25, 26, and 28.
for example, do not march straight across the sky as though the sky were a blackboard
or a picture gallery but that they follow great curves or circles through the sky's vault.
This
what
is
is
Some
8.
of the
maps
is
will
true of
first
and are
moon
is
And
as the chief groups are learned this impression will pass away.
stars
all.
Not that
Indeed
all of
it is
the fainter
only on the
when
the
is
and
so
many
In the study of the constellations the habit of frequently copying or drawing the
make
No
matter
how
crude the
and even if
an envelope, the effort to record what is seen and remembered will prove a help to memory
and will contribute to accuracy in observation. Naturally enough, the more carefully
one draws, the greater the gain.
It should be said that in some of the maps a little more of the sky is included
10.
For example,
in the lower corners than can be seen at precisely the time indicated.
on p. 40 the constellation Canis Major, at the lower corner on the left, is not wholly risen
But as Sirius, its leading star, is then up, and as the whole group follows
at exactly 8 P.M.
within half an hour, it seemed needless to omit the lower stars and thus sacrifice the usefulness of the map to the literal demands of a time-table. Here, and at other points as
well, I have ventured to depend upon the common sense of the student.
11.
In using this book out of doors at night it is well to be provided with one of the
pocket electric flash-lights that are now available almost everywhere at ver}^ low cost.
An ordinary bull's-eye lantern will do as a substitute. Better, however, than using the
book out of doors at night for any book is likely to suffer physical damage from such
exposure is the method now suggested: By using the Key-Maps in relation to the
accompanying Night-Charts, familiarize yourself not only with a few clear groups but
with the mental experience of relating the lines and symbols to the uncharted sk3\
Select
your first groups not at the edges of the diagrams but as near directly north and south
Do not attempt too much at first. Then make your own drawing, on
as practicable.
Take your lantern with you for
as large a scale as you like, of what you may expect to see.
the reading of your sketch, add to your sketch under the actual sky with your lantern's
help, and
returning compare the result with the maps in the book. The drawing is
not essential; the method may be easily followed mentally without the drawing or the
lantern; but care and precision are always worth while, especially at the first.
results,
of
32
12.
Bcijinner'5 Star^^Book
Telescopes are classified as to size according to the surface diameter of the lens
A 2-inch telescope and a "3-inch" are telescopes in
of telescopic terms,
and
and telescopes
be found on
will
p. 97.
may
the average eye is at first incapable of utilizing the fullest power of an instrument.
There
must be a little experience. The beginner with a 2 -inch telescope should therefore first
find and observe the easier objects suggested for the field-glass the beginner with a 3-inch
telescope should first find and observe the objects suggested for a 2-inch; always beginning
with the low-power eye-pieces. The easier objects are often the most beautiful, and it
is a good principle to advance from simple tasks to greater rather than to rush to the
greater, and to advance
only to disappointment
throughout the notes to the Night-Charts and
numbers
placed
in brackets
The
13.
Key-Maps are important. They refer to the items or paragraphs with corresponding
numbers in the brief Observer's Catalogue, p. 116. There the reader will also find the
pronunciation of star-names and fuller descriptions of the constellations, in alphabetical order.
Fuller accounts of the nebulas and of other objects are included.
;
Observers possessing instruments with "hour-circles" will also find there the positions
of the stars
by
right ascension
and declination
the
longitude and
latitude.
likely, just at
the
first,
At the close of this book will be found maps of the two hemispheres of the sky,
northern and southern. Here the constellations are all shown in their relations to each
other, and the boundaries of the constellations are clearly indicated.
The northern
14.
hemisphere includes a generous "overlap" of the southern sky in order that the beginner
may find on a single chart most of the stars visible in Europe and the United States.
The lines of right ascension and declination are here indicated: R. A. (or right
ascension) representing the astronomical equivalent for longitude; S. D. (or south
declination, sometimes called declination minus) representing degrees south of the
celestial equator, and N. D. (or north declination) representing degrees north of it.
The beginner need not go into the subject further in order to use the chart for his
If he reads in his morning newspaper, for example,
practical purposes in observation.
that a new comet has been seen at a point in the sky described as R. A. xix hours, forty
minutes; and north declination (or declination plus) 10 degrees, he has but to turn to
his map of the northern hemisphere, and note: that as the declination is given as N.
(or plus) 10 degrees the object is not far from the equator, and slightly northward from it.
As the equator is clearly shown (see the circle running through Orion, Serpens, Aquila,
etc.) there only remains to be found the comet's position in right ascension.
The R. A.
of the stars is indicated by the lines running like the spokes of a wheel from the centre
These are marked at the border of the map for each
to the circumference of the map.
"hour" in Roman numerals, from I to xxiv. As the right ascension in this case is
given as xix h., 40 m., the comet is evidently in the constellation Aquila, in the general
^be "mexm
ot tbe dbarts
33
neighborhood of the star Gamma, that star being not far from the point where a
Should the
Hne marking R. A. xix h., 40m., would cross a hne marking N. D. 10.
reader now desire to study this region of sky in one of the earlier maps he has only to turn
to "Aquila" in the Observer's Catalogue where he will find the Night-Charts and KeyMaps in which this general region is mapped for evening observation. If Aquila be not
then in the evening sky and if the part of the sky in which the comet is to be seen is above
the horizon only at such an hour as 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning, the observer can easily find
the equivalent Key-Map b^^ remembering that the Key-Maps with their accompanying
Night-Charts are just four hours apart. This search among the maps for the approximate
place of a comet may sound a little difficult in the reading, but the process is really very
simple "in the doing, " and a little practice will make plain the way.
Greek
of the
letters are
s"
?/'
16.
Good photographs of star-clusters, nebulas, etc., will often prove more impressive
than views of the same objects through the telescope. The beginner need not be surprised,
therefore, if his instrument fails to bring to the eye such pictures as this book contains.
The camera has two advantages over any telescope, however large. First, the photographic plate is more sensitive than the eye, and will always reveal more with any
particular instrument
than any eye can see. Secondly, the camera, adjusted to the
telescope, may be made by a clockwork mechanism steadily to follow an object in the sk}''
for many hours
thus permitting a very long exposure of the plate. The sensitive plate
thus receives and retains, not the impression of a moment (as the eye might) but the
ciiniiilative impression of hundreds of moments.
This is of incalculable advantage in
recording the fainter objects of the sky. The beginner will find, however, that his own
direct views, through even a small telescope, will possess, in their actuality, a charm which
no photograph can ever give. The author is under many obligations for photographs to
the Lick Observatory, the Mt. Wilson Solar Observatory, the Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff^
Arizona, and particularly to the Yerkes Observatory, Williams Ba>-, Wis. Most of these
are acknowledged under the engravings.
Where these acknowledgments are not explicit,
credit should be given to the Yerkes Observatory,
especially for those of the moon.
H ^Ime
In the table here given the maps which are specially drawn for the dates and hours
by the black-letter numerals. The schedule also affords, in each
case, the best approximate map for the other hours of the same evening between 6 p.m.
and 12 midnight. For example, on the evening of Jan. ist, there are two sets of maps
available, those for 8 p.m. on pp. 39 and 41 and those for 12 midnight, on pp. 43 and 45.
But the latter will also do fairly well on that evening for 10 or 11 o'clock; and the former
specified are indicated
6 P.M. on Aug.
map on
special
1st, for
till
example)
be of
little
map
that evening for 10 P.M. (for example) will meet every need.
While
this
time schedule has particular reference only to the evening hours showing the scope and
use of the maps from, approximately, 6 P.M. to midnight yet an observer who wishes to
find the proper map for other hours may easily do so by remembering that the interval
between the maps is just four hours. From one northward map to the next northward
map
four hours.
is
From one southward map to the next map looking southward is,
The special maps for May ist, at midnight, by the time schedule,
Chart
in
indicated in the time schedule for the ist and the 15th of each month; see next page.
all
maps
in
desirable.
34
The black
Date
Hour,
p.m.
HOUB
.,
P.M.
See Pages
39, 41
Jan.
10,
II
12
43,45
39-41
Jan.
15
10,
II
12
43,45
7,
39, 41
Feb.
9,
ID
II
43,45
8,
9,
10
43,45
Feb.
15
II,
12
47,49
8,
9,
10
43,45
10,
II
12
47,49
43,45
March
March
15
10,
II
12
47.49
9,
10,
II, 12
47,49
15
II,
12
51,53
Jan.
6,
7,
8,
Jan.
15
7,
8,
Feb.
6,
Feb.
15
7,
7,
March
March
Date
See Pages
15
7,
8,
April
6,
7,
43,45
April
April
15
7,
8,
9,
10
47,49
April
10
47,49
10,
II
12
51,53
15
10,
II,
12
51,
II, 12
51, 53
May
May
7-
8,
9,
15
7,
8,
47,49
May
May
June
6,
7.
47,49
June
9,
10
June
15
8,
9,
10, II
51, 53
June
15
II,
12
55,57
July
7,
8,
9,
51,
53
July
10,
II
12
55, 57
July
15
7,
8,
51,
53
July
15
10,
II
12
55, 57
Aug.
6,
7,
51, 53
Aug.
9,
10
II, 12
55,57
Aug.
15
8,
9,
10,
II
55, 57
Aug.
15
II,
12
59, 61
Sept.
7,
8,
9,
10
55, 57
Sept.
10,
II
12
59, 61
Sept.
15
7,
8,
55, 57
Sept.
15
10,
II
12
59, 61
9,
10
II, 12
59,61
12
39,41
12
39,41
Oct.
6,
7-
10
7,
8,
9,
10
Nov.
7,
8,
9,
10
Nov.
15
8,
6,
7,
Oct.
Dec.
15
Dec.
15
7i
Dec.
25
6: 30,8:30,9:30
8,
9,
55,57
Oct.
59, 61
Oct.
15
II,
59, 61
Nov.
10,
II
59, 61
Nov.
15
10,
II
12
39, 41
II, 12
39, 41
^)i
Dec.
9,
10
39, 41
Dec.
15
II,
12
39,41
Dec.
25
10: 30,
59,
10
53
35
43.45
12:30
43,45
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f' ".
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..';^|jfV'^i^,.f^^::--.
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-/^
f.^"*^'-'
^T*^
'^''
^'
*.-
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JU*
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.,
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From
IN
V.
'
ft
'.
...
SPIRAL NEBULA
J.
36
,
-
jfor
an^
37
l^ear
38
Beainner'0 Star^Boof?
1,
DEC.
8 P.M.,
15, 9 P.M.,
DEC.
1,
10 P.M.,
NOV.
15, 11
The
Numbers
Constellations.
in brackets
at other
Bear.
In each case the stars convey no clear impression
of a bear, and such outlines of mythological or animal
figures are so unimportant that inability to trace them
need cause no discouragement. The handle of the Dipper
is the tail of the bear; the bowl is the animal's hip; the
ears are at the little group marked Rho (p) and Sigma (<r)
the nose is at Omicron (o) the forefeet are at Iota (i) and
Kappa (k); the hind feet at Lambda (X) and at Xi (|).
;
Let us again follow with our eyes the line from the
Pointers (a and p) in the Great Dipper to the Pole-star;
and let us imagine that we are continuing this line in
the same direction right on across the northern sky.
Just above this continued line, quite high up, you will
see the W-shaped figure which represents the chair of
Cassiopeia [80]. Just below, you will see the fainter
stars of Cepheus .[100] making a sort of house-shaped
figure with roof now pointing to the east.
Below the group just mentioned we may see the
head of Draco, the Dragon [160], formed by the
stars Gamma (7), Beta (p), Nu (v), and Xi (g).
To
the west of Draco, or toward the left, we may note
C.YGNUS, the Swan [145].
The stars Deneb [146]
form, as you will see, the figure of the Northern
Cross, or, if we wish to find in the same stars the figure
of the flying swan, the head will be at Beta (P), the
etc.,
1,
12 P.M.
4I.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
As we
on
NOV.
P.M.,
numbered notes
will
Alpha
(a)
Arrow
[335].
Gamma
Regulus
Cancer
of
[226].
the Crab;
the Twins,
[50],
telescope
39
1,
DEC.
8 P.M.,
DEC.
15, 9 P.M.,
1,
NOV.
10 P.M.,
15.
11
The Telescopic
Numbers
in brackets
Objects.
Here
through Cassiopeia-
some
[80]
of the richest
(see p. 19).
can see that it is made
up of innumerable stars closely massed together.
In Lyra [260] the star marked Epsilon (t) can, with
lie
or Milky
We
Way
marked Delta
(v) in
the
per.
(8)
the head of
and Zeta
Draco
[i
(t)
62].
Lyra, and Nu
Note with the opera-glass
[266, 265] in
marked g near Mizar [40 1 in the Great Dipname is Alcor [402]. Mizar and Alcor together
little star
Its
Gamma
(7) of
Delphinus
[157].
still
the
star
Mizar
1,
12 P.M.
4I.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
I.
star-fields
at other
NOV.
P.M.,
numbered notes
In
Cepheus note
(8)
[loi],
Xi
ii)
Cancer
[50].
Try the
[53, 54].
Praesepe
found by
Pollux and continuing
it
downward.
The
sparkling
III.
With a three-inch telescope all the preceding objects are, of course, even more available. In
addition to the preceding, the observer can now try to
divide Polaris, the Pole-star [406], by using a magnifying power of 75 to 100. The companion is not very
close; it is difficult to see only because of the disproportionate brightness of the larger component.
Other stars for a three-inch telescope are Mu (p.)
as well as 17
[150]
[153] near Lacerta, and 61
DR.A.CO;
extreme
4-inch
right,
Mu
40
Beglnner'6 Star*=Booft
1,
8 P.M.,
DEC.
15, 9 P.M.,
DEC.
1,
10 P.M.,
NOV.
15,
11
P.M.,
NOV.
1,
12 P.M.
The
Numbers
Constellations.
in brackets
at other
refer to corresponding
As we
our
left
hand.
Lambda
Nu
and the
(v).
tip of his uplifted club at
The three bright stars Zeta (t), Epsilon (), and Delta
(8) mark his belt, from which his sword hangs downward with its tip at Theta (9).
To the left of Orion lies the dim group Monoceros
(X)
[270] or the
may
up
Gamma
Orion, is incomplete.
Again taking our direction from the
we
line .of
Orion's
find
it
Gamma
ears at
(y) and his hind feet at
the right of these stars and a little lower
down is CoLUMBA, the Dove [125]; and a line from
this group drawn through Sirius and carried onward
Beta
Zeta
(P),
(t).
To
p. 35.
numbered notes
will bring us to
stars
Procyon
To the
River, taking
Taurus, we
its rise
near Rigel.
Returning now to
which has
that
mark
Ram
In
now
Water -Bearer
the
[15], is setting, the mouth of
water- jar being marked by the little Y-shaped figure at
Gamma (v). Still further to the southward lies Piscis
Austrinus, the Southern Fish [330], not to be confused
with Pisces, the Fishes, to which we have just referred.
The mouth of the Southern Fish is marked by Fomalhaut
It is not so bright
[331], a star of the first magnitude.
as Sirius or Rigel but a welcome object in this vast
It sets, in the latitude of
region of less brilliant sky.
New York, just as Sirius rises. In the latitude of
London it sets a little earlier.
Helescope
41
1.
DEC.
8 P.M..
DEC.
15, 9 P.M..
1,
10 P.M.,
NOV.
15,
P.M.,
11
NOV.
1,
12 P.M.
The Telescopic
Numbers
With opera-glass or
I.
two
in brackets
star-clusters in
at other
Objects.
refer to corresponding
[382]
and
field-glass,
however low
its
See p. 14.
With a two-inch telescope
and the
all
the
clusters
p. 35.
preced-
mentioned
numbered notes
servation.
There
is
also
III.
With a three-inch telescope first try the
objects mentioned for the two-inch, using a low-power
eye-piece and giving special attention to the great nebula
in Orion [294] and the star-clusters already specified.
In Orion try Lambda (X) [300], just above and to
the right of Betelgeuze two stars [297] below Theta (9)
and Zeta (?) [296], the lowest star of the belt. The
latter is a triple but the beginner may not at first see
more than two of the components. Rigel [292] is a
superb double, the small blue companion being an exacting test even under fine atmospheric conditions.
Easier
objects for a three-inch instrument are the Kappa (k)
;
In
[189], Epsilon (c) [191I and Nu (v) [194] of Gemini.
Pisces, a fine double star will be found in Alpha (a)
[321]; and a fainter but prctts' object in Psi (t^) [323).
A low-power eye-piece will show the small blue companion to Alpha (a) [iii] in Cetus; and, with an eyepiece of higher power, other interesting doubles in
Cetus will be found in the stars Gamma (v) [112); 66
[116] andZcta()[ii4]. Farther to the west, in Aquarius,
note another Zeta (5) [17), the star at the centre of the
little Y which marks the mouth of the water-jar.
It
is an extremely pretty double, the components being
almost ccjual in magnitude.
In this map the track of the planets lies through the
constellations Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and
Gemini.
The approximate positions of the planets
as they mo\-e through the stars may be easily found
for any month, from the tables on pp. 84. 86, etc.
42
Beginner's Star^BooFi
MARCH
1,
8 P.M.,
FEB.
1,
10 P.M.,
The
Numbers
We
Constellations.
in brackets
at other Dates
1,
12 P.M.
45.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
now
Of Andromeda
JAN.
We
numbered notes
We
Deneb
[100]; of
[146],
many
different ways.
Dipper,
under
Leo
is
its
[225]
reference
on
p. 44,
as
of
jfor pcra*=0Ia66, Jfielt)=(51a06, ant)
telescope
43
As Ihe observer
%lst
faces Northward,
^Cluster or Nebula
MARCH
8 P.M.,
1,
FEB.
1,
JAN. 15,
10 P.M.,
11
P.M.,
at other
Numbers
I.
in brackets
1,
12 P.M.
45.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
Perseus
JAN.
numbered notes
are also Delta
in Observer's Catalogue, p.
(8)
[43]
though we
16.
and Pi
may
of
great interest
in
the Milky Way, and, if the night be clear, they will well
reward the student. Observe especially the superb
Note also the
field of stars near Alpha (a) in Perseus.
"sword-handle" of the hero, composed of the great
double cluster marked h-x [309] in our map. It is almost
on a line connecting the star Eta (tj) in Perseus with
Its appearance in a large
Epsilon () in Cassiopeia.
telescope is shown by the illustration on p. 5.
The existence of the great nebula in Andromeda may
be discerned, also, but it is not so interesting in a small
instrument. It forms an irregular triangle with the
(v), and is marked
To
little stars 32 and
31 [2].
the eastward, or to the right of the Great Dipper, the
opera-glass and field-glass may be well employed among
the stars of Coma Berenices [120], or Berenice's Hair.
Among the double stars for opera-glass or field-glass,
steadily held, are Delta (8) in Cefheus [ioi], Nu (v) [162]
in the head of Draco, and 15 [62] in Canes Venatici.
Note also the stars Zeta (t) [401] and g [402] at the bend
These are Mizar and Alcor,
of the Dipper's handle.
"the horse and his rider."
stellation,
of
[305]
Nu
II.
all,
Nu
Gamma
Gamma
Gamma
Gamma
III.
all
the preced-
44
Beoinner^e Star:*Boof?
MARCH
1,
8 P.M.,
FEB.
15, 9
P.M.,
FEB.
1,
10 P.M.,
JAN. 15,
11
P.M.,
The
Numbers
at
Constellations.
in brackets
[65],
1,
12 P.M.
43.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
Time Schedule,
JAN.
is
they
before us
numbered notes
marked Alpha
Hydr^"
anb telescope
3tar Maqnitudes
45
/Is
o Cluster orNettu/a.
MARCH
1,
e P.M.,
FEB.
1,
JAN. 15.
10 P.M.,
11
P.M.,
JAN.
1,
12 P.M.
Numbers
in
brackets
refer to corresponding
Aldeb'aran
We
numbered notes
II.
For a two-inch telescope, there are, first, the
objects already noted. The clusters, if viewed with a
low-power eye-piece, are not only easy to find but especially beautiful.
To these may be added
67 [55],
just above the head of Hydra and to the right of the
little star marked Alpha (o) in Cancer.
In studying the
great nebula in Orion, remember to view the region
first with the lowest available power,
then use an eyepiece of higher power on the star Theta (0) itself [294].
Among the double stars of Orion, note Delta (S) [293],
the uppermost star in the belt, and m [295), just above.
Sigma (<r) [299], below, appears as a fine triple.
In Monoceros there are good objects in Beta (P)
[271] and Epsilon () [272]; and, among the double stars
of Gemini, in Zeta (t) [193], Delta (8) I190I, and Castor
[186], though the latter are now rather high up for convenient study.
Leo, however, is better placed for
observation, and in Gamma (7) [227] we have one of the
most beautiful of the binary systems. The two com-
in Observer's Catalogue, p.
16.
Erid'anus
Their connection is
[227] in Leo.
p. 13, rather than real.
p. 35.
that marked
-w [176J.
III.
examine,
first,
"
46
Beainner'0 Star=BooK
MAY
1,
8 P.M.,
APRIL
15, 9 P.M.,
APRIL
1,
10 P.M.,
MARCH
15,
11
P.M.,
The
Numbers
Constellations.
in brackets
at other
stars of
Cepheus
[100]
1,
12 P.M.
49.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
MARCH
58.
numbered notes
deepest interest.
Vega
[261],
its
leading
star,
may
telescope
47
star Macjnitudes
0lsl
MAY
1,
8 P.M.,
APRIL
15, 9 P.M.,
APRIL
1,
10 P.M.,
MARCH
15,
11
P.M.,
at other
Numbers
in brackets
MARCH
1,
12 P.M.
49.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
fields
some easy double stars. Among these are the Delta (8)
[loi] of Cepheus; Nu (v) [162] in the head of Draco;
and Delta (8) [266], Zeta iX,) [265], and Epsilon (c) [263]
These can all be divided by a field-glass,
in Lyra.
steadily held. The last named star is the famous " doubledouble," for a telescope of three and one-quarter or
three and one-half inches will show that each of its two
components is itself a double. Above Lyra, note the
An operastar-cluster in Hercules marked
13 [206].
glass will barely show its existence and a field-glass will
show it only as a very small globular patch of mist.
A telescope of two or three or four inches will show in
numbered notes
in
Cassiopeia.
While
stars Pi (ir) in Hercules and Beta (P) in Draco.
not of such intrinsic interest as
13 I206I, it is almost
as satisfactory' an object in a three-inch instrument.
48
BeQinner'5 Star=Booft
MAY
1,
8 P.M.,
APRIL 1, 10 P.M.,
MARCH 15, 11 P.M.. MARCH
FOR KEY-MAP TO THIS CHART SEE OPPOSITE PAGE.
FOR THE SKY AS THE OBSERVER FACES NORTH, SEE PP. 46, 47.
APRIL
15, 9 P.M.,
For the sky at other Dates and Hours see Time Schedule,
The
Numbers
Constellations.
in brackets
12 P.M.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
As we now
Mu
Gamma
Mu
1,
numbered notes
in Observer's Catalogue, p.
u6.
make one
Pollux
almost equidistant.
anO delescope
star Ma(jniludes
%M %Znd3rd
49
As fhe ot>SGri^er/aces3oulhi>rard,
the stars at his teftare risintj;
thost^ at his n<fht are sotting.
CENTAUffU.S
MAY
1,
8 P.M.,
APRIL
IS, 9 P.M.,
APRIL
1,
10 P.M.,
MARCH
15.
11
For the sky at other Dates and Hours see Time Schedule,
The Telescopic
Numbers
in brackets
Objects.
