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THE

SCHOOL JOURNAL

ORGAN OF THE A
DEPARTMENT OF
COMMON SCHOOLS

[graphic]

Vol. 27.

STATE TEACHERS'
AND OF THE
ASSOCIATION

JANUARY, 1879.

STARS AND STAR GROUPS OF OUR WINTER HEAVENS.*

PLEASANT AND PROFITABLE WORK FOR WINTER EVENINGS.

No. 7.

REVIOUS to opening of Monday even- | less than a specimen star, one of many miling

Mr. J. P. McCaskey, Principal of the Boys' High School, Lancaster, gave a sciopticon exhibition for the entertainment of the members of the Institute, using the Marcy light and a five-foot disk, and presenting many choice and artistic views, both colored and plain, of historic buildings, natural scenery, interesting objects in nature, portraits of distinguished characters, Rogers' groups, rare pieces of sculpture, beautiful fancy sketches, etc., closing the series with a single view introductory to the subject of Stars and Star Groups, which the exhibitor designed bringing to the attention of the Institute during the sessions of the week.

THE SPECIMEN STAR.

The last view which was thrown upon the canvas showed, in very striking form, the relative sizes of the Sun and the several planets of the solar system. It was designed to impress vividly the startling thought that our Sun -so enormous of size as we know it to be, of an immensity so overwhelming in comparison with the Earth-is neither more nor *From Report of Proceedings of Lancaster County Institute, recently issued. These platform talks, somewhat disconnected, are presented in the hope that they may be suggestive and useful to many teachers and others in all parts of the State, who have often wished to know something of the starry heav ens, but have thus far happened upon no means, at once simple and satisfactory, of acquiring this knowledge. No effort has been made to throw them into a single continuous article, but they are given as reported, with stars thrown in, suggestive of the general topic, and at the same time to indicate extended intervals when topics other than Stars and Star Groups were under consideration.

larger and others smaller than itself. The diameter of Jupiter, the largest of the planets, being eleven times that of the earth, its bulk must be over thirteen hundred times as great; the diameter of the Sun being over ten times that of Jupiter, its bulk is more than one thousand times that of said planet; so that the mass of the Sun would make nearly fourteen hundred thousand Earths as large as our own. Or, to present this fact in another shape: The volume of the Sun-which some one has happily styled "our nearest star"is six hundred times greater than that of all the planets revolving around it! So much for our "specimen star." Knowing something of the great size of the Earth, we may, with these comparisons in mind, acquire some faint idea of the size of the individual stars, which, in countless numbers, nightly begem the sky over our heads, exciting our wonder, and at times stirring within us the emotion of sublimity to the profoundest depths of which our natures are capable.

This view is presented as the very best starting point we know for our proposed observation of the stars. Give the pupil a clear and definite idea of what the stars are, of their enormous magnitudes, and the almost infinite distances from our Earth, and from one another, at which they are placed. His interest is thus aroused to know more of so grand a science. He will begin for himself

to look up to them, to note them singly, and | soon to trace out in the sky the various diagrams from the star list that may be assigned to him.

But few people know anything of the constellations, and yet the knowledge is so easily acquired and so readily communicated, especially to growing boys and girls, that any teacher of average ability can make this one of the most interesting, delightful and profitable subjects presented in his or her schoolroom. And the best feature of the matter is, that certain impressions made here will never be lost, while much that is learned can never be forgotten by the youthful observer.

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It is surprising that any human being should go through life without being at times struck by the beauty of the sky above him, and led to acquire some knowledge of its

most brilliant and remarkable stars. In this and succeeding talks it is not intended to teach the science of astronomy, but only to give methods of tracing some of the constellations in the heavens as they are now seen, and to present the names of their principal stars. Last evening the sciopticon gave us the relative magnitudes of the sun and planets; and this sun, so immense in comparison with the earth on which we live is but one of an innumerable multitude of stars-fixed stars we call them, though they are known to be in motion-a motion imperceptible to us on account of their inconceivable distance. Only a few of these distances have been measured, and those by using the long diameter of the earth's orbit, 184,000,000 miles, as a base line.

stars called the Hy'ades, the other four being less brilliant. This figure outlines the face of the Bull (Tau'rus, the second sign of the Zodiac), and Aldebaran is in one of the eyes. The Ple'iades are in the neck of the Bull. South-east of Aldebaran rises Ori'on, the grandest of all the constellations, and one that is familiar to many of you. This constellation is directly over the equator, and hence visible from pole to pole. The four stars forming the oblong figure which outlines the body of the hunter are Betel'guese (geese), a brilliant red star in the right shoulder; Bella'trix, in the left shoulder; Rigel, in the left foot; and Saiph (Safe), in the right knee. The "Belt" is composed of Bands of Orion," the "Three Kings," the three bright stars, sometimes called the Ell and Yard," "Jacob's Rod," Rake," "Napoleon," etc., and named respectively Min'taka, Ani'lam, Ani'tak.

"The

Westward from Aldebaran and the Pleiades we have two stars in the constellation Aries

the Ram, named Ari'etis and Mesar'tim, and still farther west is the Great Square of Peg'asus-three of its angles being marked by Sche'at, Mar'kab, Al'genib, in Pegasus, and the fourth by Alpheratz, in the head of Androm'eda. These four stars are in pairs about fifteen degrees apart. As the Square is now nearly overhead in the evening it is well to become acquainted with it first, and to use it as a centre from which to run our lines in different directions and fix the positions of stars in the various quarters of the heavens.

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Before the regular hour for opening the evening session, Mr. McCaskey gave the Institute a second series of sciopticon views of the same general character as on Monday evening, announcing the names of the several views as they were thrown upon the canvas. Previous to " Alloway Kirk and the Burns Monument," which was the last of the eveinning and introductory to the lecture on Burns that was to follow it, some three or four

The winter sky in our latitude is the most brilliant of the year, and we are just entering upon the season when observation of the stars is most richly repaid. Every one has seen Or'ion and the Ple'iades; they have been known since the days when the book of Jobthe oldest book in the Bible-was written, which reference is made to them by name. The Pleiades are now visible early in the evening in the eastern sky; the brighest of them, Alcy'o ne, is estimated to be 1200 times as large as our sun, and is said by astronomers to be at or near the centre about which the sun, with its dependent planets, describes its tremendous orbit - an orbit so vast that in the entire period since observations have been recorded, only seven minutes of its mighty sweep have been transversed. Farther to the east is Aldeb' aran, a brilliant star, at one extremity of a V-shaped figure composed of five

66

ASTRONOMICAL VIEWS

were presented, representing the relative sizes. of the planets of the Solar System; the relative size of the sun, as seen from the different planets in their order from Mercury to Neptune-appearing great of size to the former and but little more than a twinkling star to the latter, which is distant 1,835,000,000 miles from the mighty centre of the system; also, the well-known constellation of the Pleiades, as seen through any telescope of moderate

power, and embracing some seventy stars; certain double stars, as Castor; stars with telescopic companions, as Vega and the North. Star; the star in Centaurus, which is resolved by the telescope into innumerable suns; and, perhaps most striking of all, the representation of a star of the first magnitude, as Sirius, Betelguese, or Capella, seen through a telescope of very high magnifying power. No disk is ever had through any telescope upon any star! We may see the planet, round as the Sun or the Moon, but no star ever appears other than a simple point of quivering light intensely brilliant.

When a telescope of high power is turned upon one of the largest stars, as it comes into the field of the instrument, the effect of the increasing light is compared with that of the rising moon. And yet we repeat the statement already made, in order that the