With opera-glass or
left,
or east, of
The lines of
Gemini run much more directly downward than our map
can indicate; as to Orion see p. 25. If we run a line,
however, from Castor to Pollux and continue it onward we shall find just to the left of this line the pretty
cluster, in Cancer, called Praesepe, or the Bee-hive
We may also find it by searching just before the
[52].
"sickle" of Leo.
Gamma
(7)
and Delta
(8)
[273],
and Epsilon
instrument
()
is, of course,
the double stars for a two-inch telescope, three
superb objects are now available: Castor [i86| in
Gemini; the star Gamma (7) [417] in Virgo; and Gamma (7) [227] in the "sickle" of Leo. The last is the
most difficult. There is a little "neighbor star," only
connected optically with the pair, that should not be
confused with the real companion of the primary star.
Among
1,
12 P.M.
47.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
MARCH
P.M.,
numbered notes
(it)
[44]
and Delta
Libra; Delta
(S) [43] in
(8) [136]
in
noted on p. 45. They are here too near the horizon for
satisfactory observation.
III.
first
examine
Nu
[191],
[192] in
Kappa
(k) [189],
Gemini.
The
50
JULY
1,
e P.M.,
Beginner's Star^Bool?
at other
1.
12 P.M.
p. 35.
The Constellations. For the Telescopic Objects See the Page Opposite.
refer to corresponding numbered notes in Observer's Catalogue,
The numbers in brackets
[
Mu
(o).
The Bear now has his head downward, his back
being toward the Pole. The stars really form no like-
at
Alpha
(a) or
Deneb
(5)
[146].
p.
16.
head
Gamma
point toward
(y), Draco's brightest star.
line from this star to Beta (P) at the foot of the cross
will point directly to the little constellation Sagitta, the
[335], lying, as does Cygnus, full in the Milky
Arrow
Way.
Below the Pole, too far down for good observation, lie
the fine constellations Perseus [305], and Auriga, the
Charioteer [35]. Capella [36], the beautiful firstmagnitude star of the latter group, is so brilliant that it
may often be seen through the mists of the horizon until
almost the very moment of its setting. With Beta (P)
of the same constellation, it forms a pair often mistaken
for Castor and Pollux, the companion stars of Gemini,
These are now further to the westward.
the Twins [185].
It should be noted, however, that the latter stars are
nearer together with the brighter above; not below,
as in the case of the two bright stars of Auriga.
The dim stars of Cancer [50] can hardly be seen so
near the horizon, but above them shines the "sickle"
This is not turned down quite so far as
of Leo [225].
shown here, nor is it turned up quite so far as shown
in the next map, p. 53, but the sickle does lead the way
downward, the other Hnes of the figure stretching back-
ward and upward from it. Lynx [255], and Leo Minor
[235], the Little Lion, are not important.
JULY
1,
8 P.M.,
PER3EU3 ^1
^%
3tQr Magnifudes
%lst%Znd*3rd4th '5th and under
o Cluster or NohulQ.
anb telescope
The Telescopic
The numbers in brackets
[
at other
refer to corresponding
Near Alpha
(a) in
Perseus,
Gamma
(>) in
for
satisfactory observation.
Among the
the following may be divided by a
field-glass, if the glass be steadily held: the Nu (v) [162]
in the head of Draco; Epsilon (c) [263], Delta (8) [266],
and Zeta (t) [265] in Lyra; Delta (8) [loi] in Cepheus;
and Omicron (o) [148] in Cygnus. Near the foot of the
Cross note also the little star marked 6 [426].
MiZAR is the name of the star marked Zeta (5) [401]
at the bend of the Dipper's handle.
Quite near, and
involved in the same stellar system with the brighter
star, is the small star marked g.
Its name is Alcor
As will be seen under the reference number in
[402].
the Observer's Catalogue [401], recently discovered facts
have given new interest to these well-known stars.
latitudes
wide double
II.
With
stars,
1,
12 P.M.
53.
p. 35.
Objects.
]
MAY
numbered notes
Gamma
III.
With a three-inch telescope the objects
already specified may be seen to even befter advantage
than with the two-inch. All should be viewed with an
eye-piece of low power (from 40 x to 60 x) except in the
cases of the Gamma iy) [227] in Leo and Castor [186]
in Gemini.
In the latter case 60 x will sometimes prove
sufficient, though 75 x is better.
Powers between 60
and no will also be needed for some of the following:
the Eta (tj) [82] in Cassiopeia, one of the finest of binary
systems; the Mu iv) [153] of Cygnus, just to the right,
or east, of Lacerta; and 61 [150], Omicron (o) [148],
and 77 [152], also in Cygnus; as well as Eta (tj) [308]
Gamma
a Beomner'0
52
JULY
1,
8 P.M.,
Star=*Booft
1,
12 P.M.
p. 35.
The Constellations. For the Telescopic Objects See the Page Opposite.
The numbers in brackets
refer to corresponding numbered notes in Observer's Catalogue,
[
As we
ScoRPius
We
Gamma
((i)
(y)
and Xi
extending
the most
(1),
its tail
at Epsilon
(e)
and
Mu
it
is
p. ii6.
or to the
[260];
are very high at the present hour, yet their figures are
Below Hercules and above Scorpio
quite distinct.
there lies, however, one of the most difficult of the constellation outlines, Ophiuchus, or the Serpent-Bearer
[285], a difficult group.
Inability to distinguish this constellation need cause
It has baffled man}' a
the beginner no discouragement.
veteran.
Note the method for learning it suggested in
the Observer's Catalogue [285], but if it is not clear at
learning the other groups
first, let it await your leisure
first.
It should be studied in connection with Serpens,
the Serpent [365], which lies on each side of it, the head
to the observer's right, the tail to the left.
To the right of
faint stars. Coma
and still
Lion [225], but with the familiar "sickle" turned
downward more directly than here shown, with Beta
Regulus [226] makes with
(P) or Deneb'ola higher up.
Spica and Antares a fairly straight ine at almost
JULY
1,
8 P.M.,
The Telescopic
The numbers in brackets
[
With opera-glass or
at other
Objects.
]
field-glass
numbered notes
note the
For the
for this
first
Mu
Mu
1,
12 P.M.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
I.
53
in Observer's Catalogue, p.
same hour;
16.
map
p. 51.
left,
marked
may
onward a
like distance.
54
BeGiniier'0
Star^Booh
1,
8 P.M.,
AUG.
15, 9 P.M.,
AUG.
1,
10 P.M..
JULY
15,
11
at other
JULY
P.M.,
1,
12 P.M.
57.
p. 35.
The Constellations. For the Telescopic Objects See the Page Opposite.
The numbers in brackets
refer to corresponding numbered notes in Observer's Catalogue,
[
Mu
(k)
(i).
p. ii6.
Ifor pera*(5la00, jfielt>:*(BIas0, ant)
telescope
55
1,
15, 9 P.M.,
AUG. 1, 10 P.M., JULY 15, 11 P.M.,
FOR NIGHT-CHART TO THIS MAP SEE OPPOSITE PAGE.
FOR THE SKY AS THE OBSERVER FACES SOUTH, SEE PP. 56,
8 P.M.
AUG.
The Telescopic
The numbers in brackets
[
at other
Objects.
]
JULY
1,
12 P.M.
57.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
numbered notes
objects
marked x-h
[309].
Among
marked 56
the
Gamma
II.
[5]
in
Andromeda.
The
last is in line
with
tJie
has
made
its
star 12 [61]
is
Mu
preceding
should
be examined, for they are not any less appropriate for a
three-inch. In addition to these, try the double stars Eta
h) I308] and Zeta (?) I310] in Perseus; and Iota (i) (83]
and Eta {r\) [82] in Cassiopeia, the latter a beautiful
and interesting binarj' system.
An imaginary line prolonging the handle of the Little
Dipper will find the little star marked ig II (49], an easy
double. Use a low power eye-piece.
Upon the other
hand, the star Epsilon (t) [42] in Bootes will demand
an eye-piece of high power, and the beginner may need a
III.
all
56
Beainner's Star^Booft
1,
AUG.
8 P.M.,
AUG.
15, 9 P.M.,
1,
10 P.M.,
JULY
15,
11
For the sky at other Dates and Hours see Time Schedule,^p.
JULY
P.M.,
1,
12 P.M.
55.
35.
The Constellations. For the Telescopic Objects See the Page Opposite.
refer to corresponding numbered notes in Observer's Catalogue,
The numbers in brackets
[
head
Phi
of the
Archer
Sigma
is
at Pi
Tau
The
and Zeta
(ir).
stars
Lambda
(X),
form, if taken
by themselves, a figure like a dipper up-side-down; and
this has long been recognized as the "Milk Dipper."
Eastward or to the left, shines Altair [21], the beautiful first-magnitude star of Aquila, the Eagle [20].
It
can always be identified on a clear night by the two
almost equidistant stars Gamma (7) and Beta (P). They
serve also to point us, in a general way, toward Lyra,
the Lyre [260], with its bright star Vega [261]; and
in the other direction
toward the faint stars of CapricoRNus, the Sea Goat [75]. See also p. 28.
(<}>),
(<r),
(t),
(?)
To
the east of
Lyra
shines
[145],
that
Bearer
[285],
sky.
p.
16.
Winged Horse
of
Pega-
now
apparent. As
Pegasus is so great in size and as it is divided between
the south and north, the text and maps here should be
supplemented by those on pp. 54, 55. The shoulders
and body of the horse are represented by the "square";
the head is toward the south, at the stars Zeta (l),
Theta (6), and Epsilon (e); and the forefeet are at Eta
sus, the
[301],
is
his
anb telescope
57
1,
8 P.M.,
AUG.
AUG.
15, 9 P.M.,
1,
JULY
10 P.M.,
15,
11
The Telescopic
The numbers in brackets
[
at other
1,
12 P.M.
55.
p. 35.
Objects.
]
JULY
P.M.,
refer to corresponding
numbered notes
I.
With opera-glass and field-glass sweep, first,
through the course of the Milky Way. It here runs
almost through the centre of the map, from Cygnus,
through Sagitta, Aquila, and Sagittarius, swerving
slightly westward as it descends, and including the tail
of Scorpio.
In this region we shall be able on a clear, moonless
night to catch a glimpse of the clusters marked
8
22 [343]; and possibly
6 [356], and
[341],
7 [357],
of
80 [355] also just on a line, in Scorpio, between
Alpha (a) and Beta (P).
Among larger groups the stars
of Corona [130] form a beautiful spectacle.
A fieldglass or, in some cases, an opera-glass will divide the
(o)
following double stars: those marked Alpha
[76] and
Beta (P) [77] in Capricornus; the star marked 6 [426]
(e)
near the foot of the Cross in Cygnus; Epsilon
[263],
Delta (8) [266], and Zeta (5) [265] in Lyra, now very
(|i)
(a)
high up; Mu
[246] in
[359] in .Scorpio, and Alpha
Libra, now low in the southwest.
II.
the
preceding
and Nu (v)
the last is the unmarked star to
[353] in Scorpio,
the left from Beta (P).
Examine Xi (|) [354] also, just
above Beta (P). These will be found easy but very fine.
Try, too, the stars 67 [286J and jo \2<!,-,\ m Ophiuchus;
and Theta (9) [368] in Serpens. The latter is the easiest
of the three, and one of the loveliest of its class.
We have already spoken frequently of the star in
Cygnus, marked 61 [150]; and of Bcta'(P) [147I, one of
the finest objects for a small instrument. Try also the
doubles in Lyra, marked Beta (P) [262] and Eta (11)
stars
marked Sigma
(<r)
[358],
Beta
(p) [352],
of
Corona; and
in the' Pi
(ir)
[44]
and Delta
(8) [43]' of
[157] of
will
M
M
The track
58
Bcginner'0 Star=*Book
1,
8 P.M.,
OCT.
15, 9 P.M.,
OCT. 1, 10 P.M.,
SEPT. IS, 11 P.M.,
FOR KEY-MAP TO THIS CHART SEE OPPOSITE PAGE.
FOR THE SKY AS THE OBSERVER FACES SOUTH, SEE PP. 60,
at other
SEPT.
1,
12 P.M.
6l.
p. 35.
The Constellations. For the Telescopic Objects See the Page Opposite.
The numbers in brackets
refer to corresponding numbered notes in Observer's Catalogue,
[
in the
p. 23,
of the
of
it
the constellation
[400].
The whiter
of these stars
is
Capella
[36],
the finest
p. Ii6.
we should remember
We
Gamma
Mu
fov
Opera*=(5la00, JfieI^^(5la00,
anb telescope
59
1,
8 P.M.,
IS, 9 P.M.,
SEPT. IS, 11 P.M.,
OCT. 1, 10 P.M..
FOR NIGHT-CHART TO THIS MAP SEE OPPOSITE PAGE.
FOR THE SKY AS THE OBSERVER FACES SOUTH, SEE PP. 60,
OCT.
The Telescopic
The numbers in brackets
[
at other
refer to
Mu
and Eta
(h.)
(t)).
The most
marked Theta
[386] and
Sigma
There is a slight distortion in the map
[389].
here which can be easily corrected by the suggestions
given in col. 2, p. 58.
(9)
(<r)
haps,
the double
cluster
Among
12 P.M.
6l.
p. 35.
I.
1,
Objects.
]
SEPT.
p. Ii6.
Kappa
[46] in Bootes.
[45], and Iota
two are now just above Eta (t)) of Ursa Major,
At the bend of the
at the end of the Dipper's handle.
handle is Zeta (I) [401], or Mizar, probably the most
interesting and important of all the double stars within
range of a two-inch telescope. The star marked Beta
((i)
The
(k)
[47],
(i)
last
Alpha
(a)
and Beta
(p) of
Perseus.
the preceding
The Alpha (a) [201] of Hercules;
objects are available.
the Beta (P) [147) of Cygnus; the Gamma (-y) [3] of
Andromeda; and the Zeta (t) [401] of Ursa Major are
The star-clusters, inof especial interest and beauty.
cluding the Pleiades [382] and the Hyades [383] in
Taurus, and
35 [188] in Gemini are fine under low
III.
powers.
To the double stars listed for the field-glass and the
two-inch telescope, the following may be added to the list
for a three-inch: The Zeta it) [131] of Corona; the
stars marked 95 [205], Mu ((.) [203], Rho (p) [204], and
Gamma (y) [208] of Hercules; the Beta (P) [262] and
Eta (11) [264] of Lyra; the star marked 17 [152] in
Cygnus; Delta (8) [166], Omicron (o) [163I, Iota (i)
[164], and Gamma ("y) [165] in Dr.\co; the star marked
jqH [49] to the right of Polaris; Eta (ri^ [308] and
more difficult Zeta (5) [310] in Perseus; and Iota (0
The last two stars
[83] and Eta (11) [82] in Cassiopeia.
are not easy objects, but the latter represents an interesting binary system, and the contrast in the colors of
Polaris [406], or the
the components is singularly fine.
Pole-Star, is always of interest; and the ninth-magnitude
companion will be found at this hour almost directly
below the brighter component. Try a power of 75; an
even lower power is often sufficient.
6o
Beainner'0 Star*36ooI?
1,
8 P.M.,
OCT.
15, 9 P.M.,
OCT.
1,
10 P.M.,
SEPT.
11
15,
P.M.,
at other
SEPT.
1,
12 P.M.
59.
p. 35.
The Constellations. For the Telescopic Objects See the Page Opposite.
The numbers in brackets
refer to corresponding numbered notes in Observer's Catalogue,
[
At this hour, as we face southward, the bright firstmagnitude star directly before us, low in the sky, is
called FoMALHAUT [331].
This is the brightest object
in the Southern Fish, or Piscis Austrinus [330] as
the constellation is called in Latin. Above it is Aquarius [15], the Water-Bearer, looking even less Hke the
figure of a man than the stars below look like a fish.
The mouth of the water-jar in Aquarius is marked by
the little Y-shaped figure at Pi (it), Eta (n), and Gamma
This is the group by which the constellation is
(y).
usually identified. Aquarius is represented with head
near the nebula marked
2; shoulders at Alpha (o)
and Beta (P); waist at Delta (8), knees at Lambda (X)
and Phi (<|)), and feet about at Omega (w). The present
position of the body is thus almost parallel to the horizon.
Lambda
(X),
Gamma
(7), etc.
Many
p. ii6.
from Alpha
to) to
creature's
(X),
]Mu
head
(p.).
is
Gamma
Fomalhaut
We
We
planets
lies in
our present
map
through Sagittarius,
first
telescope
5tar Ma^nitadcps
I
I
6i
PISCIS /lUSTRINUS
OOus/i'r orNetiula
1,
8 P.M.,
OCT.
15, 9 P.M.,
OCT.
1,
SEPT.
10 P.M.,
15,
11
The Telescopic
The numbers in brackets
[
at other
Objects.
SEPT.
P.M.,
1,
12 P.M.
59.
p. 35.
refer to corresponding
numbered notes
(i]/')
[18] in
of
Serpens
will still
be found.
III.
11 [23] in Aquila
with Theta (6) and Epsilon ();
near the star Lambda (X) in the Eagle's tail; and
27
[427] in Vulpecula, almost in fine with Beta (P) at the
foot of the Northern Cross and the Eta (ri) of Sagitta.
Among the finest is 33 [396] in Triangulum; but this,
as well as the great nebula in Andromeda,
31 [2], is
now rather high up for convenient observation.
Among the double stars are Pi (,ir) [79] and two near-by
This group of small
stars [78, 79b] in Capricornus.
double stars is fully charted in the map of the N. Hemisphere at the location assigned in the Observer's Catalogue
Higher up is the Epsilon (i) [302] of Pegasus,
[79], etc.
and to the eastward is the star Zeta (?) [322] in Pisces,
It is
the small object between Mu ((!) and Epsilon (<).
the fourth of the little stars on the westward lino from
Alpha (a).
Austrinus.
Wc may
also try
In Cetus,
Gamma
Gamma
("y)
[333I in Piscis
(,a)
[ni],
(y)
to
"
D.
The Sun
We
frequently refer to starlight and sunlight as though they were different things.
Strictly,
day
is starlight.
And
men have
by its own light but wholly by the reflected light of the Sun.
The planets shine, also, chiefly by reflected light. If Jupiter and Satiim be partly selfluminous, as some suppose, their brightness would be insignificant without the Sun. Even
the chance comets that come into our skies, while the\" yield a partial glow of their own,
shine chiefly by their reflection of the Sun, or because of the direct action of the Sun upon
them. The "fixed" stars shine by their own light, for these as we have seen are other
suns, many of them far larger and more luminous than ours.
Our Sun, however, is of even greater importance than all the other stars together, for
the Sun gives us heat as well as light. This heat gives us not only the warmth which
made.
the lights of the night are starlight, except the artificial lights that
The moon
shines not
all
it
our clothing, and our food. There could be no vegetation without the stimulation afforded
by the Sun's warmth; and without vegetation no animal life could be supported. The
light received from the Sun is 600,000 times that received from the moon, and it is roughly
estimated that the apparent brightness of the Sun's surface is about 150 times that of a
calcium light. The heat of the Sun is so far in excess of any standard which we can secure
that its very expression becomes
of Princeton University
tive temperature'
Young
himself
difficult.
in quoting
"
in illustrating the solar radiation at the Sun's surface "if a bridge of ice
could be formed from the earth to the Sun by a column of ice 2.1 miles square and 93,000,000
miles long, and if in some way the entire solar radiation could be concentrated upon it, it
would be melted in one second, and in seveyi more would be dissipated in vapor.
But of the light and heat sent out by the Sun, the earth receives only 2.200.000,000 fh. part. For
the earth is not only a very small body as compared to the Sun; it is, also, very far distant.
These factors in the case are difficult to realize, if merely set down in figures. Let us, thereThe Sun is 1,300,000 times larger than the
fore, fallback on some familiar comparisons.
earth.
A railway train that could make the circuit of the earth in 30 days would take over
If 109 globes as large as the earth were put
8^ years to make the journey round the Sun.
edge to edge and if the surface of the Sun were flat, their long line would just reach across
the Sun's face. When we look at our moon it is hard to realize that it is about 240,000
miles away.
The diameter of the circle it describes is thus approximately 480,000 miles.
Yet the Sun is so large that the moon could revolve in its orbit, if earth and moon were
put inside the Sun, and there would be much room to spare, for the real diameter of the
Sun is over 866,000 miles.
6a
Lick Observatory
63
W.
\V.
64
The
Beginner's Star^BooFi
Sun are of great interest, but their full descripastronomy rather than to a simple manual of observation.
To the beginner the chief objects of interest on the Sun's surface are the sun-spots and
the faculcB. The sun-spots have usually been regarded as cavities or holes in the photofacts as to the constitution of the
tion belongs to a
manual
of
sphere,
the
enfolds
the
photosphere is
the cloud-like covering of intensely heated matter which
The jaculcB
Sun's
surface.
They
Fig. J.
like the
is
in
These
may
usually be seen only with the aid of the spectroscope; see Fig. 10, p. 68.
be observed and photographed during an eclipse of the Sun; see p. 63.
interesting
is usually provided
with one of the astronomical eyepieces. This may be safely used, in directly viewing
the Sun, on instrurftents as large as three inches in aperture, provided the telescope is turned
away from the Sun at frequent intervals. Such a precaution is necessary not only to spare
the eye, but to prevent the heat of the Sun from cracking the eyepiece.
These small
sun-glasses may also be used on larger instruments but with a risk proportionate to the
increase in size of the telescope.
More than one astronomer has lost an eye by taking
much
In this
way
"Herschel"
by a plane
of unsilvered glass,
most of the
light
^be Sun
65
stiff
wire.
The
AB C
D.
collar at
KN
this screen
may
be of
bamboo
W W
N
Fig. 6.
At
left,
as seen with naked eye; at centre, as seen in astronomical telescope: at reader's right, as seen
when
projected
on
a screen.
moved a
little
of the telescope.
back of a chair. The image of the Sun may be shown more clearly if a
dark cloth be thrown over the top and the farther side of the screen,
A B K D. The image may then be viewed from this side of the screen.
The sun-spots may not only be well seen, and drawn and recorded for
future comparisons, but a number of observers may view them at the
same time, if there be any spots there
A sun-spot maximum will occur
in the year 1915, and thereafter at intervals of 11. 1 3 years.
They are
likely, however, to be present at any time; but they are not always
present, and if the telescope does not show them, it is not necessarily the
fault of the instrument.
They may sometimes be seen with the unaided
eye, either near the time of sunset, or, during the day, through a large piece
of colored glass.
The observer may always know that any spots that can
be seen with the naked eye are at least four times the size of our earth.
As the Sun, like the earth, has "points of the compass," it is well for
They
are here
shown
in Fig. 6
in
Course of the
Sun-spots.
Fig. 7.
cal eyepiece,
is
66
IBcQumcv'Q Star^BooJ^
As we note the course of the sun-spots, we seldom find them exactly at the Sun's equator
They are usually seen in the regions lying midway between the poles
and the equator, coming into view at the eastern limb (our left as we face southward),
passing out of view at the right in about fourteen days, and sometimes (after as long an
FIG. 8.
Comparison of
From
negatives
made
at the
its axis,
on
left
Yerkes Observatory
We
and that
its
own
satisfaction
period of rotation
is
approxi-
mately twenty-seven days, as viewed from the earth. The period of rotation is a little shorter
near the Sun's equator than to the north or south of it, for the gaseous masses of which
this great whirling globe
is
composed seem
to
and
in the
by the " apex," but all these estimates place the point fairly near the star Vega. The
exact position according to Boss (1910) is R. a. 18 h. 2 min.; D.-f34; according to Hough and Halm, r. a. 18 h26.
For recent expressions on the direction of the Sun's motion, the advanced student may wish to
4 min.; D.
refer to British Ass. for the Advancement of Science; President's Address, 1907, by Sir David Gill, K.C.B., LL.D.,
etc., p. 19; Newcomb-Engelmann, Pop. Astron., 4th edition, ed. by Prof. Dr. P. Kempf, of the Astrophysical
Observatory, Potsdam, pub. Leipzig, 191 1, p. 535; and especially to Les Courants Stellatres, par M. P. Puiseux,
Astron. de I'Obs., Paris, President de la Soci^t^ Astronomiquede France; SuZ/e/tw dela Soc. A. F., July, 191 1, P- 303-
F.R.S.,
TLhc
brighter,
by many
times, than
Sun
67
artificial
means.
The umbra
may
of a sun-spot,
if
FIG. 9.
speclroheliograms
made
at the
Yerkes Observatory
Here we have a picture of conditions at a higher level of the Sun's atmosphere than
shown on the right, but at the same moment. We note the same spots, but the spectroheliograph enables us to see near them the brighter clouds of calcium vapor called the
These lie above the faculce, see p. 64, and seem to arise from them or to crown
flocculi.
them as white crests will often crown the waves of a stormy sea.
In one case the lifetime of a sun-spot was eighteen months (1840-41) but the period
of duration, even for large ones, is usually from two months to three, and they sometimes
persist for only a few days though a new spot may sometimes break out in the same quarter
of the Sun from which a spot has disappeared.
An active spot will often exhibit marked
changes within as short a period as twenty-four or thirty-six hours, and simple drawings
which exhibit the state of such an object from day to day become interesting and t:seful
left.
records.
The corona
is
may
by the moon.
This,
or glor>^
68
BeGinner'0 Star^Book
As echpses
at any
shadow at totality averages only about 70
phenomena. Expeditions are sent great distances for
of the
may
be regarded as rare
^^^^^iSl
FIG. 10.
it
is
made
negative
at the
Yerkes Observatory
We
Sun
is
that
is
so great.
call it
report.
It travels 1 100 feet a second.
But, if a sound were made in the Sun, and if
a sound could travel through the empty spaces where there is no air (which it cannot
do), it would not reach the earth till fourteen years afterward.
If a cannon-ball could be
.
fired in the
Sun
you would
the earth, and five years after that you would hear the sound."*
Indeed,
if
an infant
* For the popular and yet scientific statement of the facts as to the distance, dimensions, and constitution of the
Sun, see the volumes by Young, Todd, Lockyer, and Holden named in the bibliography on p. 144. vSee, also, A Study
in Stellar Evolution, G. E. Hale, University of Chicago Press, 1908; and The Sun, by Charles G. Abbot, Director
&
Co., 191
1.
Zhc
69
could put out his hand to-day and touch the Sun
as the distance between
for he
would
Sun and
earth,
feel
die of old age before the nerves, despite the high rapidity with
must elapse
which they
may
learn so
If,
so readily
The Moon
OUR NEAREST NEIGHBOR
As
its
different features
upon
is
all
its
satisfaction.
70
upon
more
Beoinncr'0 Star^Book
we may
see the increase of the lunar day as the Sun's rays Hght up more and
moon's surface. In the illustration on p. ']2i ^^ may see the advance of the Sun
at 2 days; on p. 75 the Sun's advance at 6 days; on p. ']'] at 9,^^ days; on this page at 14!^
days.
Here, the moon is said to be full.
During the latter half of the month, the
this side,
of the
side of the
erected; for
moon toward
us catches daily a
little less
is
now
strikes the
moon
directly.
on the moon at their best, only as they are brought into clear relief by their shadows,
and we see the full moon so imperfectly because in the Sun's direct illumination the shadows are largely destroyed. Still, there are obvious distinctions and contrasts, at least for
the larger features, and we are certainly enabled to get a simple general view of the whole
earthward side. I have therefore chosen this view of the moon for our first study. The
image is here presented as viewed with the naked eye, the opera-glass, field-glass, and spyglass,
or through the telescope, if used with a terrestrial or erecting eyepiece.
Upon the moon as here shown, we may first note that certain tracts or areas are much
darker than others. These darker spaces, as we may see even in an opera-glass, are depressions in the moon's surface, lying somewhat lower than the surrounding region. They were
called "Maria" or "Seas" by Galileo and were among the objects first shown to the poet
Milton at the time of his visit (1638) to the Italian astronomer.* They contain no water,
* ".
I.
^be
(TDoon In a jfielb^'Glase
71
moon has no water and practically no atmosphere, but the early name has been
preserved.
They are large, low-lying, gray plains, here and there marked by ridges and
small crater-like formations. The one which is most perfectly enclosed is marked A in
the Key-Map. This is Mare Crisium the Sea of Crises, or Sea of Conflicts; dimensions
about 70,000 square miles; 280 miles long; 360 miles wide (east to west). The latter
for the
dimension seems the smaller in a telescope, this is an optical illusion, due to foreshortenThe object marked B is the Sea of Fecundity, Mare Fecunditatis; that marked C
Mare Nectaris; D is the Sea of Tranquillity, Mare Tranquillitatis
is the Sea of Nectar,
Serenity,
Mare Serenitatis; F is the Sea of Showers, Mare Imbrium; H is
E is the Sea of
the Sea of Storms, Mare Procellarum; N is the Sea of Clouds, Mare Nuhium. These
"seas," particularly A, B, D, and E, may often be distinguished with the unaided eyes.
The Sea of Conflicts (A) may sometimes be clearly seen by daylight. As the moon is here
shown, this object lies nearer the top of the picture than is usually the case. Compare its
Note, however, that in these the moon's image is
position as shown on pp. 73, 75, Jj.
inverted, for study with an astronomical eyepiece.
Let us now note some of the larger mountain ranges. The longest and most impressive
-bordering the Sea of Showers. Just above, and across the strait
is No. 57, the Apennines,
between F and E, the range marked 59 is called the Caucasus Mountains; and to the
Near them, at No. 56, is a great walled plain called
left, the Alps are numbered 60.
Sinus Iridum, one of the
Plato, 60 miles in diameter. No. 55 is the Bay of Rainbows,
most beautiful features in the "coast-line" of the Sea of Showers.
The most conspicuous of the great lunar "craters" so called on account of the volcanic appearance of their structure* are Tycho, No. 50; Langrenus, No. 4; Copernicus,
No. 51 Kepler, No. 52; Aristarchus, No. 47; and Grimaldi, No. 54. Because of the direct
illumination of the Sun, these are now visible chiefly as brilliant patches of light Aristarchus is the brightest spot on the moon, Grimaldi the darkest but in our other maps we
may see some of them under different illuminations. From the region near Tycho, No.
which Webb calls "the metropolitan crater of the moon," radiates the most con50,
spicuous of those systems of light-streaks or light-rays which have proved such an insoluble problem to the astronomer. They give to the moon at this time what some one has
called the appearance of a "peeled orange." We refer to them again on pp. 74, 78.
Grimaldi, No. 54, is one of the largest of the "wall-surrounded" plains, extending 148
miles N. to S. and 129 miles E. to W., covering about 14,000 square miles. Kepler, No.
about 22 miles in diameter and very much
52, is also a ring-plain, though smaller
brighter. A peak on its eastern border attains a height of 10,000 feet. Brighter still is
Aristarchus, No. 47;
so brilliant, indeed, that it may often be seen long before the terminator reaches it, shining like a faint but obvious beacon in the waste of the lunar night.
The terminator is the division-line between light and darkness on the moon's surface.
The advance of the terminator marks the progress of the lunar day. The moon when
full shows, of course, no terminator, but in our illustration of the moon at two daj'-s
shown on the next page it has advanced just beyond A, the Sea of Conflicts. There be
careful to note that we show the image of the moon inverted, as seen in a telescope with an
astronomical eyepiece. The object A seems, therefore, to be low down to the left instead
ing.
* Next after the "seas" and mountains, the larger lunar formations, especially those having an appearance suggesting volcanic origin, are called walled plains; the deeper of these
smaller, more definite, and more circular in fomi
are called ring-plains; and the ring-plains are also often called craters. These terms are all applied with a good deal
of freedom;
largely
etc.
by
inasmuch as the
Riccioli (1651), in
Some
of this
72
of
upward
to the right
and
Beginner's Star^Book
The
engravings.
new moon
lies
moon
and as
as so viewed
in
detail
from
this point
onward the
Its objects
distinctly
or
more small
of
Peirce.
is
No.
and
2,
is
i,
Another,
crater
One
craters.
No.
these.
called
larger,
Picard,
called
21 miles in
is
Firmicus
is
right,
Both
is
Apollonius.
Lan-
are ring-plains.
grenus. No.
4,
is
a superb
8000 to 10,000
feet
high,
long by as
central
many broad.
peak
rises
to
Its
text,
deep sharp cleft running from almost the centre of Petavius upward
toward the right seems to have been first noted by the German observer, Schroeter, Sept.
One peak of the central mountains here reaches a height of 6000 feet above
16, 1788.
the floor.
Snellius (No. 7) and Stevinus (No. 8) are also ring-plains, the former 50 miles
in diameter, the latter a little larger
though showing smaller in our photograph. In
Furnerius, No. 9, we have another walled plain almost as large as Langrenus, though more
to 11,000 feet.
irregular in form.
Returning to the region of the Sea of Conflicts (A) we note to the north (remember
map south is above, north below, as in an astronomical telescope) the fine formation called Cleomedes, No. 10. It is oblong in shape, about 78 miles in diameter, and
that in our
huge walls
rise
feet
above the
floor.
73
is
Burck-
hardt, 35 miles in diameter, chiefly characterized by the great relative height of its eastern
wall (observer's right), which rises to nearly 13,000 feet. The objects Nos. 12 and 13 are
two
ring-plains called
Geminus and
marked
in
crowned
by superb peaks, attaining,
in some instances, heights
of 10,000, 12,000, and 15,000
Its great walls are
feet.
ography "
the
aid
of the
of
moon
direct
with
photo-
it
is
sufficient.
helpful.
Most
quite as well
of the objects
and
The
opposite
moon
just
at the
first
is
at
in some cases even betteron the third and fourth days, and yet again
shown
of detail
Key-Map
when
the
illustration
in
and when
be sufficient that
This will in turn
be sufficient, for all ordinary purposes, till the chart of the full moon, p. 70, is more appropriate. The use, there, of the terrestrial eyepiece to which that photograph is adapted, is,
for the beginner, a positive advantage. For as the moon becomes fuller and brighter the
for the
moon
at nine
will
this ceases to
begin to be of service.
additional lenses
strikingly, in the
moon
at 18
74
Beoinncr'5 Qtav^'Booh
We
have already spoken of the lunar seas marked A, B, C, D, E, and of the other
formations from No. I to No. 15.
Nos. 16 and 17, not far from the border of
the Sea of Conflicts (A), are called Proclus and Macrobius.
The former is, next to
Aristarchus,
No. 47, see p. 71 the brightest object on the moon's surface and the
examination of our
photograph will show these
close
seen;
border
the
13,000
42
miles,
feet
above
Lower
floor.
still
in
each case
about 11,000 feet. In the
ring-plains, Eudoxus, No.
and
have a
pair
their
21,
still
diameters
spectively, 40
and
in
Aristotle,
20,
Their
is
totle,
feet.
Elger
As
when
to
says,
formation presents
striking
re-
miles,
bordering walls
11,000
finer.
are,
and 60
we
its
about
Aris-
"The
KEY-MAP TO MOON, AT SIX DAYS
most
See accompanying
aspect at sunrise,
the
shadow
text,
and the
Almost on a
between Nos. 20 and 19 lies No. 38, Burg only 28 miles in diameter but
with a brilliant interior mountain.
The two other small, sharply defined ring-plains
above and to the left of Burg are Mason and Grove. To the right of Mason, in duller
outline, is Plana.
On the very border of the Sea of Serenity (E) lies the superb walled
plain Posidonius, No. 22,
often better lighted in the six-day moon than in this photograph, and next to it, Chacornac, No. 23. Posidonius is one of the finest of lunar objects,
for while its walls are only about 6000 feet high, its central crater rises from a brilliant
floor on which, with a good instrument, one may find the remains of an older rampart.
Between No. 24 and No. 25, Pliny and Vitruvius, seems to flow the broad strait which
unites the Sea of Serenity (E) with the Sea of Tranquillity (D).
Pliny is 32 miles in diof the east wall with the little crater
direct line
on
illuminated."
^be
flDooii in tbe
telescope
Kant
(26)
75
and Maedler
(27), lie to
the east
Theophilus, 30; Cyrillus, 31; and Catharina, 32; this triple group forms one of the
When the moon is 53^2 to 73/2 days old, or
when
moon
being enclosed by a
rampart which
rises at
one
Its
diameter
Its
is
fine central
64 miles.
mountain covers
THE MOON AT
Image
SIX DAYS
Key -Map
opposite
miles.
Above
this
is
Stibo-
Pitiscus, Hommel,
34, smaller but deeper; and higher still is the group 35, 36, 37,
and Vlacq. I follow Webb's (Beer and Maedler) map here rather than Elger, as it seems
rius.
No.
clearly related to the photograph. The whole region is much broken, but the group
can usually be identified by Hommel, with the two smaller ring-plains which it includes.
In noting the height of the lunar formations it is well to bear in mind the fact that their
relative altitude is far greater than the actual measurements can indicate.
The heights of
some of our own mountains are, Mont Blanc, 15,775 feet; Mt. McKinle3% Alaska, 20,464
feet; Mt. Everest in India, 29,000; Mt. Etna in Sicily, 10,865.
The mountains of the
moon are lofty even as compared with such standards but it should be borne in mind that
as the moon is a much smaller globe than our earth, its diameter being only one-fourth as
great, the relative altitudes on the moon
should really
as compared with its total sphere
be multiplied by four in making terrestrial com]:)arisons.
more
76
Bccjinner's
Star^Book
Note, here, that many objects shown when the moon was six days old are now
obscured by the more direct hghting from the Sun. In our preceding map, Theophilus,
CyriUus, and Catharina 30, 31, 32 were conspicuous; they are now hardly visible. They
must not be confused with another triple formation, equally striking, 62, 63, 64. These
The
Arzachel.
the
first is
and
square
area 9000
its
its
miles
115
miles.
than the
second in diameter
only
66 miles as compared with
but the surrounding
83
ramparts are higher, rising
at one point to 13,000 feet.
third
smaller
is
strik-
an elevation
13,000 and 10,000 feet
having
spectively.
of
re-
Thebit, 67, is
the
of interest because of
edge.
cus
the
first is of
because
interest,
breach
in
its
greatest
of
great
the
wall
text,
Sea
of Clouds (N).
Of Tycho, 50, we have spoken elsewhere, pp. 71 and 78; the rays are
not here conspicuous but it may be best studied in the moon of the ninth and tenth days.
Nos. 71, 72, are Wilhelm I. and Longomontanus, the latter a superb walled plain 90 miles
in diameter, the highest peak upon its ramparts rising 13,314 feet.
Clavius, No. 76, is
regarded by many as the most variedly beautiful of all the lunar formations. Including
an area of over 15,000 square miles, the peaks upon its walls rise at two points to at least
in the direction of the
15,000 and 17,000 feet, and upon its great floor are at least five clearly defined craters.
Nos. 74, 75, are Gruenberger and Moretus, not well placed for observation, and less interesting than the objects just noted; diameters 40 and 78 miles respectively.
Within the
Sea of Showers, F, we find the ring-plains ^'], 78, 79, 80. The first of these, Timocharis,
though only 23 miles in diameter, is the centre of one of the smaller ray systems; its floor
some 3000 feet lower than the level of the "sea."
Archimedes, 78, is a far finer spectacle though its depth below the level of the sea is not so great.
Its great walls, however,
lies
Zbc
77
a height of 4000 feet above its floor. Aristillus, 79, and Autolycus, 80, are ringthe former having a broken and varied
plains 34 and 23 miles in diameter, respectively,
border and a fine central mountain. These objects, beginning with Archimedes, No. 78,
The reader will there find a clearer
are again illustrated on a far larger scale on p. 79.
rise to
Plato, 56,
designated in the
on pp. 76 and
Southward
Key-Maps
74.
or
above
Rheinhold,
farther
ward
still
lies
81;
and
to the south-
Bullialdus, 82,
The
former,
31 miles in diameter,
more impressive.
Key-Map
opposite
Its
di-
of its class. Equally interesting is Eratosthenes, 58, at the termination of the range of
mountains called the Apennines, 57. It is 38 miles in diameter, one of its peaks rising 16,000
feet.
Manilius, 61, and Menelaus, 39, have similar names; but the latter, while slightly
the smaller -diameter, 20 miles has a finely marked central hill and lies directly on the
Sea of Serenity, E. See, also, the enlarged photograph on p. 79,
Just below Copernicus lie the Carpathian Mountains. Copernicus itself. No. 51, is
the finest of the lunar formations. Its diameter is 56 miles and its massive walls are crowned
by a number of superb peaks, one of which rises over 11,000 feet above the interior floor.
On the floor itself near the centre are four or five interior mountains, though these are not
all easily seen in a small instrument.
Tycho, No. 50, is here shown under a very difterent
illumination from that presented on p. 70. "It is," says Webb, "a most perfect
specimen of the lunar volcano, roughly figured by Galileo in the earliest telescopic representations. Its diameter is 54 miles, its depth 17,000 feet or nearly three miles, so that the
78
Beginner's Star^Booh
summit
of our
hillocks
and small
thronged with
craters, so that for a long distance not the smallest level spot can be
found; further off, the craters increase, till the whole surface of the region resembles a
colossal honey-comb."* From the region near Tycho radiates that system of light-rays
the ring.
Its vicinity is
being occulted or eclipsed by dark limb of Moon; at centre, emerging; at right, shortly after
Photograph from the Yerkes Observatory. For greater clearness, the star's image has been
emergence.
or light-streaks which seems to dominate the scene at the time of full-moon; see p. 71.
certain phases of illumination, as well as from a number- of other points, but the radiations
from the vicinity of Tycho are the most pronounced in character and the longest in range.
No one has solved the problem of their nature or origin. The recent theory of Fauth that
the moon while without water or air is encased in an icy covering, and that the light streaks
on its surface are due to glacial conditions subjected to direct illumination, has much to
commend
it.
"There
are,"
more
nay even
* Celestial Objects
for
by
is
J.
Common
Gwyn
especially indebted.
the
first
Telescopes;
Elger, F.R.A.S.;
To
enlarged photograph taken with the 40-inch Telescope, Yerkcs Observatory; see Objects, E, F, yS, yg. So; 20, ?i; 22, 23, 24, 25,
in
Key-Maps, pp.
79
76, 74
etc..
8o
BcGinner'5 Star^^Book
moon. After
full moon, of course, the eastern limb is illuminated, so that the disappearance
takes place at the bright edge, and the star on its reappearance starts instantaneously from
behind the dark limb." The more interesting occupations are fully predicted and enimiera-
ted for EngHsh readers in Whitakers Almanac, and in the Companion to the Observatory;
and for the United States in the American Ephemeris, see Note on p. 82. The beginner
will naturally be interested only in the occultation of the planets or the brighter stars.
Our
illustration
of the
moon's
shows Aldebaran just before being occulted or hidden by the dark edge
then at brief intervals after its reappearance on the moon's bright side.
disk,
The Planets
The word planet comes from the Greek word meaning "wanderer," for the planets
unhke the stars proper have an obvious motion of their own. They belong, like the
Earth, to "the family of the Sun, " moving round the Sun in orbits that are almost circular
in form.
They are distinguished from the "fixed" stars not
only by their obvious motion but by their relative nearness
also, see p. 9.
We
read,
constellation,
Saturn
is
now and
in Taurus.
This
is,
is
is
"in" a certain
in Scorpio or that
a mere convention
of course,
among
The "fixed" stars of the constellations are inconceivably far away but as the planets revolve in their orbits
they have the stars as their background and if as we view
the heavens from the earth we find Saturn moving in between us and Taurus, with the stars of Taurus as the background of the planet, we say that Saturn is "in" Taurus, for
the planet seems to be among its stars.
The planets follow a general track or path, and all follow
of speech, based
of the planet
the stars.
No
or Canis Major.
Their path
them
all
lies
followed
by
They keep
to
is
slight variations to
Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Virgin; Libra, the Scales or Balances; Scorpius, the Scorpion;
Zbc
8i
ipiancts
Sagittarius, the Archer; Capricornus, the Sea-Goat; Aquarius, the Water-Bearer; Pisces,
the Fishes.* The Zodiac extends 8 on each side of the ecliptic.
The Greeks reckoned seven as the number of the "planets," but they included both
Sun and the moon in the list. We do not, of course, include the Sun and moon, but
the number is for us seven also, for we have added to the list in
modern times two planets that the Greeks did not know, Uranus
and Neptune. The names of the planets, in the order of their
the
distance outward from the Sun, are here printed, with their con-
symbols:
Mercury;
? Venus; Earth; c? Mars;
21. Jupiter;
1? Saturn;
S or ]JT Uranus; W Neptune. The largest
planet is Jupiter with diameter nearly eleven times that of
the earth; the smallest is Mercury, its diameter a little over ^
ventional
large
numthem
On
be written.
of
all,
is
Two
The beginner
is
at
first,
to confuse the
Such errors
need not surprise or discourage, for they will soon find correction.
One of the best of correctives is a fair knowledge of the constellations.
As the stars which keep their places come to be known,
it becomes a simpler matter to identify the objects which show
obvious changes of position. The planets, like the moon, do not
mQve about at random in the sky, but keep their track through the
In distinguishing them,
Zodiac, as stated on the preceding page.
MARS
From the Yerkes Observatory
a telescope will also assist. The stars show an increase of brightThe planets, however, show a perceptible
ness in the telescope but no increase in size.
Saturn,
moreover,
is
quickly
indicated by its ring, Jupiter b}' his
disk or surface image.
It is often said that, to the unaided eye, the stars may be distinguished
four larger moons.
their twinkling.
82
Beoinncr's Star^Boof^
In
of
by month
are
Tables
the
position
not
the
for
here
the
printed,
brighter planets
is
an extended period.
approximate
shown month
These references
the
to
constellations
it
will
light.
are
Sun
(1,781,-
interesting
R. A. and
JUPITER, 1910
Photographed
at the
telescopic
D.
may
the stars.
may
wish to know whether or not a particular planet (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn)
on a given date. First, find in these Tables the conThen from p. 35 find
stellation in which at that date the planet is likely to be found.
the pages on which the Key-Maps are given for the evening sky on the date in question.
If the constellation is not shown in these maps, the planet is not visible in the evening
sky.
If the constellation appears upon the maps, the planet in question will be found
therein.
(2) We may wish to know which of these planets are in the sky on a particular
is
evening.
date
in these Tables.
Note the
constella-
Documents," Washington, D. C,
The volume
may always be had a year in advance. It will contain much that the beginner will not want but it will also contain
the position of the moon and planets by Right Ascension and Declination for each day; the predictions of all occupations by the moon for the year, see p. 78; the eclipses of the year; and the phenomena of the satellites of Jupiter and
Saturn. In Canada, the same data are to be found in the Annual of the Canadian branch of the Royal Astronomical
Society; in Great Britain in the Nautical Almanac as well as in such publications as Whitaker's Almanac and the
Companion to the Observatory. Clear and simple tables showing the hours of rising and setting of the planets, the
phases of Venus, and much other useful information may be had, in the United States, in such annual almanacs as
those published by the iVew York Tribune and the Brooklyn Eagle. The Fr^jMne ^/wawac is published, 25c., at the
opening of each year. An even simpler volume, loc, is the Old Farmer's Almanack, published by William Ware &
For its weather predictions I would not be responsible.
Co., Boston, Mass.
*
For the United States, the observer should write to "The Superintendent
enclosing $1.00 and asking for the American Ephemeris and Nautical
Almanac
of
Zbc planets
83
which the planets occur. Then find the evening sky for the date in question by
reference to p. 35. For example, if our approximate time be the early evening of March,
1912, we find from the Tables here that Mars is in Taurus, Saturn in Aries, Jupiter in
The Time
Scorpio, and Venus near the boundary between Capricomus and Aquarius.
tions in
Schedule of the
us to
pp. 43, 45, for the skies of the early evening in March. As Scorpio, Capricornus,
we know
in the skies
shown,
visible.
Key-Map
of
As the
field
covered by our
map
is
rich in
must be given to
distinguishing the planets from the "fixed"
But from the suggestions given on
stars.
p. 81, and from the general appearance of
brilliant stars, a little care
what planet
On July
we may see a
it is.
1st,
191 3, at
bright object
9 o'clock P.M.,
toward the southeast, not conforming to
Key-Map
SATURN, 1910
Photographed
at the
seems too bright for a fixed star and yet we are uncertain as to its identity.
Noting from the proper Key-Map that the object is "in" Sagittarius, we search here in
our planetary Tables for the date in question and find that Sagittarius is given, July, 1913,
date.
It
Sun.
Jupiter
may sometimes
its
Mercury
Mercury is even nearer the Sun than Venus; and while at times quite bright, it is so
constantly lost for us in the excessive light that the mere seeing of it is, for the amateur
observer, a real achievement.
But
Copernicus
is
said to
the observer will note his current almanac for the times of
if
may
its
it.
"greatest elongation"
be seen at such times near "the place of the Sun" low down toward the horizon,
just before sunrise or just after sunset.
Mercury shines about as brightly as a first magnitude star. An opera-glass or field-glass is often very useful in the search for it.
The
it
84
Beginner's Star^Book
1931
The abbreviations in this Table are: ^Taur= Taurus; Gem = Gemini, including Cancer; Leo V=near boundary
between Leo and Virgo; Scorp L==near boundary between Scorpio and Libra; Sag = Sagittarius; Cap Aq=near
boundary between Capricornus and Aquarius. The small initials at upper left corners of squares are, J = Jupiter; M=Mars; S=Saturn.
The use of such initial means that the planet thus symbolized is also in that
constellation in the same month.
Year
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Aquar
Pise
Taur
Taur
Jan
Cap
1911
J
July
Cancer
Leo
Sag
Cap Aq
Pise
Taur
Aries
M
Aquar
1913
Pise
Aries
Cap Aq
Sag
1914
Sag
Cap Aq
Cap Aq
Sag
1917
Sag
Sag
1918
M
1919
M
Pise
Cap Aq
Taur
Taur
Aries
Leo
LeoV
M
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
Leo
Virgo
Scorp
Sag
Cap
Gem
Cancer
LeoV
M
Virgo
Scorp
Virgo
Taur
L Scorp L
Scorp
LeoV
Virgo
Sag
Leo
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
Sag
Sag
Taur
Gem
Gem
Leo
LeoV
Sag
Sag
Cap Aq
Gem
Taur
Leo
LeoV
LeoV
Leo
Taur
Gem
Taur
Virgo
Scorp
Virgo
Pise
Aries
Aries
Taur
Aries
Taur
Taur
1922
Sag
Cap Aq
Pise
Taur
Taur
Gem
Leo
Gem
Leo
Virgo
Scorp
M
Sag
Cap Aq
Pise
Taur
Aries
Scorp
Sag
Sag
Virgo
Scorp
Scorp
LeoV
Leo
Taur
Virgo
Sag
LeoV
M
LeoV
Sag
Scorp
LeoV
LeoV
Leo
1921
1923
Sag
Taur
Pise
Scorp
Scorp
Sag
1920
Scorp
Leo
Taur
Taur
Aries
M
Pise
Dee
Taur
Pise
Nov
Cap Aq
Leo
JM
Aries
Oct
MS
Taur
Aries
Taur
Gem
MS
Taur
Pise
Taur
Aries
Taur
Pise
s
1916
Cap Aq
Sept
Sag
Aries
Gem
MS
Taur
Pise
M
1915
Aries
S
Aug
Scorp
1912
June
Scorp
Sag
Sag
Virgo
S
1924
1926
Sag
1927
Cap Aq
MS
1929
Pise
MS
Pise
Aries
Taur
Taur
Gem
Aries
Taur
Taur
Leo
LeoV
Sag
Cap Aq
Pise
Taur
Taur
Gem
Leo
Virgo
Aries
Aries
Taur
Aries
Taur
Taur
Gem
Leo
Taur
Gem
Leo
Virgo
Scorp
Sag
Cap Aq
Pise
size.
is
The
though
this is
year,
Sag
Scorp
Taur
Pise
is
Scorp
Scorp
Sag
Scorp
Scorp
L Scorp L
7700 miles; the Earth's 7918; the two planets being almost the
67,200,000 miles distant from the Sun, revolving about the Sun in 224.7 days,
period of the rotation of Venus on
Sag
Virgo
Virgo
s
LeoV
L
Sag
LeoV
LeoV
s
Venus
M
M
LeoV LeoV
year of Venus.
Scorp
Leo
s
same
Virgo
LeoV
Aries
Cap Aq
Sag
Leo
Leo
Pise
1930
Sag
M
Gem
Cap Aq
Taur
MS
Sag
Sag
Taur
Taur
1928
Virgo
Gem
Taur
M
Sag
Virgo
Taur
Pise
1925
LeoV
Taur
Cap Aq
its axis is
now
thought to be the
fall
reflected
back
into space.
At
on Venus 76 are
same
greatest brilliance
Venus has
^be UManets
planet
is
85
best seen in the morning at such western elongations as occur in September and
it is best seen in the evening at such eastern elongations as occur in March and
For the exposition of such terms the reader may refer to any text-book on Astronomy seep. 144; but notes and dates of the elongations will be found in any ordinary current
almanac. As a telescopic object, Mercury shows almost no detail in a small instrument,
but it is always of interest to watch for its "phases. " It often assumes as does Venus
the appearance of a brilliant crescent moon.
These briefly stated facts about Mercury may be of interest: The diameter is 3030
The mean distance of Mercury from the Sun
miles, that of our Earth being 7918 miles.
October;
April.
;
36,000,000 miles, but the eccentricity of the orbit is so great that the distance varies
between 28,500,000 and 43,500,000 miles. It revolves round the Sun once in about 88
days (this is, therefore, the year of Mercury). The planet moves in its orbit at a velocity
For every
of from 23 to 36 miles a second, always turning the same side toward the Sun.
100 units of sunlight that fall upon its surface, 14 units are reflected back into space.
For these and other data concerning the planets I wish to express my special obligations
to the Astronomie (IV German Edition), of Newcomb-Engelmann The Family of the Sun,
by Holden; A Manual of Astronomy, by Young. These are noted more specifically in the
List of Books, at the close of this volume.
is
Venus (?)
Venus is so brilliant an object to the eye that the beginner is tempted to expect much
from it as a telescopic object. These expectations, however, are never quite fulfilled:
the planet is so very brilliant and presents so little detail that it is impossible for the telescope, even though it be a large and perfect instrument, to present a clearly defined image
It varies much in apparent size and form, as is well
of its sphere.
indicated in our small illustration. Fig. 12.
It is extremely beautiful, even in a good field-glass, when it puts on the crescent phase.
This it does for some weeks before and after "inferior conjunction."
For the dates of such conjunctions, see any current almanac. Within
this period Venus is at its greatest brilliancy, often being visible by
fig. 12
daylight and casting a distinct shadow of its own. Just at inferior changes m Apparent sise and
Form of p anet
conjunction, and for a few days before and after, the planet
is hidden within the light of the Sun.
When midway between greatest elongation and
inferior conjunction, its apparent diameter is so great that in the telescope, even with a
magnifying power of 45, it assumes the size of the four-day moon, as viewed b}^ the unaided
eyes. Venus will not be a satisfactory object for observation during 191 2.
But she will
be "at her best" as follows:
Before sunrise, November, 191 1 June, 1913; January-, 1915;
September, 1916; April, 1918; November, 1919; July, 1921; February', 1923, etc. And
aitex sunset, February, 1913; September, 1914; April, 1916; November, 1917; July, 1919;
Mars
etc.
{S")
As Mars is farther from the Sun than our Earth, it can never exhibit a crescent phase,
as do Mercury and Venus. But, while its orbit is almost circular, its apparent movements
are so peculiar, when viewed in relation to the stars through \\-hich it moves, that the
beginner will find it interesting to follow and plot its course. Make a diagram of the stars,
86
Beginner'0 Star*Book
Taur = Taurus;
Gem = Gemini,
May
July
1931
The
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
1911
Scorp
Sag
Cap
Apr
June
s
Cap Aq Aquar
Pise
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
Libra
Taur
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Sag
Sag
Leo
LeoV
Sag
Sag
Aug
S
Aries
Aries
Taur
Taur
1912
Cap Aq Aquar
Sag
Gem
1914
Sag
Leo
Pise
Leo
Leo
V
V
Cap.Aq Cap Aq
Virgo
1918
1919
1920
Virgo
Leo
Pise
Scorp
Pise
Scorp
LeoV
LeoV
V
Virgo
Virgo
Gem
Gem
LeoV
Scorp
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Taur
Pise
Virgo
Virgo
Scorp
Taur
Taur
Gem
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Gem
Taur
Taur
Scorp
Sag
JS
L Scorp L
Leo
LeoV
Sag
Sag
LeoV
LeoV
Sag
V
Leo
Taur
Taur
Sag
Sag
Taur
Taur
Taur
Gem
Taur
J
Pise
Aries
Aries
Aries
ArieS|
Aries
Gem
Leo
LeoV
LeoV
Virgo
Taur
Taur
Taur
Gem
Gem
Leo
LeoV
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
motion
The diameter
Mars
141,500,000 miles
is
Scorp
4,230 miles.
Taur
The
Gem
Taur
is
Gem
Taur
Scorp
Leo
Leo
Mars
day of Mars.
its
fall
may be seen only by the trained eye through a very large telescope under perfect atmospheric
Their diameters are only about 35 and 10 miles respectively; some observations give only 7 and
it rises
Sag
inner satellite, Phobos, has a period of only 7 hours, 39 minutes, less than \ of the planet's day.
planet's surface,
Scorp
Taur
Mars, the planet of War, has two moons, Deimos and Phobos (Fear and Flight).
conditions.
of
Taur
Aries
is
Pise
Aries
in its orbit
Scorp
1929
at a mean distance of
Pise
Taur
Sun
Virgo
Taur
Virgo
Taur
Mars
Virgo
Virgo
LeoV
Aries
its
LeoV
Aries
Facts about
Cap Aq Cap Aq
Leo
Pise
turns on
LeoV
Gem
Cap Aq
Cap Aq
Cap Aq Cap Aq
Sag
Virgo
Cap Aq
Sag
Gem
Sag
Sag
LeoV
Sag
1930
Sag
Sag
S
Sag
LeoV
Sag
Leo
1928
LeoV
Sag
Aries
Leo
Leo
Gem
V
Aries
1927
Scorp
Taur
1926
Leo
JS
Gem
V
1925
Scorp
Leo
Virgo
Taur
Aries
Sag
Sag
LeoV
Virgo
Scorp
1924
Leo
Aries
Aries
Pise
Scorp
Gem
Taur
V
1923
Taur
Aries
Scorp
V
Taur
Taur
Scorp
Leo
LeoV
Leo
V
Taur
Aries
Pise
Pise
Virgo
Pise
Leo
V
Taur
Aries
1921
V
Taur
1922
Aries
LeoV
Virgo
V
V
Cap Aq
Leo
S
Aries
Leo
Cap Aq
Pise
Gem
1915
Cancer
Gem
Gem
1917
Gem
Sag
1913
1916
Gem
Taur
in the west
and
making about
fair time-piece.
5.
The
If there
^be
ipianet0
87
and then from week to week draw a line through them corresponding to the movement
of the planet. While some of the more conspicuous markings of the surface are visible in a
small telescope the so-called "canals" cannot be seen except in large instruments under
favorable conditions.
Mars
is
MARS, 1909
Drawing by Dr. Percival Lowell,
Flagstaff,
Arizona
its clearly defined image and its ruddy light giving a peculiar fascination to
such faint details as do api^ear.
Among these are the "hour-glass" marking, so named
from its peculiar shape, and the cap of polar snow though the question as to whether its
composition is really that of frozen water is not decided. No object in our night skies,
except the moon and one of the small asteroids, comes so near the Earth as does Mars
at the time of a favorable "opposition." The planet then shows in a telescope, with a
power of 75, a disk as large as that presented by the moon to the unaided eye. At such
times its magnitude on a stellar scale is
2.8, the planet then having three times the
beginner,
brightness of Sirius.
Problems as to the habitability of Mars lie wholly outside the limits of this volume.
say, however, that the question as to " life in other worlds " is not dependent upon
the solution of the problems which arise from the planet Mars. We know that all the
millions of the fixed stars are suns, many of them greater than our own.
We cannot prove
that these are accompanied by planets as is our Sun for no instrument we could devise
could ever reveal their presence the suns themselves being at such great distances from
But most astronomers are agreed that the existence of such planetary systems is
tis.
I
may
altogether probable.
Nor can we
prove that on any one of these planets there certainly exists what we call
can only remember that life upon our own planet has persisted and developed
tmder conditions of great difficulty; and that persistent phenomena are not likely to be
isolated factors in the universe.
We find no isolated laws gravitation is apparently as
active at the very verge of "the darkness beyond the stars" as it is upon our Earth.
The principles of mechanical action and reaction hold there as here. The spectroscope
no sooner reveals " new" elements in the chemistry of the Sun and in the nebulas of the
sky, than we begin to discover the same elements in the composition of our own minerals.
Astronomy has revealed the vastness of the universe, but it is now revealing the unity
of the imiverse with evidence as clear in its significance and as cumulative in its force.
" life."
We
88
36coinncr'0
The Place of
Star^Book
Month by Month,
Jupiter,
to 1931
The abbreviations in this Table are: Taur = Taurus; Gem = Gemini, including Cancer; Leo V=near boundary
between Leo and Virgo; Scorp L=near boundary between Scorpio and Libra; Sag = Sagittarius; Cap Aq=near
boundary between Capricornus and Aquarius. The small initials at upper left corners of squares are, M=Mars;
S= Saturn; V= Venus. The use of such initial means that the planet thus symbolized is also in that
constellation in the same month.
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
1911
Libra
Libra
Libra
Libra
Libra
Virgo
Virgo
Libra
Libra
Libra
Libra
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
V
1912
Sag
Sag
1913
V
1914
Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq
1915
Cap Aq
1916
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
VM
Aries
Aries
1917
Taur
Taur
Aries
Taur
Taur
Taur
1918
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Gem
Gem
1919
S
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
Gem
3
LeoV
LeoV
Leo
s
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Taur
LeoV
Leo
LeoV
LeoV
Scorp
Scorp
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
V
Virgo
Virgo
Sag
Sag
1924
M
Sag
Scorp
Scorp
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
1926
1927
Sag
Sag
Pise
Aries
Aries
Pise
Sag
Sag
V
Aries
Taur
Taur
Jupiter turns on
its
Aries
Aries
Sag
Sag
Taur
Aries
Taur
Taur
Taur
Sag
Sag
Aries
Aries
Taur
Taur
Taur
Gem
and 55 minutes
Gem
cited, it
is
Taur
Aries
Aries
Aries
Taur
Taur
Taur
Gem
Gem
Taur
Aries
moons
in all
mean
Sag
Sag
Gem
well to
Gem
Gem
The
so great in size,
density of the planet being so low, there has taken place an obvious flattening at the poles.
Sun once
Sag
Aries
V
1930
Sag
Sag
Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq Cap Aq
V
V
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Pise
Cap Aq Pise
Pise
Pis
Pise
Pise
Pise
V
1929
M
1928
Scorp
Sag
V
Sag
V
1925
Virgo
LeoV
V
1923
Leo
LeoV
Virgo
Leo
LeoV
Taur
V
1922
Taur
SM
Leo
Leo
S
Leo
LeoV
Leo
S
Leo
Leo
Leo
s
Gem
s
Leo
s
1921
Leo
1920
Gem
Gem
SM
it is
estimated that
Sirius.
Jupiter has
^be planets
That such a phenomenon as
89
lie
Jupiter
Jupiter
is
(2i)
all
about i^ times as great as the same quantity of water, so that its density is much less
than that of our Earth or our moon. Its chief fascination in the telescope Hes in the movements of its four larger satellites. These can be seen
even in a 10 x field-glass steadily held, and their observation in a small telescope may prove a source of
great interest and pleasure. They are known, in the
order of their distance from the planet, as I, II, III,
IV,
their names beihg lo, Europa, Ganymede and
Callisto. All are larger than our own moon, Ganymede
the largest and brightest having a diameter of
'
Fig. ij.
Jupiter
^^ ^
,.,,,.
With his Four Larger Moons
.1
3,600 miles.
^
They are not always placed as in our
little pic-
Sometimes all four are to be observed on one side of the planet; sometimes we may see three on one side and one on the other. At times, one will pass,
in its orbit, behind the planet and be lost to view; or it will be lost to view as it
passes in front of Jupiter, being obscured in the planet's greater light and casting a
tiny shadow on the planet's disk.
These movements take place with such rapidity that
ture, Fig. 13.
may
worth while, therefore, to take two observations of Jupiter on the same evening,
one at an early hour and one later.
if
It is
possible,
The movements of these moons of Jupiter, their positions, eclipses, etc., are all predicted
and set forth in the national Ephemeris to which reference has been made in the footnote
on p. 82. A small telescope will also show the flattening of the planet's globe at the poles
and the two greater cloud belts. The markings as shown in Fig. 13 are too sharply defined.
As the size of the telescope is increased, more and more detail, however, can be seen, and
sometimes a large marking, called "the great red spot," can be discerned. As Fowler
suggests, any detail that can be noted must be important in size, for the diameter of the
planet is about 86,500 miles. Drawings of the disk of the planet, if carefully made, are
often of future interest and value.
Saturn
( T?
This is one of the most beautiful of telescopic objects. The ring formation revolving
about the planet a thing unique, so far as our knowledge of the universe extends ma}^
be seen in any good telescope that will yield a power of 20 diameters. The beginner,
however, v/ill usually require an instrument a little larger, with an object-glass of 2 or
2}/l
inches in aperture, in order to see this formation with any real satisfaction.
and quality
of the eye
Ever^^
90
The Place
Beoinner'0 Star^Book
Month by Month, to
of Saturn,
1931
The abbreviations in this Table are: Taur=Taurus; Gem=Gemini, including Cancer; LeoV=near boundary
between Leo and Virgo; Scorp L=near boundary between Scorpio and Libra; Sag = Sagittarius; Cap Aq=near
boundary between Capricornus and Aquarius. The small initials at upper left corners of squares are, J = Jupi-
M=Mars; V=Venus.
ter;
constellation in the
The use
same month.
such
of
initial
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
1911
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
is
also in that
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Aries
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
July
M
Aries
V
Aries
Aries
1912
Taur
Aries
Aries
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
1913
Taur
Taur
Taur
V
Taur
1914
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
1916
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Taur
Gem
M
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Leo
Leo
VM
Taur
Taur
V
Taur
Taur
Taur
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
1918
Taur
Gem
Gem
1917
Taur
Taur
Taur
VM
1915
Gem
Gem
Gem
Gem
Leo
V
Leo
Leo
1919
Leo
J
Leo
Leo
Leo
1920
Leo
Leo
MV
Leo
Leo
1921
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
1922
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
LeoV
Leo
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
LeoV
MV
Virgo
Leo
J
LeoV
LeoV
Virgo
Virgo
M
Virgo
Virgo
LeoV
LeoV
LeoV
Virgo
V
1923
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
J
Leo
JM
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Leo
Virgo
V
Virgo
1924
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
1925
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
Virgo
V
Virgo
Scorp
L Scorp L
1926
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
1927
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
VM
VM
Sag
Sag
1928
Scorp
Scorp
Scorp
Sag
V
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
M
Sag
1929
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
Sag
VM
Sag
1930
sphere
about
is
miles, or
Saturn
and
on
it,
The
about
the'most remote from the Sun of the planets known to the ancients.
in 1655.
real structure.
is
Saturn's
It takes 29.46 of
of 6 miles a second;
is
of the Earth.
Saturn
said, it
planet
moves
as in 1907,
That the appearances which bafHed Galileo were rings was discovered by
^be planets
The
ring formation
that
1907
is
The observer
following conditions.
91
first
notes
astronomers,
is
even in
They
and B.
separated
by a dark
line
called
1912
1913
is
light
of
1914
brighter
is
In
silvery.
there
exterior
its
and more
a further
is
line called
1915
1917
1919
1921
largest
1922
telescopes.
ing in
its
1924
are really
1926
own
The
The
orbit.
circular
rings
their
of
rings
appar-
we must view
Earth. If we were
1930
below,
we
1932
SATURN
From Photograph by Dr.
circles.
tory, Flagstaff,
Arizona
of the
1934
their orbits
a 2-ii-ch telescope will usually show Titan, the largest. A 3-inch telescope will
sometimes show Japetus, next brightest, and on rare occasions even a third, Rhea.
Even
is
so
add two
others.
much
planet
is
The bulk
is
not so great.
of the globe
is
photograph taken
at the
92
5,
1910
Yerkes Observatory
93
with great rapidity, completing its revolution in lo hours, 14 minutes (the day oi
Saturn), the great ball is "bulged out" or broadened at the equator and flattened at the
poles. This oblateness of the sphere is even more marked than in the case of Jupiter. A
small telescope will show
it.
is
comet.
by reference
be
surrounding stars
If,
may
no motion
in reference to
nebula.
tail, but as it leaves the region of the Sun the tail precedes the head.
Through causes
which no one has yet fully explained, the Sun, while powerfully attracting the comet as
a whole, seems to exert a repulsive force upon the infinitely refined material of which
the tail is formed.
The head or coma of a normal comet is frequently as much as
100,000 miles in diameter. Many are far larger. The tail ranges in length from io,ooo,oco
to 100,000,000 miles;
is
a body.
SH
The
and
their return
may
in
many
cases be
Among
these are Encke's, with a period of 3}^ years; Swift's, with a period of
years; Tuttle's, with a period of 13^ years; and Halley's, with a period of 76 years.
predicted.
last
and the
named
first
is
it
was the
first
to
have not been again identified, either because their orbits are not closed bearing
them forever beyond our solar system or because, though closed, their orbits are so vast
as to permit their return only after hundreds or even thousands of years. Our illustrations
of history
"
94
Bcoinner's Star^BooIi
Comet taken
It
has returned
periodically for
history, as in the
Harold, contain some striking and significant references to the strange visitor.
X X^
^-X
^'
'
A./ ^^
For while
/X ^
''
' '
"
y
<-
''--4
-,.''.-''
'
'
v'^-
'
'
-'
^yy
-^
<
'
<x
^;
<-^///e
x/
'/^-;X:;/^
X' .;>''''
>
'^
'-':/'
X /."< X/
Xyy
''
'
'
"'
",-X,
'^x;. ;x///^
//
/'*
'
^^.
'^^''
'
'
'''
//
'
-^
"
1'''
''^-
''/
iy
wL[,
^A^m'''''^''
/'
/y
,.
'^"^^B^/
'-'
''-''^'y^'
' ,,
Mj^
:^
,-
'
<;^
^ /'
^^^^k^
'/.'
^^^BR'-
'"/
^
/^
'
'
'
,'">'''
'^
COMET MOREHOUSE,
the
>ll|k,-'
/
/
Photographs from
''
Yerkes Observatory
/y
1908
taken three hours apart
we now know that comets are altogether harmless to our Earth, they were often supposed
by the ancients to be the forerunners of calamity if not the symbols of divine displeasure.
In noting our photographs of the comets, see p. 29 as well as pp. 92, 95, 137, the reader
should give no regard to the light-streaks that appear on the photographic plate. These
are traces of the stars. The camera must be adjusted to follow the comet. If the exposure
must be a long one, as is usually the case, the apparent movement of stars is not likely to
be at either the same angle or at the same velocity as that of the comet, and the traces
must appear upon the plate. Several types of comets are shown. That
was remarkable for the large relative size and impressive form of its
Morehouse, above, for the relative smallness of the head and the peculiar
of the star-images
of Giacobini, p. 29,
head; that of
They
in a
volume such as
this,
are not, of course, real shooting "stars," for they are relatively
and perish within our solar system. They "rain a ceaseless rain"
upon the Earth. Nor do they fall at random out of space, as was once thought. They
some speeding in the same direcrevolve, apparently in swarms, in orbits about the Sun,
tion as the planets, some with motions that are retrograde, and some in orbits that cross
our own. So rapidly do they move that they enter our atmosphere with a velocity which
by the force of its impact with the air raises them to a heat of inconceivable intensity.
The smaller bodies shine for a moment or two and are consumed; the larger fall, and when
very small and they
live
8,
1910
95
"
'
96
Beoinner'0 Star^^Book
picked up are called meteorites and aerolites. From about July 20th to Aug. 1 6th (maximum
of display Aug. nth) the earth passes through a swarm of meteors which seem to radiate
from the direction of the constellation Perseus. They are therefore called "the Perseids.
In November, about the 15th, we meet the Leonids, coming from the apparent direction
of Leo. The Geminids (Gemini) are seen about December 7th and for some days thereafter.
November 24th is the date for the Andromedes; October 19th, for the Orionids;
May 6th, for those coming from the region of the star Eta (7) in Aquarius; July 28th, for
those coming from the region of Delta (cJ) in Aquarius; April 20th, for those coming from
the region of Lyra. In counting them, an opera-glass or a field-glass of low power is sometimes useful, especially in noting those with the lower velocities. The three important
points to be noted are the number per hour, and the duration and direction of their flight.
In fixing the direction in the observer's memory, a cane or wand instantly held in line with
the m^eteor's flight has often proved a convenience. That meteors are the fragmentary
masses of former, or
origin.
still
comets
existent,
is
now
on astronomy mentioned on
Agnes M. Gierke. See, also,
Amateur.
p. 144,
p.
may
especially in those
by
Sir
'
"On
Where
sinners
Poor prey to
Now
Now
his
hugged
his hot
fit
were those.
wing he leaned,
of pride
his western
With memory
from Awe,
He
George Meredith:
Lucifer in Starlight.
Some
IDA.
llnetrumcnts of bservatlon
amusement and
made
ment
when
supply
only
not
instruction;
to do useful work."*
it
may
Such a
be
state-
Proctor wrote
modern
fully
opera-glass
and
field-glass are
adapted to astronomic
The
opera-glass
is
more
uses.
not, as
is
sometimes
It is
A MODERN OPERA-GLASS
cannot do
the work of a great telescope, it can do some things for which the great telescope is
unfitted.
We may remember the retort of the squirrel to the mountain, in Emerson's
quaint poem: "If I cannot carry forests on my back, neither can you crack a nut!"
serious instrument.
While
it
The opera-glass, because small in size, maybe slipped easily into the pocket; and,
because light in weight, may be handled and used for long periods without fatigue. With
it one may catch the view of a meteor's trail more quickly than with a heavier instrument. It can be always ready. Because its magnifying power is not high, it is less
easily affected than the telescope
more
by
fogs
for the
as on shipboard or on a moving
same
Moreover,
is
train.
its
the Telescope,
p. i;
Longmans, Green
&
Co.,
New York
98
Beginner's Star*=Book
Often the same glass that has been used for years at the theatre is also quite
The best for this purpose are undoubtedly those
satisfactory for the study of the stars.
having large object lenses, the object lenses are at the end nearest the object viewed or,
The larger these are other
in other words, the lenses at the large end of the instrument.
glasses.
the larger
will
be
Magniimportant
power
fying
such
in
show a
is
a glass
some
as
its
power to
and
may
so
clearly lighted.
field-glass:
not
of these shops.
is
what
But
it is
you
who will have a permanent interest in its quality and service. Excellent
be had of the regular dealers at very moderate prices, ranging from $4 or
$5 to |i 5 or $20 a pair.
The optical principles represented in the opera-glass involve, however, certain limitations as to power.
Some glasses magnify but 23^ diameters, some magnify 3, some 33/2
or 4.
But the greater the magnifying power the greater in length must be the tubes or
cylinders of the instrument. The ordinary field-glass is, accordingly, but an opera-glass
of greater length and because the principle of construction is the same as that employed
by Galileo in his earliest models of the telescope, such an instrument is said to be of the
"Galilean" type. The Galilean field-glass has greater magnifying power than the operaglass; and, if well made, will present images or pictures of great sharpness and clearness.
But in some of these instruments the picture is not well lighted or sharply defined except
at the very centre of the field of view the field of view is small, at best and the physical
weight of glasses of this type is quite large for the magnifying power afforded. When,
therefore, a magnifying power of 7 or 8 diameters is attempted the Galilean field-glass
usually becomes too large and bulky for comfortable use.
There is, however, one modern improvement much to be commended to the purchaser
who can afford it. This is the device for permitting the adjustment of the glass to varying pupillary distances. The eyes are not the same distance apart in all heads, and these
"jointed bars" permit the comfortable adaptation of the field-glass to the individual.
Where the "jointed bars" cannot be obtained and the frame is therefore rigid, be sure to
This can be
select your glass so that it is suited to the distance between your own eyes.
dealing with one
glasses
may
easily tested
field-glass is
It is well to
select
purchase.
it
will
more than
if
justify the
amount expended
in its
flnstrumente ot Observation
99
By
A new
available.
named Porro
engineer
Some
is
now
French
nated.
for,
elimi-
through
many
now
"makes"
They are
The
light-collecting capacity.
large object
Not only
The
instrument a large
On Tripod Support
air.
the Galilean glass, but they present a large field of view, well defined, and clearly and evenly
lighted to the very edge of the picture.
The
inexorable,
field
the fact that just as your field-glass magnifies the objects to which
you
direct
it, it 77iust
also
and precisely to the same extent the trembling or unsteadiness of the directing
hand. The higher the magnifying power you employ the more
you
find
to
hold your instrument "steady," unless you use some form of
support.
The
various magnifying powers as 6X, 7X, 8X, 9X are usually specified upon the frame
magnify
will
difficult
it
artificial
or
is
body
of the glass.
is
increased.
In
the same way we say that a glass or telescope has a power of 8 or 15 or 100 diameters.
This means that the instrument increases to this extent the apparent diameter of the
object.
100
Beoinner's Star^Book
glass, the
neither the comfort of "binocular" vision nor the high magnif^dng power of the regular
it is
inexpensive and
it
will often
low cost and with small trouble. A forked staff set in the ground, the telescope resting
At the section of the telescope at which the instrument
in the fork, is better than nothing.
is grasped by the metal clamp or by the fork a piece of soft cloth or chamois-skin should
be wrapped about the tube, to prevent its polish from being injured. This piece of soft
leather or cloth may be held by a few stitches or by a couple of tight rubber bands.
This type of telescope is usually made in sections or joints, the smaller sliding down into
the larger when the instrument is closed. The instrument must, of course, be extended or
drawn out
may
The
focusing
"
is
is
flnstruments of Dservation
section containing the eyepiece.
satisfaction afforded
loi
with one or more regular astronomical eyepieces, but they are inexpensive, easily carried
about, and capable within their range of giving a great deal of pleasure to the beginner.
Their prices range from $5 to $50 according to quality and size.
size
is
The
in a general sense
the objective,
the eyepiece.
"2-inch"
is
The she
end
is
of the telescope
telescope with
is
sometimes
in diameter; a
"3-inch"
is
work
as astronomical
advertisement.
Suggestions for the testing of objectives are found in some volum.es, but one
who
is
using a
first
time
is
102
because
Beoinner'5 Star^Book
'
'
The amount
eye,
is
not
is fi:xed
in quantity.
large
not the whole story. Questions of optical theory lie outside the provIt is well, however, for the beginner to appreciate a few of the reasons
vrhy, as I have said, the attempt to increase the size of an image in a particular telescope may
The practical astronomer has always laid stress, therefore,
actually prevent our seeing it.
upon the maxim that the highest power which can be used with advantage is the lowest
loss, of light.
This
is
'
'
'
eyepieces.
are usualty provided also with a terrestrial eyepiece for viewing ob-
on land or sea by da^dight. This latter is in the longer of the sHding tubes that slip
Removing this tube with its eyepiece,
and out of the main bodv of the instrument.
jects
in
They
llnstruments of bservatlon
the shorter tube
its place.
103
eyepieces; they
learn
First
objects.
focus
to
by
daylight,
to
at sea.
of
On
lowest power.
through
it
inverted, or
is
"upside-down."
reason
looking
This
indignantly
for
no
is
return-
show
The image is
an inverted image.
by the object
so presented
lens.
down.
erect
a simple matter to
It is
it, if
we
so desire.
This
is
by
daylight,
and
in
it
is
And
TELESCOPE MODEL A
All-Azimuth Mounting
such inconvenience as it may cause is more than offset by the fact that with the image
we can enjoy more of the light-collecting power of the telescope. For the erection
inverted
image additional lenses must be used this is one reason why the terrestrial eyepiece
is more expensive than the astronomical
and these additional lenses for the
erection of the image necessarily absorb a portion of the light.
We have spoken of the fact that the two or more astronomical eyepieces usually provided with each telescope represent different magnifying powers. But it is well to remember that the magnifying power of the telescope is also determined, in part, by the size of
the object lens.* In other words, the result is due to a combination of the lenses at both
of the
is
longer and
Each
lens has
always a fixed "focal length. " The focal length of a lens represents the linear distance between
its focus.
The magnifying power of a telescope is that of the eyepiece and the obiect lens
combination; and this power equals the focal length of the objective divided by that of the eyepiece.
For
example, if the focal length of the objective is 38 inches, and the focal length of the eyepiece is half an inch, the
magnifying power of the combination is 38 ^0.50 = 76.
in
104
BcGinncr's Star^Book
ends of the instrument. The objective, however, is fixed; so we secure our changes in
magnifying power by changing the eyepieces. And as this is easily and quickly done we
fall naturally into the habit of speaking of "40-power eyepieces" or "eyepieces of 60
power."
unless
we
This habit
is
a matter of convenience.
It
No
know
new
eyepiece,
for a
one
will
precisely
two
and,
if
as essential,
one
it is
well to
have at
least
than high magnification will permit. Indeed the intelligent observer will find that
one of the most interesting phases of his work will be the adaptation of his instrument,
from object to object or from hour to hour, to the immediate conditions with which he
No absolutely rigid rules may be imposed.
deals.
It may be helpful, however, to indicate a series of eyepieces for the sizes of telescopes
This is here done, distinctly upon the assumption that these suggestions
in popular use.
are only approximate and that a variation of a few diameters in any particular case should
not be a cause for rejecting a telescope. Indeed, a manufacturer in providing the optical
equipment for his instruments may often prove a better judge than any one else. In
some cases, however, the manufacturer does not specify the powers of the eyepieces,
merely offering a given number (two, or three, or four, etc.) with the instrument, and
In such cases, then, these suggestions
leaving it to the purchaser to choose the powers.
may prove useful. In selecting astronomical eyepieces the best two powers for a 2-inch
For
telescope would be 25 X and 75 X the best three powers would be 25 X, 60 X, 75 X.
a 23^-inch the best two would be 30X, 85X; the best three, 30X, 65X, 85X- For a
2i'2-inch the best two, 35 X 95 X the best three, 35 X 70X 95 X
For a 234-inch the best
light
65 X and 160 X the best three, 65X, 95X, 160 X the best four, 65X, 95X, 140 X, 160 X.
For a 4-inch telescope the best three, 70 X, 150X, 230 X; the best four, 70 X, lOoX,
;
150X, 230X the best five, 70X, lOoX, 150X, 230X, 285X.
The series just outhned might be continued indefinitely; but
;
it
flnetrumente of bscrvation
In a number of cases
105
have been under such continuous and general pressure for high powers, and an
uninstructed public has been so prone to test every telescope by its mere ability to carry
high magnifications, that the
turers
prescribed above
tory.
The
power
is,
of course, fixed
by the
The diameter
an inch, as we have
seen, we must employ a magnifying power of at least 5 for every
being
of
inch of aperture.
The
low-limit
is
the
cally,
theoretic
Practi-
limit.
amoimt
of light.
high-power
limit.
There is also a
Astronomers
this at 100
Upon
an eyepiece magnifying
times
may
be used on a 3-inch
300
telescope and a power of 200 on a
2-inch.
Formal tables showing,
this basis
upon
some
He
showing the advantages of low powers, with some of the simpler of these difficulties.
It should also be said that the beginner does not have, with the astronomer, the
advantages of training, the trained eye and mind and hand.
In the light, thereforCj of these considerations it should be clear that the average amateur observer,
New York,
p. 144.
io6
Bealnner*0 Star*=BooFi
inch of aperture.
motion
of the earth, enables the observer without effort to follow the course of the object
in the sky.
or without a driving-clock,
is
often pro-
llnetrumente of bservatlon
107
if
all
Infield
As most
of the
circles I
constellations.
value to those
the
celestial
book, or
who may
sphere
who may
at
also of
desire to
close
make
maps.
of
the
use of
In the
when
the telescope
is
without hour
circles
The answer
Each type
Model D, if fitted
is
TELESCOPE MODEL
Alt-Azimuth Mounting
for latitude;
therefore, I
*See ChamhcTs' Handbook of Astronomy, vol. i., the Oxford Press, 4th Edition, New York and London; Gibson's
Amateur Observer's Handbook, Longmans, Green & Co., New York and London, p. 36 foL; Todd's New Astronomy,
New York, American Book Co., p. 53.
io8
Beainner'6 Star:*Book
In teaching the
the instructor
may
desire
observatory instrument for the actual needs of the students. These, at least in earlier
years, can hardly expect to become astronomers in the technical sense, but they should
be permitted to share the interests and enthusiasms that follow from the direct personal
awaken ambitions
for higher
as well as scholars.
little
An equipment
it
has
its illustrative
advantages over
It is possible in
many
mounting
impossible many a small institution which has no local provision for the large telescope
can provide for the storage and keeping of a number of smaller ones.
(2) This equipment will permit the simultaneous instruction, within a short period of
time, of a larger number of observers.
(3) With it, the really interested teacher can more quickly train adequate assistants
from volim.teers among the older pupils or from among associate teachers if assistants
should be necessary.
(4) The equipment of smaller instruments may be quickly unpacked and adjusted for
use by one or two of the older pupils, or even by an intelligent janitor, if need be. When
work is completed the telescopes may be as quickly repacked, and stored.
(5) The suggested equipment is far less expensive than a single large telescope on a
stationary stand with an elaborate mounting.
(6) Such a provision, even in institutions where there are large telescopes 'or observatory work, will free these larger instruments for their proper service under the observatory
staff, and yet provide for the legitimate desire on the part of the students and others to
Nearly all the characteristic
see for themselves the objects of astronomical interest.
objects of observation, see p. 3, can be seen by the beginner with far greater satisfaction in
a small telescope than is commonly supposed.
(7) The experience acquired will be all the more useful because gained from practise
with such instruments as the average student may some day hope to possess.
(8) The problem of bringing the telescope into the work or the recreation of the average
school often resolves itself into the practical problem of finding the teacher who can undertake it. The plan suggested a small group of several smaller instruments simply mounted
requires no special training.
Such an equipment can be readily utilized.
is
First Observations
The
telescope
separately.
is
how
the pieces
lie,
in order
llnetruments of bservatlon
109
may
be easily replaced when you desire to return the instrument to the case.
Fixing the tripod in the open air for your first observations, see that its feet are evenly
spread and that it is truly centred. All that contributes to its steadiness will help you to
Whatever the form
see; all that interferes with its stability will make good seeing difficult.
that they
Almost the
"What
first
we
shall
Choose at first
be at night, if
look at?"
possible; the
If
the
moon
If
the
is
and Orion be
Map,
or 45.
p. 41
The
Delta
(6),
in
the
and
consistently
91.
are not so
'
'
easy.
end
instrument,
the
of
focus
try
to
get
clear
the
eyepiece
with
As
posure of glass on its interior surface.
you look through the telescope trying to find
and view your first objects, you will perhaps
be more or
less baffled
im^pressions.
illustrate
The
by
certain troublesome
statement
of
these
will
TELESCOPE MODEL
Equatorial Mounting
powers.
were optically possible for the telescope to magnify the object alone, and to preserve
field, then we should want our magnifying power
high, indeed the very highest.
But this is not possible. Optically, there are some things
In
as impossible to a telescope as for a good watch to tick seventy seconds to the minute.
magnifying the object, the very power used reduces the field of view in which it lies, the
amount of light which illuminates this field, and magnifies not the object alone but ever}'
factor which involves or affects it as an image.
The impressions to which I have referred
If it
it
are, therefore:
1.
The impression that the world into which you are peering is dark, gloomy, and
This impression is the more intensified, the higher the power you employ.
The impression, after you begin to see your way through your telescope, that the
tractless.
2.
no
circles or areas
Beginner'0 Star^BooR
The smallness of the field
The field becomes smaller
and
3.
The lower
the tripod.
The
4.
is
when the hand is removed and all is still, that the object
is now no touch of the hand, no unsteadiness, no vibration,
not stay!" There is one motion, however, that we may have
impression, even
There
will
We know
that all the objects of the sk\^, however stable they ma^' be, seem
from east to west. This is due to the revolution of the earth on its
axis.
This rate of motion does not seem, superficially, ver\' rapid; but multiply it by 100,
"\^Tien this apparent motion of the stars or moon or sun is thus
or by 200, or by 300.
magnified, we can readily see how quickly such objects must move across that Httle circle
of sky which we have caught within our telescope.
The impression that as we attempt to follow an object in the field of view and to
5.
keep it near the centre, the object is deHberately "contrar}^, " shifting to right or left in a
direction precisely the reverse of the intention of the hand.
This is based upon fact; all
directions are reversed in the field of an astronomical telescope.
The fact cannot be
forgotten.
to be slowly carried
we
by small
false direc-
Low powers give this large field and permit an easier mental adjustment
to the conditions.
These impressions cannot all be removed at once by the use of ej'epieces of low power,
but they can be corrected. Thus the beginner can begin without a sense of despair and
with somewhat of a sense of conquest. This sense of conquest will rapidly increase ; and,
He will also find that he
as it increases, he will find increasing pleasure in his instrument.
changing his e3-epieces and
can, with more experience, use higher powers with advantage
adapting the magnification of the telescope to different objects and to varying conditions.
piece.
This
is
It should
all
Use an ordinary- straight-back
Take the time and the necessar\' care to place yourseh in a comfortable position.
Strained postures and inconvenient attitudes are directly embarrassing to clear vision.
Be dehberate. Trv* not to hurr\^ from object to object. Look with the mind as
3.
2.
Almost
chair.
well as with the eye; this will help the eye as well as the mind.
may
to
it
suggest themselves.
trial, especially when seeking to view objects
small sheet of cardboard slipped over the eyepiece end of the tele-
may
is
an
of
Unetruments of bservation
and
his instrument.
In winter
it is
many
advisable to be
is
observers
well-wrapped
will
This
brick as a foot-warmer.
its
heat
is
gone, another
may
if
be
substituted.
7.
If
To
is
if
desired,
may
then be sub=
be necessary.
difficult
and
As
is
experi-
quickly
accomplished.
It is usually best to
very best quality it may be tried, but much of it is worse than useless. The lenses may
sometimes be dusted off gently with an old soft cambric handkerchief. The objective
may be unscrewed from the tube, if absolutely necessary, but the two lenses of which
it is composed should never be taken apart except by the manufacturer.
10.
The habit of pointing a telescope from the window of a room is not to be commended. Still less should a telescope be pointed through a pane of glass, however clear.
Distortion must result.
The instrument should be taken into the "open," even if one
can do no better than place it on a veranda. If this be impossible and a window must be
used, all light in the room should be turned out, and time should be given for the pupil of
the eye to grow accustomed to the dark.
In the dark the pupil grows larger and the eye
keener. The temperature in the room should also be permitted if possible to approximate the temperature outdoors, if the telescope is to do its best work. The larger the
instrument, the more need there is to let the air in the tube come to the temperature of
the air outside, that the images seen in the telescope ma}' be steady and clear.
11.
For this reason it is well to permit the telescope to "cool off"" for a few minutes,
if taken from a warm room in winter and set up outside.
Time should also be given to
the pupil of the eye to dilate in the duller light of the out-of-doors.
Good work cannot
be done with an eye contracted by the illumination of a brilliantl}^ lighted room, ]iccring
112
Beginner's Star^Booft
which the hot air is in process of " boihng-down " to the temperature
Sir John Herschel, before attempting to verify his father's observations
of the outer cold.
on the satellites of Uranus, kept his eyes in total darkness for fifteen minutes. Such extreme
precautions are not necessary with small instruments, but the general suggestion is
through a telescope
in
important.
12.
The beginner will sometimes feel the telescope to be a strain upon the eyes.
Closing one eye while looking through the instrument with the other eye is at first a weari-
This weariness often wrongly suggests that something is the matter with
These difficulties, however, are almost entirely muscular. The proper muscles
soon become used to the new way of seeing; and the observer soon finds that he can use
his instrument for long periods with no sense of strain or discomfort.
Near- sighted observers need not retain their glasses; the instrument, with proper focusing, will correct the
Even with normal
difficulty the eyepiece should be pushed a little farther into the tube.
eyes the one used most actively may be soon wearied. If so, it may be given brief intervals
A few observers find that
of rest, and the need for these will decrease as experience grows.
an eye-cap of dark cloth over the unused eye is an advantage. One needs to avoid the
undue exhaustion of the nervous and muscular forces of the eye, but this danger is no
In many cases the vision is
greater at the telescope than at any other interesting work.
stimulated, trained, and positively improved.
The optical equipment of a telescope usually includes at least one terrestrial
13.
If the terrestrial eyepiece is omitted, the
two
or more astronomical eyepieces.
and
purchaser may fairly ask a larger astronomical equipment for its money value compared
with the latter is about as 2 to I. Extra attachments, usually at additional expense,
may be had, such as a diagonal eyepiece for viewing objects too near the zenith for
convenient observation, and a "Herschel" eyepiece for reducing the light and heat of the
Sun to the eye. The latter is discussed in the chapter on the Sun. The diagonal eyepiece
makes the finding of objects more difficult, and it deprives the observer of the sense of
Many find such an attachment of great convenience, however, in viewing
direct vision.
that
are
too high up for comfortable study with the ordinary equipment. The
objects
attachment is "popular," though its cost is high in proportion to its actual working value.
The diagonal eyepiece is shown on Model D, but it may also be obtained with practically
On Model D and also on Model C is shown a
all telescopes over two inches in aperture.
ness to both.
the eyes.
"finder," a miniature telescope placed near the eye-end of the larger instrument.
With
its
low-power eyepiece it affords a very large field of view. This is divided by two cross wires
which by their intersection mark the centre of the field. The finder is so adjusted that
when an object is brought to the centre of the field of view in the finder, it will be found
This
at the centre of the field in the telescope proper, the two centres being coincident.
Teleattachment is extremely desirable on instruments over three inches in aperture.
scopes of three inches and under do not need it. In the finding of objects, as has been already
suggested, a low-power eyepiece may be used on the telescope itself, and, when the object
if desired
may be substituted.
is found, a higher power
The distance of the stars is so
First impressions are sometimes disappointing.
14.
When
great, see p. 9, that the facts transcend all our ordinary standards of comparison.
we are told in one sentence that a celestial object is at least 1000 times larger than our
Sun, it seems wholly absurd to learn in the next sentence that though we may use upon it a
magnifying power of 100 diameters the telescope can show it to us only as a brilliant
point of light.
Let us suppose, however, that we were able to use a telescope magniAs such a telescope even if its construction were
fying not 100 but 10,000 diameters.
Ilnstruments of bservation
113
-would
possible
North America. Most of the stars are at far greater distances. As we bear these facts
we need not be surprised if the telescope does not make any of the fixed stars
assume the proportions of a tea-cup. In the case of the objects of our solar system the
Sun, the moon, the planets an apparent enlargement of the image may be had. But
Says Webb: "In viewing Jupiter in
there are many who find disappointment even here.
opposition with a power of 100, they will not believe that he appears between two and
three times as large as the moon to the naked eye; yet such is demonstrably the case.
want of practice, of sky-room, so to speak,
There may be various causes for this illusion;
in mind,
of a standard of comparison.
similar disappointment
Rome
is
frequently
felt in
the
first
a well-known instance. If an
obstinate doubt remains, it may be dissipated forever when a large planet is near enough
the planet through the telescope,
to the moon to admit of both being viewed at once
is
the
moon with
15.
may
be directed to an object invisible to the naked eye by the following method. Note
difference in Right Ascension between the required object and some known
(The beginner should remember, in calculating
object that may be readily recognized.
the difference in R. A. between two objects, that if this difference is greater than 12 hours
We proceed
the number 24 must here be added to the smaller R. A. before subtracting.)
on the assumption that the object sought is toward the south. If the R. A. of the object
sought be greater than that of the known object the former will be farther east; if the R. A.
Using your eyeof the object sought be smaller, that object will be the farther west.
piece of lowest power, direct the telescope to the known object, bring it to centre of field,
and read the hour-circle. Now move it east or west, as need may require, until the index
of the hour-circle has moved through a distance equivalent to the difference in the Right
Ascensions.
Now set the Declination circle, and the required object will be found within
Gibson wisely suggests that the known object be selected, if possible, on the
the field.
same side of the meridian as the object sought.
16.
Telescopes variously mounted and fitted with adequate eyepieces may be had
in the United States at the following retail prices.
These prices are not to be taken as
from the catalogue of any particular manufacturer. They are to be regarded as rough
approximations, here introduced merely as a general guide to the purchaser.
Telescopes of from 2 inches to 234 inches in aperture may be had at from $60 to $85,
according to quality and type of mounting.
There is usually not much difference in cost
between a 2-inch and a 2}/l-mch, and other things being equal the 2i<j[-inch is, of
course, to be preferred.
The same consideration applies to telescopes of 2}-^ to 2"^/^ inches in aperture. These
may be had at from $65 to $120, according to quality and type of mounting. The simple
mountings cost less, and are usually efficient enough to meet the needs of the average
observer.
* Celestial Objects
Green
&
Co.,
for
Common
Telescopes, T.
London.
W. Webb, M.A.,
F.R.A.S., vol.
i.,
p.
16, cd. of
1907;
Longmans,
114
Beginner's StaivBook
Telescopes of 3 inches in aperture fitted with one terrestrial and at least two astronomical eyepieces can be had at from $75 to $170. Here again the simple "alt-azimuth"
mounting is quite adequate for all ordinary purposes.
The
the variety
is
so great
of values is so large.
much
ture
is
The
17.
few
cent.
transaction, however,
In
using the
Key-Maps
for the
opposite.
Always remember, in using any of the Key-Maps, to begin as
be feasible at the centre of the map, working from the centre outward.
While the telescopic objects are classified roughly for (I) the Opera-Glass and the FieldGlass, (II) the Two-inch Telescope, and (III) the Three-inch Telescope, these divisions
on the pages
may
near as
are necessarily
somewhat
arbitrary.
the 3-inch
telescopes,
may be
23^^,
or
An
2%,
or 3-inch; and
some
may be
seen to even
especially
if
little
experience.
Those, moreover, who possess 4-inch or even 6-inch telescopes will find that the selected
objects are not less interesting or less beautiful because adapted to smaller apertures,
any more than a drop of water is less interesting as we increase the range or refinement of
Should the observer wish to work in entire independence of the classiunder the Key-Maps, he has only to turn, in the Observer's Catalogue, to the
constellation desired, where the best maps are indicated and all the important objects
noted. The beginner is reminded that in viewing the full moon there are certain advanthe microscope.
fications
tages in using the terrestrial rather than the astronomical eyepiece; the additional or
See pp. 70, 71.
erecting lenses serve to reduce the excessive brilliancy of the object.
information as to the adaptation of this book to their educational work (either alone or for stipplementary use) may obtain a special circular on
application to the author, in care of the publishers.
Teachers
the
arm
is
is
of lenses to those
In a very deep sense all human science is but the increment of the power of the eye, and all human art is the
increment of the power of the hand. Vision and manipulation, these, in their countless indirect and transfigured
forms, are the two cooperating factors in all intellectual progress." John Fiske; The Destiny of Man; Chapter VII
NEBULA
From
IN
a
KNOWN AS MESSIER
SAGITTARIUS,
photograph taken
at the
"5
Yerkes Observatory
Dim.
This Catalogue
a
is
limited to objects of the Stellar World; for the objects of the Solar System, see Chapter V.
may
land."
much
will find
of
in the
study of color-contrasts.
270
As
shoivti in
The angle
and
is
south, 180;
First, let
when the
star, as
we
face south,
is
measured
on the me-
is
ridian;
116
an
Observer's aatalogue
Delta
{'^)
We
when
117
inversion.
ii8
Beginner'a Star^Book
The first association of the stars iato constellations or star-groups is prehistoric. Some
c.
270
b. c.)
though
decimals.
One minute and thirty seconds,
example = 1.5 m.
for
"
full
I.
An-drom'-e-da (^Maps pp. 55, 43, 61, 41.
N. H., R. A. I h., D.+40)." A fine consteUation hing between Perseus and Pegasus, its
brighter stars forming an almost straight line.
According to the Greek m\-th, Andromeda
was the beautiful daughter of Cepheus. king
rius,
in
myth.
Abbreviations. Theobjects listed are grouped
their constellations, in alphabetical order.
First, comes the name of the constellation.
Then follow page references to the Key-]\Iaps in
which it is to be found for obser^-ation in the
by
sky-.
Then come references to N. H.
or S. H. (northern hemisphere or southern
hemisphere), indicating the mean Right Ascension (R. A.) and Declination (D.) of the group,
for reference to the hemispherical raaps at the
close of the volume.
As the map of the northem hemisphere contains a large overlap of
the southern sky, the abbre^dation N. H. at
this point does not necessarily mean that the
object is north of the equator but merely that
reference is made to the first (and larger) of
the two maps.
See note 14, p. 32.
The
evening
position angle.
The abbre\-iation Hag. refers
to the magnitudes of the stars;
not their
physical size or their actual luminositj^ but
stone,
an
bserver's Catalotjue
the components being of almost the same magnitude. Mag. of components, 4.4 and 4.6 colors,
both white; distance = 3"; p. = 317; R. A.
XXII h. 23.7 m.; D. 0 32'.
18.
^The star Psi ('/') is an easy double even in
a 2-inch instrument. Mag. of components, 4.5
and 8.5; A vellow, B blue; distance = 49" p. =
312; R. A.'XXIII h. 10.7 m.; D. 9 38'.
is tilted
(y)
is
Alamak.
The
star
figure
Beta
Gamma
(y),
and
(tt),
white,
distance
h. 59.7 m.;
lilac;
D.
XVIII
23.^A rich cluster marked M 11 R. A. XVIII
R. A.
'
D.-|-3646'.
D.
624'.
Arc-tu'-rus, see
[41].
Ar'go
R. A.
h.; D.
30.)
An unimportant
southern constellation, too low in the sky in
our latitudes for satisfactory observation few
objects of interest.
compass.
25.
(Map p.
49. S. H.,
15-
(a),
(/i)
;^
formed by Alpha
139-
Pi
5).
The stars
of Antinolis are now included in Aquila.
As
this constellation lies in the INIilky Way, it
presents rich fields for all low-power instru-
ap-
is
20.
Gamma
119
10). A large
61,57,41. R.A. XXIIh.; D.
constellation, important because lying in the
Zodiac or pathway of the planets, see p. 80,
but it is not conspicuous, having no stars
greater than the third magnitude.
16.
The globular cluster marked
2 is not
brilliant.
Located by imaginary line from
Zeta (C) in Capricornus to Beta (/i) in Aquarius,
and slightly continued. R. A. XXI h. 28 m.;
D.
Ii6'.
I7- The star Zeta (C), at the centre of the
Y-shaped
"water-jar,"
The
cluster marked
46 is sometimes
It is not difficult,
1564, or 2437.
forming an interesting object for small instru14 35'.
ments. R. A. VII h. 37.2 m.; D.
26.
listed as
;
27.
Can-o'-pus,
Alpha (a) of Argo (more specifically of Carina) is second only to Sirius [66]
in brilliancy, but as it is very much more
remote, being at a distance of, at least, three
hundred light-years, it is probably many thousands of times greater in mass. It is a star of
the same type as Procyon; though enormously
larger in size.
It has an annual proper motion
of o".02 and a motion of 1 2 miles a second away
stellation, the
120
30.
Beginner's Star^Book
magnitude star, the Sun at the same distance would appear as a star of only the fifth
or sixth magnitude.
Capella is a spectroscopic binary with a period of 104 daj's; see p.
It is at a light-distance of 49 years;
117.
and is receding from our system at a velocity
of 18.6 miles a second.
R. A. V h. 9.3 m. D.
first
43.
pathway
stellation, as will
XIV
see [401].
4.7
gray; distance = 8".6
4.8;
m.;D. + i848'.
The star JO
33.
is also a double.
It bears no
in the Key-Maps, but it will be found
just to one side of a line from Alpha (a) to
symbol
D.-f24i3'.
35.
Among
The con-
white, B pale
p. = 360; R. A. I h. 48
and
of Corona.
Herdsman
as it is usually
suggested will be found in the text under the
Night-Chart on p. 42. While not in the Zodiac,
or pathway of the planets, Bootes is among
the first recorded constellations.
41.
^Arc-tu'-rus; a superb first-magnitude star,
R. A. XIV h. II. I m.; D.-}-i9 42'. Next to
Sirius, Vega, and Capella, Arcturus is the brightest star visible from northern latitudes. Indeed
it is rated in the Revised Harvard Photometry
nearly the same as
(1908) as of mag. 0.24,
Capella (0.21). The star is of a deep yellow
color, possessing at times an almost reddish
cast.
-Its motion in the line of sight (186.6
miles a minute) is toward us, but this velocity, as compared with many of the stars,
The proper motion (see p. 138)
is not high.
of Arcturus is, however, unique among cur
brighter stars, making it an object of surpassing interest.
This great star, at least
1000 times the size of our sun in volume, is
rushing through space at a velocity of nearly
90 miles a second, or over 320,000 miles an
The direction, according to Newcomb,
hour.
is southwest, or toward the constellation Virgo.
Mag.
figuration of the
40.
We
an
Izar.
>
43.
Delta
pale
p.
yellow,
= 79;
(d),
light
XV
R. A.
8;
distance = 105";
m.; D. 33 41'.
blue;
h. 11.5
Mu
XV
48.
all
Cam-el-o-par'-dus,
the
northern; N. H., R. A.
Giraffe
h.;
D.
smaU
dull
p.
h.
2.9
70).
constella-
R. A. VIII
(]\Iaps,
50.
about
121
b0erv)cr'0 Catalooue
and
5.4;
white,
blue; distance
= 20";
= 227;
62.
D.+
39
63.
4'-
The
nebula
1662, or 5194,
is
bevond
Xill h. 26 m.; b.-f4743'.
64.
This cluster, marked '\1 3
(5272), is not
so beautiful in structure as the preceding object,
but is within range of small instruments. So
seen, however, its appearance is nebulous,
showing little brilliancv. R. A. XIII h. 38 m.;
D. + 28
53'.
22
Beoinncr'6 Star*=Book
markable object, comprising at least six components. The two larger can be seen by a keen
eye, tmaided, or by a poor eye with assistance
205"; p. = 267.
R. A.
15 6'.
Arabic name, Dabih.
the star
skies of
autumn and
Double
star,
Mu
(/^),
mag.
5.2
and
8.9;
yellow,
first
magnitude
Pro'-cy-on,
star.
Ca-no'-pus, see
[27].
(Maps pp.
N. H., R. A.
planets.
76.
The star
Alpha
3.2
(/)),
and
6.2;
double;
blue; distance =
h. 15.4 m.; D.-
A orange, B
XX
XX
240; R. A.
h. 24.2 m.; D.-i8 55'.
Pi (tt), a double star; mag. 5.1 and 8.8;
79.
A pale yellow, B bluish; distance = 3 ".5; p.=
146; R. A.
h. 21.6 m.; D.-i8 32'.
79t>.
Rho (p), a close double star; mag. 5 and
A white, B yellow; distance = 3"; p.=
7.5.
173; R. A.
h. 23.2 m.; D.-i8 9'.
For
location, see N. H., at the position just indicated.
XX
XX
Ca-ri'-na, see
80.
Argo Navis
Cas-sio-pe'-ia.
[25].
(Maps,
N. H., R. A.
all
northern, p. 39,
D.+6o.)
rich
interesting constellation of the northern
sky, directly across the Pole from Ursa Major.
In the mythical history of the group, Cassiopeia
was the mother of Andromeda; see [i] in this
etc.
h.;
and
Catalogue.
Alpha (ff); a fine double, though the beginner may have difficulty just at first in detecting the smaller component. The primary star
is variable, being 2.2 mag. at its brightest.
81.
Mag.
of
companion
9;
reddish,
blue; dis-
binaries.
There
much
is
difference
among
57, 61.
Beta
77.
mag.
78.
68.
XX
winter.
"The autumnal
of opera-glass.
Each of these is a triple; the
four larger stars of the group are as follows:
a\ mag. 3 and 9.5; a% mag. 4 and 9; color of
two chief stars, yellow; a^~a^, distance = 376".!
h. 12. i m.; D.
p. = 291; R. A. (of a')
12 49'-
(tc)
name
Giedi; a re-
90.
Cen-tau'-rus,
large
and
the Centaur.
(Maps pp.
R. A. XIII h.; D.-50.)
S. H.,
"
an
baerver's Catalooue
among
in size
and
Ce'-phe-us.
25.4m.;D. + 5754'.
102.
Beta
(P), a
white,
XXI
104.
The
star
Mu
(m)
was
called
by
Sir
because of
the intensity of its red color.
In order to
appreciate its peculiar hue, some white star,
hke the Alpha () of Cepheus, should be compared with it at the time. R. A. XXI h. 40.4
m.;D. + 58
no.
star,
the Whale.
(Maps pp. 61, 41.
A large
35 m.; D.-io.)
constellation lying westward from Orion and
south of Aries and Pisces; see [i].
III.
Alpha (a), a second mag. star, yellow,
with a blue star of the 5.5 mag. in same field;
use low power.
Not a true double, but an
interesting object.
R. A. II h. 57.1 m.; D.
R_.
A.
I h.
+ 3
112.
42'.
Gamma
mum
this
volume.
Zeta
distance
optical dbl.
(C)
= 185";
p.
7.8.
p.
pale yellow,
= 230;
R. A.
Co-lum'-ba; see
120.
Co'-ma
II h.
blue; distance
-j.-j
m.;
D.-2
i6".6;
52'.
[125].
p. 15.
it is not impressive
R. A. XII h. 31.4 m.;
Unfortunately,
in small instruments.
Ce'-tus,
N. H.,
on
19'.
123
-f 26 32'.
121.
The cluster marked
53, noted in some
atlases as 3453 or 5024, is also not brilliant in a
18 42'.
small telescope. R. A. XIII h. 8 m. D.
D.
Co-lum'-ba,
the Dove.
(Maps pp. 41,
H., R. A. V h. 50 m.; D.-37).
A
small constellation, located below Lepus and to
the west of Canis Major. Its brightest star.
Alpha ('), mag. 2.8, is called Phact.
125.
45.
130.
S.
Co-ro'na
Northern
the
N. H.. R. A. XV. h.
Bo-re-al'-is,
47, 59.
The
called
is
124
131.
The
mag. 6 and
p.
= 305.
Bcoinner'6 Star^Book
R. A.
140.
(Maps pp.
A small
small stars lying between
Hydra and Corvus. The stars form the outThe group contains
line of a chalice or cup.
few objects of telescopic interest.
XI
constellation
of
h.
20 m.; D.-I5.)
145.
57.
Cyg'-nus,
(Maps
N. H.,R.A.XXh.2om.;D.+4i.)
Lying
XX
XX
D.+4724'.
the Swan.
XX
N. H., R. A.
from
Omicron
{'>)
of Cetus,
is
by no means uniform,
an
with
its
46.7 m.
increasing brightness.
D. 32 40'.
The
R. A.
XIX
h.
X^, is
= 73;
XIX
p.
R- A.
153. Mu
is
18'.
.
Gamma
XXI
>h.
28m.;D.+489'.
XX
XX
Gamma
The star
157.
( y) is of special interest and beauty in a small instrument.
Mag.
yellow, B bluish-green; dis5.5 and 4.5;
XX h. 42 m.; D.+
15 46'.
Den'-eb, see
XV
D. + 70.)
161.
This star. Alpha (a), is chiefly interesting
because of its former position 4000 years
ago as the Pole Star. Its ancient name was
Thu'-ban.
The Pole is now near the star
Polaris in Ursa Minor.
See [406]. For explanations of such phenomena, see any one of the
text-books on Astronomy noted on p. 145.
R. A. XIV h. 1.7 m.; D.-f64 51'.
162.
Nu (y) is an easy but beautiful double,
even for opera-glass and field-glass.
Mag. of
both components, 5; color, gray; distance =
6i".7; p. = 3i3; R. A. XVII h. 30.2 m.; D.+
55
15'.
Mag.
= 32";
= 340;
p.
.
XV
170.
Equu'-le-us, the
R. A.
XXI
h. 10
Little
m.; D.
Horse
+ 5), a
(see
N. H.,
small unimpor-
N. H. and
S.
h. 53.4 m.; D.
rak or Alhena.
[146].
12-
bserver's Catalocjue
1348'.
Gem'-in-i,
the Twins.
(Maps pp. 45,
22.)
49, 39. N. H., R. A. VII h.; D.
One of the most interesting and important of the
constellations.
The two brightest stars. Castor and Pollux, even in prehistoric times, were
185.
41,
126
Beoinner'0 Qtav^lBooU
200.Her'-cu-les.
The
hero, as
interesting.
is
and
usually drawn,
188.
The fine star-cluster marked
35
beautiful even in a good field-glass and visible
is a fine object in a small
in an opera -glass
Its existence, under good atmostelescope.
pheric conditions, can be detected with the
unaided eye. R. A. VI h. 3 m.; D.-l-24 21'.
Kappa (), though not a large star, is an
189.
extremely pretty double in a 3-inch glass.
Mag. 3.7 and 8; A orange, B pale blue; distance
= 6".4 p. = 235 R. A. VII h. 38.4 m. D. -h24
38'.
strikingly clear
(Maps
57'-
Mu
203.
Mag. 3.5 and 8;
(/');
yellow,
B blue; distance = 31 ".5; p. =245; R. A. XVII
27 47'.
h. 42.5 m.; D.
m.; D.-f22 10'. Arabic name, Wesat.
Rho (p) is a double, unusual in its colorEpsilon (s) is also a double star. Mag.
204.
191.
white, B blue; distance = iio".6;
ing, the- components being white and green.
3.2 and 9.5;
Mag. 4.5 and 5.5; distance = 4"; p. = 312;
p. = 94; R. A. VI h. 37.8 m.; D.-l-25 14'.
^ R. A. XVII h. 20.2 m.; D.-}-37 14'.
Arabic name, Mebsuta.
Lambda (A) is a double star, mag. 4, 205. This star, marked p5, is also peculiar in
192.
unmarked by any letter in Key-Maps, just the coloring of its components, one being red
below Delta (6) and Zeta (Q and forming a and the other green. It is not a difficult
object, even for a good 2-inch, but it is small
small triangle with them. It is a little difficult
and not easy for the beginner to find. Mag.
for any telescope smaller than a 3|-inch, but
is worth trying with a 3-inch on a clear night.
5.1 and 5.2; distance = 6"; p. = 262; R. A.
Mag. 3.7 and 10; white, B yellowish; distance XVII h. 57.2 m.; D.+2i 36'.
= 10"; p. = 30; R. A. VII h. 12.3 m.; D. i6 206. The star-cluster
13 is one of the most
remarkable in the sky, comprising over 5000
43'.
stars.
Sir
Herschel's estimate of 14,000,
Zcta (C) is itself a double star, and is an
193.
though naturally suggested by the splendor
easy object even in a 2-inch instrument. Mag.
of the central mass, was probably too large.
of brighter star varies from 3.7 to 4.3; smaller
component, about 7;
Halley, who discovered it in 17 14, reported
j^ellow, B blue; distance
= 94"; p. = 350; R. A. VI h. 58.2 m.; D.-f20 it as one of six "nebulas," all that were
known in 1716. Before 50 years had passed.
43'.
Arabic name, Mekbuda.
The small star Nu (y) is here inserted Messier had added nearly 100, and by 1830
194.
the three Herschels (Sir William, Sir John,
not only because it is a double, but because
and Caroline) added more than 3000, counting
of its historic interest.
It was near this star
both nebulae and star-clusters. These were at
that Sir William Herschel discerned the obfirst classified together,for the nebulae were
ject which he found to be an unknown planet,
generally regarded as star-clusters too distant
a discovery which to human knowledge
or faint for the stars to be resolved by the
doubled the diameter of the solar system. Uratelescope.
now know that the two classes
nus, as it came to be called, is over twice as far
from the sun as Saturn, the remotest planet of objects are distinct in character, see p. 19.
then known.
The components of the little ;M 13 is visible even in a 2-inch telescope,
though its real interest and splendor cannot
star Nu (y) are mag. 4 and 8; distance = 113";
p. =330; R. A. VI h. 23 m.; D. -l-20 17'.
/ easily be gathered from an instrument less than
.
Wm.
We
Un
6 inches
D. + 36
R. A.
in aperture.
XVI
bserver'e Catalooue
h. 39.1
m.
39'-
207.-
lies
almost
on a
line
distance = 40". 5; p.
R. A. XVI h. 17.5 m.; D.+ ig^ 23'.
Kappa (), shown only in N. H.,
209.
8;
of
Gamma
white,
lilac;
(y).
An
= 240;
s. west
easy double for very small
3.6m.;D + i7
19'.
(Maps pp.
210.
Hy'-dra, the Water-Snake.
49, 45, 53. N. H., R. A. XI h.; D.-i7.)
constellation extending through more than a
fourth of the southern sky, long and winding in
form but not broad. Head south of Cancer,
59.
A small, inconspicuous
19 m.; D.-f45.)
constellation of little importance.
The star marked 6" is a quadruple, but
221.
only two of the components are visible in
instruments under 4 inches. Mag. 6, 6.5, 10,
white, B white, C greenish,
blue;
and 8.7;
A-B, distance = 22".3;p. = i86;R. A. XXII h.
31.4 m.; D.-f-39 7'.
h.
Le'o, the
Lion.
(Maps pp. 45, 49, 53,
h. 25 m.; D.
i5.)
39, 51. N. H., R. A.
One of the noblest of the constellations between
225.
occupies a large part of the sky, the constellation-outline is often obscured or confused by
one of the "wanderers."
226.
Alpha (a) or Rcg'-u-liis, its brightest star,
is a double, though rather difficult for a 3-inch.
Mag. 1.8 and 7.6; A white, B purple; distance
it
more
The spectroscope places
among the "Orion" class of stars, for which
than 80 light-years.
it
see [290].
227.
D.-f324'.
229.
2.2
and
Beta (/3) or Deneb'-ola has a small neighbor star: too distant for real component; mag.
p.
7;
= 201;
bluish,
R. A.
XI
h.
red; distance
44 m.; D. + i5
= 1 134";
8'.
220.
127
is
Li'-bra,
(Maps
XV
128
now
Beainner'5 Star^'Book
yellow, B purple;
The smaller comdistance = 57". 5 P- = 1
ponent is also double in a larger instrument.
19 25'.
h. 6.5 m. D.
R. A.
3-inch.
Mag.
5.5
and
XV
9.5;
10. 5.
XV
XV
XV
m.;D.-387'.
the Lynx. (Maps pp. 39, 43. 5iN. H., R. A. VIII h.; D.+45.) An incon-
255. Lynx,
spicuous
.
constellation,
of
little
importance,
will
not find
white,
it
i4".3, P. = 3i2;
h. 14.7 m.;
VII
readily.
B and C
A-C,
purple;
d.
D. + 55
= 2i5",
p.
= 358;
R.A.
28'.
and Hercules.
Alpha (ff) or Vega
261.
Wega is
components are as
f^ mag. 5 and 5;
sometimes written
one of the brightest of the first-
magnitude
come nearer
distance
= 207";p. =
i73;R. A. XVIII
h. 41
m.;
D. + 3934'.
1267.
Between Gamma
\y)
and Beta
(/^),
anr"
Hu
R. A.
(Maps pp.
20 m.; D.-4.)
constellation of inconspicuous stars,
A
lying between Orion and Hydra.
The star Beta (/j), sometimes marked //,
271.
Mag. 4.7, 5.2, and 5.6. White;
is a fine triple.
N. H., R. A. VII
h.
= 108;
272.
stars in
which
p.
= 133; A-C,
distance
especially fine.
Mag.
yellow, B blue; distance = 14";
p. =26; R. A. VI h. 18.5 m.; D.+4 39'.
273.
Almost on a line between Epsilon (f)
and Delta {^) will be found a star-cluster,
'marked in some atlases 2301, or 1465. It is in
three branches.
R. A. VI h. 47 m. D.+o 35'.
274.
Not far from Epsilon (t) is a peculiarly
bea utif ul cluster. It is marked in some atlases
Its general direction from the
1424, or 2244.
star may be noted in the Night Charts of the
constellation.
It is a good object even for
opera-glass or field-glass.
R. A. VI h. 27 m.;
6.5;
it lies is
D. +4
275.
56'.
Star-cluster
h. 9
m.;
D.-5
30'.
map on
p.
53.
Then
trace
the right-'
Beta
pair
Kappa
(*)
this
stars
(/^)
(h)
much
from Epsilon
cult.
.,
2 31'288.
In the region of Beta (fi), slightly to the
northeast, is a very pretty cluster of 8th magnitude stars, unmarked in many of the atlases.
Its place is indicated in N. H., R. A. XVII h.
40 m.; D.+5 40'.
fine cluster marked in the Key- Maps
289.
as
12.
It lies on a line between Epsilon (f)
and Beta (/5) forming almost a right angle
O-ri'-on.
Lambda
(Maps pp.
(A).
R. A.
XVI
N. H.,
On
R. A.
the
and
4.5
129
Alpha
270.
Observer's (Tatalooue
45, 49.
large
26 m.
h.
D.
o.)
" Begirt
that they are niticli alike in ])hysical constitution and that they have, possibly, some j'jhysical
connection as if forming a loose but common
130
BeGinner'6 Star^BooU
Betelgeuze [291] should probably be regarded as an exception. Epsilon (f) and Gamma (k), Alnilam and Bellatrix, are characteristic
specimens. Stars which, under spectrum analysis, show that they are of the "Orion type"
are in the earlier stages of stellar development.
They are extremely remote, most of them being
at a light-distance of over 300 years, and as
is usual with the most distant stars
revealing
a very small proper motion.
291.
Alpha
and sometimes
D. 7 23'.
Beta (/S) or Rigel pronounced Ree'-gel
292.
is bluish-white in color, of intense brilliancy and
beauty. It is one of the most remote of the
brighter stars, being at a light-distance of at
least 450 years.
It is a double, separable, by a
well-trained eye, under perfect conditions of
light and air, with a 2|-inch telescope.
The
companion is not especially close; but so great
is the brilliancy of the larger component that,
in order to see the smaller, the beginner will
usually need a telescope of 3 J or 3I inches
in aperture.
Mag. 0.34 and 6.7;
pale j^ellow,
B blue; distance = 9 ".5; p. = 200; R. A.
h.
Rigel has no observable
9.7 m.; D. 8 19'.
proper motion, nor motion toward or from us.
In constitution it is conspicuously of the
"Orion" type, tending toward the Sirian.
Delta (S), the "top star of the belt,"
293.
is an easy and beautiful object in a 2-inch
instrument; indeed, after the eye has had a
little experience, the star can be divided even by
a good 10 X field-glass. Mag. 2.5 and 6.9;
white, B violet; distance = 53"; p. = 360;
R. A.
h. 26.9 m. D. 0 22'.
Arabic name,
Mintaka.
is little or no moonlight.
The nebula is
composed of luminous gases, and its distance
from us, and the immensity of its proportions,
are so great that we can form no conception of
them except in vague and general terms. It is
probably at a light distance of more than 250
years, and its bounds probably exceed by many
thousand times the area inclosed by the orbit
of Neptune, our outermost planet.
It seems
to be receding from us in space at the rate of
about 600 miles a minute. The star Theta (0)
is itself of great charm and interest even in a
2-inch telescope. The four comiponents form
what is called a "trapezium," an irregular
quadrilateral.
Mag. 6.8, 7.9, 5.4, and 6.9;
A white, B lilac, C garnet, D reddish; A-B,
distance = 8".7, p. = 32; A-C, distance = 13",
there
cluster.
s,
'
= 132; A-D,
iV
h.,
Zeta
triple,
but
it is
3|-inch.
yellow, B purple,
10;
= 2 ".8, p. = 158; A-C,
17.6
m.;D. +3
27'.
(C),
Mag.
2, 4.2,
and
R. A.
297.
Iota
h. 35.7
(i) is
an
beerver's Catalooue
D. + 4034'.
>
marked
in
some
atlases as
7t^.
The
pair
make
305.Per'-se-us.
(Maps
Mu
and
3.9
('/) is
A orange, B
8.5;
Mag.
(Maps
301. Peg'-a-sus, the Winged Horse.
N. H., R. A. XXII h.
pp. 61, 41, 55, 43.
50 m.; ID. 20.) A large constellation, of
marked general interest because of the "great
square" for which it is conspicuous. This is
formed by its stars Alpha (oi) or Markab,
Beta (/)) or Scheat, Gamma (y) or Algenib, and
the Alpha (a) of Andromeda. But it has few
objects for telescopic study.
When the head of Medusa was struck off by
Perseus, Pegasus the Winged Horse sprang
from the blood of the Gorgon. Pegasus was
afterward caught by Bellerophon with the
golden bridle, gift of Athena. The hero then,
after his triumph over the Chimfera, attempted
to ascend to the heavens on his winged horse.
He fell to the earth; but Pegasus, ascending,
was given a place in the stars. For the connection (?) of Pegasus with Perseus and Andromeda, see [i]. But this connection belongs
to a much later legend.
Epsilon (f) is a wide double star. Mag.
302.
yellow, B violet; distance = 138";
2.5 and 8.5;
p. = 323; R. A. XXI h. 39-3 m.; D.+9 25'.
131
'
line
from
Gamma
(P) in Perseus.
(y) in
R. A. II
Andromeda to Beta
36 m.; D.+42 21.'
h.
Mu
D.+20
330.
56'.
(Map
p. 61.
30.)
Not
Beoinner'6 Star^^BooK
331.
D.-3324'.
Plei'-a-des, see [382].
Po-lar'-is, see [406].
Pup '-pis;
more nearly
'
-23
58'.
This, marked
344.
17, is the famous Omega
nebula, thus called by reason of its supposed
resemblance to that Greek letter. It is irregular in form; a fine object.
R. A. XVIII h.
16 13'.
14.9 m.; D.
This cluster,
345.
24, is not far from the
above, a little to the north or just over it and
to the left
as we face southward.
R. A.
XVIII h. 13 m.; D.-i8 28'.
The multiple star
346.
(a<), omitted from
the Night Chart in order to avoid over-crowding, is indicated in N. H.
It is a fourthmagnitude star lying almost midway between
8 and
While
24, a little nearer the latter.
the star is a quintuple, a 3-inch instrument
will probably show but two of the components
Mag. 3.5 and 9.5 distance
to the average eye.
= 48^.3; p. =312; R. A. XVIII h. 7.8 m.;
Mu
Pro'-cy-on, see
Just
342.
[71].
D.-2i5'.
Scorp'-i-us,
the Scorpion.
(Maps pp.
N. H., R. A. XVI h. 35 m.; D.-30.)
The name of the group is sometimes ^written
Scorpio.
It is a large and important constellation lying in the track of the planets, between
Libra and Sagittarius. It presents an impres350.
53, 57;
N. H., R. A.
XIX
h.
(Maps pp.
57,
40 m.; D. + i8.)
Way
Gamma
a small instrument.
D. i83i'.
R. A.
XIX
340.
Sa-git-ta'-rius, the
Archer.
h. 49.3
(Maps
m.
pp.
sive
field
of stars,
beautifully grouped
and
Hn
'
bsciver's Catalooue
XV
a nebula.
The
R. A.
XVI
h. 11
m.;
D. 22
44'.
star-cluster
6, when sufficiently
high above the horizon, may be discerned even
with the naked eye. It is composed of stars
from mag. 6.5 to 9, and is a fine spectacle in
the telescope. R. A. XVII h. 33 m.; D.
356.
32
9'.
I
'
far
-25
Mu
359.
21'.
marked
of R. A.
yu'
(/'),
and
yu^;
=28
sec.
D.-3753'360.
Sculp'-tor.
(Maps pp.
61,
41.
S.
H.,
Scrjjent's Tail.
*
366.
Beta
{(J)
should
first
be examined with
XV
and
XV
133
'
'
XV
jm.; D.-h2
375.
2-j'.
Sex'-tans,
the Sextant.
(Maps pp.
49,
380.
47.
large
Crete.
Only the forequarters of the bull are
outlined in the stars, the explanation being
that as he swims the rest of the body is covered
by the waters. For another legend see p. 44.
Alpha {a), or Al-deb'-a-ran. is often
381.
regarded as a standard first-magnitude star,
Sirius and several others being much brighter
;;
134
Beoinncr'e Star^Book
Mag.
and
118". 9; p.
Aldebaran from us
is
10.
= 35. 2.
45
reddish, B blue;
distance of
The
light-5'ears,
and
about that
is growing
Its annual
The
382.
Ce-las'-no,
in its course
lowest of the group as the Pleiades sink toward the west. The image of Alcyone, the
central star, seems blurred in our illustration
because there are three small companions
quite near it.
See below [384]. R. A. Ill h.
4i.5m.;D.+2348'.
The Hy'-a-des.
383.
is
only
less
inch will usually show in addition to the primary, the whole triangle of little stars. Alag.
3.1, 7, and 7; A-B, distance = 120"; p. = 290;
A-C, distance, 117"; p. =344. R. A. Ill h.
41.5 m.; D.+23 48'.
Theta {&), often marked d"- and 0^, is a
386.
wide double star, on a line connecting Alpha
(a) and Gamma {y).
A good object for operaglass, field-glass, or small telescope.
Mag.
3.6 and 4; A white, B vellowish; distance =
R. A. iV h. 22.8 m.; D.+
337"; p. = 346.
The star marked 10 is at extreme southwestern limit of the constellation, it is sometimes included in Eridanus. It is not itself a
double though wrongly so classified in some
atlases
but quite near it is an easy and pretty
double known technically as "Struve 422."
Mag. 6.3 and 8.5; A golden yellow, B blue;
distance = 6". 5; p. =250; R. A. Ill h. 31.6 m.;
D.-fo 16'.
Sigma {g) is a wide double for the opera389.
glass or for other low powers.
In a glass
having good illumination and wide field this
pair may be seen with Theta {&), (see above),
the two couples with the surrounding stars
388.
making a charming
Mag.
spectacle.
4.8
and
reddish,
R. A. IV
blue; distance
m.;
h. 14.2
D.+27
= 50";
p.
4;
8;
= 250;
7'.
(Maps
395. Tri-an'-gu-lum, the Triangle.
N. H., R. A.IIh. 5 m.; D.
pp. 41,61, 55.5932.)
A northern constellation lying be-
This
nebula marked
a line from the Alpha
Triangulum to the star Beta (/i) in
Andromeda, and while not a brilliant object
in a small instrument is of much intrinsic
interest.
See the illustration, p. 36. R. A.
I h. 29.7 m.; D.4-30 10'.
396.
is
the
beautiful
33.
{a) of
Ur'-sa Ma'-jor, the Great Bear, or, HterGreater Bear. (Maps, all northern.
N.H.,R. A. Xh.40 m.; D. 56.) A large and
important constellation, well-known by reason
of the seven bright stars which form the Great
Dipper, called in England "The Plough" or
The stars forming
Charles's Wa in (wagon)
the handle of the Dipper are regarded, in the
English usage, as forming the tongue or shaft
The
of the plough or cart (see also p. 23).
manner in which the stars are supposed to
suggest the figure of a bear is indicated on
400.
preceding.
and it presents so much of variety 'and contrast
that it affords a field of peculiar splendor and
charm for the low powers of the small instrument. R. A. (about) IVh. 23 m.; D. i544'.
Eta {-if) or Alcyone, the brightest star
384.
of the Pleiades, may be observed as a triple
even in a 2-inch telescope: there is another
component not so easily detected, but a 3-
allv, the
'
'
'
'
Hn
bserver'0 Catalooue
earth.
Benetnasch.
According to the Greek legend, the nymph
Callisto, beautiful daughter of Lycaon, King
of Arcadia, excited the jealousy of Hera.
Zeus, in order to save her from the wrath of
his spouse, changed Callisto into a bear and she,
wandering in the forests, met her son Areas,
who raised his spear to strike her. Zeus
prevented the tragedy by placing both among
the stars, where they became the Great and
Hera was still unappeased, and
Little Bears.
at her instigation, Oceanus and Tcthys ordered
that they should forever pursue their course
about the Pole, never passing with the other
stars to their rest beneath the waves.
The star Zeta (^) or Mi'-zar, located at
401.
the bend of the Dipper's handle, is one of the
55 26'.
The
402.
stars
7],
most
show
be able to detect
it
most
135
XV
We
Viewed
i
at 8
in
an astronomical
p.m.. for
example,
136
S3coinncr'5 Stars'Book
should
make repeated
powers
from 75 to 100. Under the right atmospheric
conditions a much lower power will avail. Success will come with a little experience.
Mag.
trials,
'
D.-o54'.
p.
=297; R. A. XIII
Tau
h. 4.8
m.;
D.-5
o'.
(t) is
Vul-pec'-u-la,
The group is
the Fox.
Vulpecida et Anser, or
(Maps pp. 61, 51,
the Fox and the Goose.
h. 10 m.; D.+25.)
57. N. H., R. A.
A small and unimportant constellation lying
between Sagitta and C^^gnus, easily found
near the foot of the Northern Cross.
The star marked 6 forms a prett}^ pair
426.
with a neighbor star, marked 8 in some
a good object for opera-glass or fieldatlases;
Mag. 4.6 and 6; distance = 403". R.
elass.
A. XIX h. 24.5 m.; D. 24 28'.
425.
sometimes known as
XX
using
The
2-j
forms an
nebula marked
acute triangle with the stars marked Eta {>])
and Gamma {y) in the neighboring constellaThis has long been known as the
tion, Sagitta.
"Dumbbell Nebula," because as viewed in
the telescope it was thought by some observers
It has little resemto resemble a dumbbell.
blance to such an object, except that there is a
narrowing and thinning of its faint effulgence
As with most of the
across its central zone.
nebulae, a glimpse of it may well be interesting to us, but it is not an impressive object in
R. A. XIX h. 55 m.:
small instruments.
D. + 22 2-j'.
427.
>
\
'
V\
\\
\
^
\,
>\v
\
'
^.\
\
\
'^^,
^\
\
\
/A
-XV
^^
\\
Xx^
\\
'^
'
^^
\
X
x^
^^
^
^
\
^^
X.
,>
x^^
^ ^
^,
'
\\
\
\
X
^
\\
\
\
\\
\
"
\'^
\\
X
"^
\
^
X
\
\'
\\
k
Wx
v^^
\V
^'
\
\
\^
\
XX
\ Ov
.'^1
^
.^
\
\
'''
X
^:
X
'
x^
^'
\ ,
X ^
\
^
x\
\
\
26, 1910
137
>i
Dimn.
flDotions, flDagnitubes,
etc
We have seen, p. 9, that the stars are at such vast distances from us that the unit of
measurement is the "Hght-year, " the distance traversed by hght, at a velocity of over
186,320 miles a second, in a year of time. To find the distance of a star, the astronomer
must determine its parallax the angle subtended at the star by the radius of the earth's
Although this base line represents the distance between Earth and Sun, or approximately 93,000,000 miles, there are multitudes of stars which show no parallax. Indeed
they are so remote that a line representing the whole diameter of the orbit, or over 185,000,000 miles, assumes but the aspect of a vanishing point in the perspective of the star's disBessel, a great German astronomer, obtained (1838) the first satisfactory measure
tance.
that of the small star known as 61, in Cygnus. It was long thought to be
of a parallax,
the nearest visible to the unaided eye from our latitudes, but this position now belongs to
A telescopic star, "Lalande 21,185," is the nearest known in the northern skies.
Sirius.
In the following table the parallax of the stars is indicated in the column marked P.
These parallaxes have been obtained by different astronomers, but they are here presented
from the list of Kapteyn and Weersma, Groningen, 1910; Kapteyn being the most generally
accepted living authority on the general problem of stellar distances. They are not all
I have, therefore, ranked them in the col. marked F according
entitled to equal weight.
For these estimates of
to the degree oi finality which should probably be accorded them.
A parallax classed as A is probably accurate
finality K. and W. are not responsible.
within o".02; a parallax classed as B is probably accurate within o".03 or o".04; and C,
within o".05 or o."q6. In the column marked D is noted the distance of the star in lightThe greater the distance, the more uncertain become
years, based on the parallax given.
orbit.
all
the conditions involved, so that the figures for stars at a light-distance exceeding 100
years become necessarily more like approximations than like rigid calculations.
In
many
Where a negative
nomena
is yet at hand.
Most of the stars show traces of association into groups, different
groups betraying a common drift.
We now know that the stars, instead of being really "fixed," have motions of their
own, relative to our own position in space. The motions of a star may be defined, in the
terms of its annual displacement on the celestial sphere, in seconds of arc. This is usually
called its proper motion, see the column marked P. M.
Or when expressed as a velocity
in miles per second it has been called the star's "Cross Motion. "
This is indicated in the
column marked C. M. To secure the velocity per minute multiply of course by 60. But
the stars have another motion also a motion that represents no displacement on the
celestial sphere, for it is in the line of sight.
This linear motion is indicated in the terms of
= radial
velocity).
When
the star
is
139
approaching our system, decreasing the distance at the velocity indicated, the minus sign
accompanies the figure; where the star is receding from us and the distance is increasing,
Stars enclosed in brackets
the indicated velocity is preceded by the sign plus (+)
are visible only from extreme southern latitudes.
[
Table
The
[Alpha
Sirius
(a) of
A.
.Star
D.
Star
Centaurus]
= Alpha
(a) of
Canis Major
Tau
(t) of Cetus
Procyon = Alpha (a)
of
Canis Minor
61 of Cygnus
Altair
Eta
Xi
= Alpha
(a) of
Aquila
of Cassiopeia
(t])
Omicron
Ursa Major
(o^) of Eridanus
Zeta
of Hercules
(?)
of
(S)
Mu
of Cassiopeia
(h-)
Gamma
Mu
(7) of
Draco
of Hercules
(|i)
Gamma
(-y) of Cygnus
Vega = Alpha (a) of Lyra
Theta (6) of Ursa Major.
Arcturus = Alpha (a) of Bootes
Beta (P) of Cassiopeia
Ras Alhague = Alpha (a) of Ophiuchus
Aldebaran = Alpha (a) of Taurus
Capella = Alpha (a) of Auriga
Pollux = Beta (P) of Gemini
;
Gamma
[Alpha
(7) of
(a) of
Virgo
Crux]
Polaris
o".759
4-3
376
8.7
10.5
A
B
B
C
B
B
B
B
.179
18.2
174
18.8
.142
22.9
.142
22.9
.138
23.6
.129
25-3
.118
27.6
.112
29.1
26')
49.6
65
8.0
I".25
18.2
73
12.0
4".o8
69.0
.61
12.6
23
4-7
37
7^9
51
11.6
79
19.6
-2.5
-39-20.5
+5-6
+40.4
30.5
.106
30.8
.106
30.8
.003
.094
34-7
35
10.9
.092
35-5
34^8
43-5
C
A
i".09
075
2". 28
89^3
3^1
.074
44.1
56
22.2
.074
44.1
.26
10.3
073
44-7
.066
49-4
.064
50.9
.058
56.2
055
59-3
.051
64.0
.047
69.4
037
88.1
033
033
99
.030
99
109
.029
112
.007
17.0
"3
.107
.008
(Argo Navis)].
-13-7
-5-
+^5
-60.3
-16.8
-9-3
-4.4
-9^3
+9-3
.007
C
C
R. V.
B
C
C
Alamak = Gamma
Rigel
i"-93
3"
.028
Andromeda
10.3
B
B
13-7
M.
14.2
9.8
16.2
C.
i".32
lO.I
.238
M.
3".66
324
.201
P.
A
A
334
F.
.007
- -003
- .004
- .012
- .021
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
3 /S
.025
98.2
.813
22.5
0.7
0.08
.20
8.0
+34-2
44
19.6
.62
28.4
+ 18.6
+ 1-9
55
27.8
-I3-I
.06
3-2
.09
5-2
.04
2-5
.04
3^2
25
22.2
13
"5
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
03
2.9
03
3^0
.20
20.9
.06
22.0
.07
29.4
.00
o.
.02
8.4
-1.9
+3-7
-6.8
+ 12.4
A
A
.004
A
A
05
+ 1.2
.01
-14.9
.02
403
4^77
.281
2.85
34^9
29.8
.203
4.46
64.8
32.0
-8.1
204.3
58^9
..
. .
140
Beoinner's StaivBook
Table
No.
Star
Sirius= Alpha
No.
II
(a)
[Canopus = Alpha
Centaurus]..
(a) of
of Lyra.
of
(a)
Aquila.
Antares = Alpha
1.91
42
Theta
(6)
of Scorpius
43
Menkalinan=Beta
44
Polaris
45
[Alpha
46
47
Ophiuchus
Sigma (<r) of Sagittarius
Algol = Beta (P) of Perseus,
49
Aipheratz= Alpha
dromeda
50
[Alpha
51
Alphard = Alpha
10
10
1-5
0.91
of
nus
Regulus = Alpha
(P) of
Cyg-
of
(a) of
Leo.
1.6
0.76
1.8
0.76
Crux]
Castor = Alpha
0.63
(a)
Crux]
Epsilon () of Canis Major.
Alioth = Epsilon () of Ursa
(y) of
Major
Bellatrix
= Gamma
(7)
Orion
Lefath = Lambda
Scorpius
[Epsilon
Alnilam
(e)
(V)
(P)
Taurus...
of Carina]
(a)
(P) of
of
Benetnasch=Eta
Ursa Major
2-3
0.44
2.2
2.2
2.4
2.2
54
dromeda
[Lambda (X.)
2.2
55
(7) of
2.2
Vela]
.
2.2
2.6
2.2
2.2
62
Alpha
63
[Iota
64
Gamma
65
[Theta
(a) of
(t)
Cassiopeia, tnax.
(7) of
Cassiopeia.
of Puppis]
[Zeta
67
Gemma = Alpha
of
of
Epsilon
70
Mirach = Beta
dromeda
()
Cygnus
(P)
2-3
2-5
2-3
Co-
of Scorpius
69
2-3
2-3
(a)
rona Borealis
Gamma (v)
2.2
2-3
of Centaurus] ....
66
2-3
2.2
of Carina]
(8)
(5)
2.2
2.2
Grus]
(P) of
2.4
2.2
of Vela]
[Beta
of
2.2
Major
Saiph
61
0.44
(-n)
2.4
53
0.44
seus
2.2
Ursa
of
0.52
of Per-
2-3
Hy-
60
0.48
Australe]
(a)
of
0.52
0.48
2.1
Mizar = Zeta
Triangulum
Algenib= Alpha
(a)
(?)
2-5
2.1
2.2
59
0.52
2.1
An-
0.58
0.48
[Alpha
(a) of
0.58
of Or-
2-3
of
Minor
ion
Nath = Beta
(a)
[Gamma
of
2.1
2.1
Grus]
(a) of
2.2
52
of
of Carina]
()
Pavo]
(a) of
2.1
Ursa
of
0.52
= Epsilon
(a)
57
58
0.58
ini
[Gamma
= Alpha
56
Gem-
of
2.0
of
(P)
dra
0.76
(a)
2.0
Minor
0.83
0.83
Piscis Austrinus
Deneb = Alpha
2.0
Auriga
0.83
(a)
(Pj of
max
1.2
Scor-
(a) of
Fomalhaut= Alpha
[Beta
of Vela]
0.91
pius
[Beta
(8)
1.
2.0
2.0
Canis Major
[Delta
10
2.0
of Canis
(8)
41
1.
2-3
2.0
2.09
1-59
1-9
Ursa
of
Major
of
Virgo
(a)
Beta
1.
(a) of
1.9
of Sagittarius..
(e)
of
(7)
Major
1.44
(a)
of Orion
{%)
40
of
Wezen = Delta
2.09
max
Orion,
39
0.5
0.8
(a) of
Epsilon
Ca-
(a)
[Achernar = Alpha
Eridanus]
[Beta (P) of Centaurus]
= Alpha
38
2.29
Rigel
Betelgeuze= Alpha
Dubhe = Alpha
0.4
0-3
Altair
37
Bo-
otes
nis
575
2.29
riga
Arcturus= Alpha
Alhena= Gamma
Au-
of
(a)
Zeta
36
Gemini
rina]
35
Ca-
of
(a)
Star
10.76
Canis
of
Major
[Alpha
Star Magnitudes
B.
of
2-3
2.6
2-3
2-5
2.4
An2.4
2-3
IRclative Brilliancy
141
mag.
of Sirius
1.58.
is
Potsdam determinations.
In the column marked B
a simple decimal
a first-magnitude
scale,
is
No
is
number
assuming Aldebaran
star.
.1.
star
is
the Alpha
(a) of
mag.
By
precisely of
i.o.
Taurus
this
of the stars
on
as approximately
method
may
it
be seen
more than twice as bright as such a star, and that Epsilon (f) in Ursa Major, the
These decimal
third star from the tip in the Dipper's handle, is about half as bright.
notations are based on the magnitudes as shown in column H.
The system of notation just described is far simpler than the comparispn of stars by
"magnitudes," for in the scale of magnitudes the beginner is confused by the occurrence of
zero magnitudes and negative (= minus) magnitudes, these notations applying to some of
the brightest and most interesting stars. A 2d-magnitude star is about 2.51 times fainter
Capella
is
than a first-magnitude, a 3d-mag. star is about 2.51 times fainter than a 2d-magnitude, etc.
The scale, even in this direction, is confusing, because the brilliancy of the star does not
Yet in the other
increase with the increase of the numeral of magnitude, but the reverse.
direction the conventional scale becomes still more troublesome, for as Aldebaran and
Altair are approximately of the first magnitude, there is no way to indicate stars brighter
than these, except by resorting to decimals of unity. We have been forced, therefore, to
describe Vega as mag. O.i, Arcturus as mag. 0.2, and Sirius as lower in magnitude than
zero, or of mag. minus, 1.6.
And this is the brightest star in the sky! Among the technicalities of a really noble science this system is, in the judgment of the plain man, one
of the "puzzles" of astronomy.
As current text-books and monographs all assume the
traditional photometric scale, the maps, etc., of this book have been composed in accordance
with it. The beginner will find that the slight variations between the Harvard and Potsdam results are chiefly due to the factor of color in the light of the stars. The Harvard
results are usually accepted as standard in England and the United States. The first twenty
of the seventy stars in the column marked H are generally classified as of the "first magnitude"; the remaining fifty, w^ith some ten others, are of the "second magnitude."
We have seen that the individual stars are often designated b}' the Greek letter, used
with the Latin genitive of the constellation name; see p. 12, second footnote. For readers
who do not know Latin, some of these genitive forms that are less easily recognized are here
given in italics: Aries, Arietis; Cancer, Cancri; Cetus, Cell; Cygnus, Cygni ; Draco, Draconis; Gemini, Geminonim; Leo, Leonis; Lepus, Leporis; Libra, Librae f Orion, Orionis ; Perseus, Persei ; Serpens, Serpeniis; Taurus, Tauri; Ursa Major, Ursae Majoris; Virgo, Virginis.
Many
of the stars
variations are in
many
S.
periods of revolution.
minimum
is
This
common
may
indicate that at
The magnitude
is
totally or
maximum and
marked P,
is
at its
indicated the
142
BeGinner'6 Star^BooF^
The
For
this
Table
Max.
Star
Eta
Aquila
of
(11)
[Eta
(11)
(S. B.)
Min.
Auriga
of
(e)
Algethi= Alpha
Ras
7.18
3-1
3-9
Lepus
6.1
(S. B.)-
9-7
4.8
6.2
4-3
5-
3-4
4.1
0.9
1.4
2.1
3-2
of
Mu
of
of
(h-)
Chi
(x) of
Eta
(ri)
Zeta
Cepheus
of
(t)
(S. B.).
5-37
(o) of
Cetus.
Cygnus
Gemini
Gemini
of
(S.
of Libra
Betelgeuze
406.
Algol = Beta
(S.B.)
B.)...
10.15
Rho
of
(8)
= Alpha (a)
331-6
2314
B.)-...
(S.
(t)
Sheliak = Beta
(S.B.)
Cepheus
= Omicron
IMira
(S)
2-33
of Cassiopeia
(a.)
(8)
436.1
9905-
Iota
Delta
P.
of
Hercules
Delta
Alpha
(aj
Min.
I.
R
Epsilon
Max.
Star
3-7
Argo (Carina)].
of
C.
Orion
(p) of Perseus
Lambda
(X.)
Taurus
of
12.9
Perseus
of
(P)
of
Lyra
(S. B.)..
3-4
4.2
3-3
4.2
2.87
As already
lated,
known with
of revolution are
In this table,
Table D.
Mag.
Star
4-3
Kappa
3-5
Epsilon
3-7
Beta
(k)
of
M.
of
Telescopic Binaries
Comp.
Mag.
Star
P.
Pegasus
11.4
3-
5-5
Xi
Hydra
157
5,
6.7
27.7
o,
6.1
of
(e)
P.
is
Ursa Alajor
of
(i)
alis
(P) of
Delphinus
Alpha
3-0
Zeta
5-0
Eta
4.2
-1.6
Xi
(X)
(t])
of Hercules
of
Corona
34-5
2,
6.5
41-5
6,
6.1
of Scorpius
Sirius= Alpha
44-5
(a) of
Alamak = Gamma
Andromeda
3-8
Tau
4-7
Zeta
(t) of
(%)
of
8,
of
Bootes
Omicron
(o^) of
{%)
(y)
Comp.
4.4, 4.9
72,-
4-0, 7
81.2
0.3,
88.4
1-7
4-3. 6
148.5
4.8, 6.8
180.0
4-5, 9-1
194.0
3-7. 3-7
5-1
6,
8.4
3,
5-1
of
55-
of
60.
Eridanus..
Canis
Major
2.2
of Centaurus..
70 of Ophiuchus
Borealis.
Xi
(^)
(a)
M.
Cygnus
57-3
o,
Cancer
59-1
o,
5-7
Gamma (y)
Mu
((1^)
Eta
(11)
Castor
of
Virgo
of Bootes
275-8
4-5. 6.7
of Cassiopeia
327-9
3-7.
346.8
2.0, 2.9
7-6
....
Suooc0tion0 for
Wovk
143
These are binary systems discovered by means of the spectroscope, the component
suns being so near together that it has been impossible to effect their division with the
telescope; see p. 117.
The periods of revolution are indicated in Days in the col. marked D.
At the close of the table I have listed a number of important stars thought to be spectroscopic binaries but the periods of which have not yet (1912) been determined.
A Few
Mag.
Period in
Star
Table E
vSpectroscopic Binaries.
Mag.
Period in
Star
Days.
2.2
Alpheratz= Alpha
eda
34 Theta
Eta
(9)
(a)
of
Days.
Mintaka = Delta
Androm
96, 7
of Aquila
Iota
17 12
= Beta
Algol
('n)
of Aquila
2.7
Beta
0.2
Capella= Alpha
(P) of
1 18
Aries
107.
(a) of
Auriga
2.1
Beta
(P) of
Auriga
3-3
Beta
(P) of
Capricornus
3-3
V
2.3
Canopus = Alpha
104,
Zeta
of
()
Alphirk
Delta
= Beta
(8)'
of
Cepheus
(P) of
Cepheus
Gemma = Alpha
(a) of
Mizar = Zeta
6 74
5 37
Corona
Borealis
3-9
V
V
0.3
Epsilon
Delta
()
Gemini
Bellatrix
1.8
Alnilam
= Epsilon
1-9
Algenib
= Alpha
1.9
Gamma
of Hercules
= Bcta
4'
2.
(P) of
(P) of
10,
15
410, ,6
(8) of Libra
Sheliak = Beta
Rigel
of
Lyra
12.
Orion
01
33
91
21. 9
Useful
Work
(X) of
(c)
= Gamma
Dubhe = Alpha
5-6
61
4-
Alcor
(g) of
of
Ursa
(v) of
(e)
....
INIajor
Orion
of Orion.
(a) of
5-6
Perseus
Gemini
(7) of
and 62^
0.25
Orion
Cygnus
of
3-97
4.01
Scorpius
(a) of
(a) of
= Epsilon
2.0
'
of Virgo
= Alpha
1-7
Betelgeuze
20.54
Cam's Major
1-7
2,
Gemini
Hercules
(P) of
9 22
Gemini
of
(P) of
Beta
93
(a>) of
Beta
2.0
= Lambda
Deneb = Alpha
Alpha
Lefath
Alioth
Castor = Alpha
2.8
1-7
(a.)
1-3
2.0
C"'")
Spica
51 38
2.9
Draco
2120.
27.16
Ursa Minor
(a) of
36
17'
(a) of
Ursa Major.
Ursa Alajor.
of
(?)
Thuban = Alpha
138.
(P) of
= Alpha
= Alpha
o 19
3-6
2.87
Scorpius
(a) of
Taurus
Merak = Beta
1375'
Carina.
Perseus
(P) of
= Alpha
3 .96
(a) of
5-73
29.14
Antares
Polaris
-0.9
Orion
(8) of
of Orion
(i)
(a) of
Ursa Major
Cygnus
Ursa Major
Facing the preface of this book are two quotations from Dr. George E. Hale of the Mt.
Wilson Solar Observatory, in reference to the useful work which may be accomplished by
the amateur. Dr. Hale has special reference to the spectroscope.
So broad, however, is
his suggestion that it is quite as applicable to the telescope.
Indeed it is usually through
the elementary preparation afforded by the telescope that the beginner advances to the use
of the spectroscope itself.
The amateur observer who may wish to attempt some useful work, may take up (l)
the study of variable stars; or (2) the careful systematic search for comets; or (3) the
observation of the surface markings of the planets; or (4) the study of double stars; or (5)
:
the drawing and recording of sun-spots; or (6) the making of careful records as to meteors
and meteor trails, or other unusual phenomena that may come under observation. Records
144
made
Beoinner'5 Star=Booft
One
of the most fruitful fields for amateur effort is the first named
that of variable
After becoming fairly familiar with the constellations and with the ordinary use
of the telescope, the amateur who wishes to aid in the observation of variables should enter
That of Harvard College, Cambridge,
into correspondence with a working observatory.
stars.
Mass.,
is
variables.
by him
one
of a
number
of
and
made
regularly sweeps
with his telescope any definitely selected portion of the sky at intervals of a few days is not
First, however, he should learn what
unlikely to be rewarded by the finding of a comet.
the smaller comets look like, and how they behave, by following some of those which are
Upon finding a comet, the fact, with the
frequently reported in the astronomical journals.
approximate position of the object in R. A. and D. (see note 14, p, 32), should be at once
communicated, for
As
in persistence patient!
verification, to
an observatory.
in a reflector
than in a
refracJ:or,
may
in this
book
may
prove useful. The focal length of the objective should, however, be long enough for
great refinement of definition, and the eyepieces should be carefully corrected for color.
Cheaper instruments may not show colors so accurately, but they may aid the eye in learnFirst
ing to estimate the magnitudes of the telescopic components of the easier doubles.
make a list of the doubles to be observed, trying not to note the magnitudes of the companThen observe, and record your estimates of the magnitudes of both components,
ion stars.
and afterward compare your estimates with the magnitudes as given in the Observer's
Catalogue. This will gradually provide a training to the eye in estimating the magnitudes
of telescopic objects, a training highly serviceable in the study of variables.
It is chiefly important to remember that any work that interests the observer and
which he is willing to do deliberately and carefully is likely to be of ultimate service to
science.
No matter how "useless" it may be called, such labor must result in the education of the amateur in habits of observation,
in accuracy, precision, and mental force.
As these capacities increase, new interests and opportunities will open out. Things that
are worth doing are frequently brought to the observer's attention in the pages of our
popular astronomical periodicals. A journal like Popular Astronomy noted on p. 146, is
often most helpful with suggestions.
List of
Books
Whether
or not the beginner desires to give interest and time to scientific work, there
be the need for further information. This volume has not attempted to fill the place of
a text-book on astronomy, and therefore the questions of how and why will demand further
attention.
Fuller and more technical manuals for the telescope will also be desirable, as
will
well as a star-atlas
and on
and a planisphere.
special subjects
may
Some
^Useful "Bool^d
145
(2)
now
It is three or four times the size of Newcomb's original book, and fully illustrated.
on the whole the very best exposition and exhibit of the present state of astronomical science
admirable in itself, and a generous tribute to America's greatest astronomer.
I am largely indebted to this volume
for the material in the table of Spectroscopic Binaries here given.
To be had, as yet, only in German; of G. E.
Slccl'.crt & Co., N. Y. ar.d London.
Published by W. Engelmann, Leipzig.
(1912) in
its
fourth edition.
it is
146
my many
BcGinncr's Stai^Boot^
named
would
mention an admirable
volume by James Baikie, F.R.A.S., called Through the Telescope; pub. by A. and C. Black,
London. Fowler's Popular Telescopic Astronomy; T. Whittaker, N. York; the Amateur
Telescopist's Handbook, by F. M. Gibson, and Noble's Hours with a Three-inch Telescope;
the last two pub. by Longmans, may also be mentioned here. I have expressed my chief
acknowledgments in the preface to the present volume. Among the best general books on
the subject for the serious modern reader are the volumes by the late Miss Agnes M. Gierke
-The System of the Stars, second edition much revised; and the History of Astronomy
all pub. by A. & G. Black.
In
in the Nineteenth Century, and Problems in Astrophysics,
scholarship and in general intellectual power Miss Gierke has taken rank among the leading
women of the nineteenth century. On the poetry and mythology of the stars there is a
charming and inexpensive little volume by Dr. J. G. Porter, The Stars in Song and Legend,
with illustrations from the drawings of Albrecht Durer; pub. by Ginn & Go., N. York and
London. The national Ephenieris is indispensable; see footnote on page 82.
to
above,
also
all his
The
information has
made
It is therefore
important to note
the date of the book consulted as well as to note the nature of the authorities quoted.
That
absolute freedom from error has been attained in the present volume the author cannot
hope,
though
all
be pointed out to
One
me
will
may
or two good astronomical journals will be found useful, such as The Observatory,
Stechert
&
Go.,
whom may
A planisphere is a useful device for quickly showing what stars are above the horizon
any particular hour. Among these are Philips' Planisphere ; Whittaker' s Plam:phere;
and one called the Barritt and Serviss Planisphere and Planet Finder. The last is about $5
the two others are sold at retail at less than $1.00. The present volume, if reference be
at
made
finder
objects are seldom indicated in a planisphere, most of the easier objects are here included.
As the Night-Gharts
clusters and nebulae
are especially intended for the unaided eyes, the merely telescopic
are usually
invaluable.
Unbej:
Names of the Constellations and the brighter stars will be found in the Observer's Catalogue, pp. 1 16-136, in
their alphabetical order, with indication of the maps in which they occur as objects for observation in the evening
sky. Use Observer's Catalogue, therefore, as Index for stellar objects.
Names of the Planets with tables showing the approximate positions of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn for
each month will be found on pp. 82, 84, 86 fol.
Time-Schedule showing the appropriate Night-Charts and Key-Maps for the evening hours of any day in
p. 35.
Clusters, Star-, 17
29, 92, 93, 94, 95, 137
Conflicts, Sea of, lunar form., 71, 72
Constellations, early, 118
Copernicus, lunar form., 71, 77
Corona of Sun, 63, 67
Comets,
Abbott, C. G., 68
Alphonsus, lunar form., 76
Alps, lunar mts., 71, 77
Altair Diagram, 28, 119
Alt-azimuth mountings, 103, 106,
107
Amateurs, work
for,
143
fol.
Asteroids, or planetoids, 81
Astronomy,
D
Declination, 12; note 14, p. 32
Dipper, Great, 22; col. I, p. 38, 134
Dipper, Little, col. i, p. 38, 135
Distances of stars, 9, 138; of Sun,
68; of Moon, 69
Distortion in maps, 4, 30
Dog-Star, 122
Double-stars, 12, 116 fol.
Burnham,
S.
W., Am.
Greek alphabet, 33
Grimaldi, lunar form., 71
H
Hale, G. E., quoted, iv, 68
Halley's comet, 92, 94, 137
Harvard Observatory,
Harvard Photometry,
10, 140,
144
116, 140
Astr.
Astr.
col. i,
134
Andromedes, meteors, 96
Apennines, lunar mts., 71, 77
Apex of Sun's Way, 66
Aquarids, meteors, 96
Archimedes, lunar form., 76
Aristarchus, lunar form., 71
Aristotle, lunar form., 74
Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 7
Earth, earth-shine, 69
Eclipses of Sun, 63, 68
Ecliptic, 80, 81
Elger, T. G., 74. 78, i45
K
Kapteyn,
C,
66, 138
145
Kepler, J. (i 571-1630), 2
Kepler, lunar form., 71
Key-Maps for any hour, 30, 34, 35
Klein's Star Atlas, 145
Kempf,
J.
P., 66,
Astr., pref.
L
Faculse on Sun, 64
Campbell, W. W., 63
Capricornus Diagram, 28
Flammarion, C, 145
Galaxy, 19
Galilean glass, 98, 99
Galileo ( 1 564-1 642), Ital. Astr., 70
Geminids, meteors, 96
David,
Light, velocity
Light-year, 9
of, 9,
138
Flocculi, 67
Gill, Sir
16,
147
66
14,
M
Magnifying powers, 98, 104
Magnitudes of stars, 10, 140
68,
148
IMapping the sky, 4, 6
IMars, Table for finding,
initial
accompanying number
is
associated
and
(as
J\I 31)
nebulae
in
famous
star clusters
his
Mars, 86
Moulton, F. R., 118, 123
Mountains, lunar and terrestrial, 75
Mount Wilson Observatory, 33
of
N
II,
15,
"5
Nectaris, Mare, lunar form., 71, 75
Neptune, 9, 81, 82
Newall, H. F., 145
Newcomb,
Simon
(1835- 1909),
30,
no
no
Tennyson quoted,
71. 74
Tycho, lunar form.,
30,
Amer.
Newton,
Pointers, 24
Pole-star, Polaris, 22, 135
the, 69 fol.
of Jupiter, 89; of Saturn, 91
8,
138
Sun, the, 62 fol.
Sun, motion in space, 66
Sun-spots, 66, 67
fol.
Mira, 14
Nebul,
131
Planisphere, 146
Plato, lunar form., 71, 76
Pleiades, 17, 19, 134
Milky Way, 19
Moons
5,
Hst, 126
Meteors, 94
Moon,
and
Photographs, astronomical, 33
Photometrj^ Harvard revised, 116,
140
Photosphere of Sun, 64
with
with the
Stai^Book
86, 87
IMercury, 83, 85
Meredith, George, quoted, 96
Messer's, J., Star Atlas, 145
Messier, C. (1730-18 17), French
astronomer whose
J6cGinner'5
U
Uranus, 81, 82, 126
R
Riccioli,
G.
B.
(1598-1671),
71,
135
Rigel, 16, 130
14, p.
32
W
Saturn, Table for finding, 90; rings
of, 89, 91
Schools, telescope in, Pref.; 108
Schurig's Atlas, 145
Serenitatis, Mare, ji
Serviss, Garrett P., 145
Signs of Zodiac, footnote, p. 81
Sirius, 9, 10, 121
Webb,
T. W.,
Enghsh
Astr. (1807-
Y
Yerkes Obser\'atory, 33, loi
Young, C. A., American
Astr
Smyth's
colors,
14,
motions, 22
fol.;
116; apparent
proper motions
Zodiac, Signs
of, 80,
81
"One might think the atmosphere was m^ade transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies,
the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities how great they are! If the stars should appear
one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown.
We exaggerate the praises of local scenery. In every
landscape the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth, and that is seen from the first hillock
as well as from the top of the Alleghanies.
The stars at night stoop down over the brownest, homeliest common,
with all the spiritual magnificence which they shed on the Campagna, or on the marble deserts of Egypt. ... He
who knows the most, he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground, the waters, the planets, the
heavens, and how to come at these enchantments, is the rich and royal man." R. W. Emerson; Nature I; II.
.
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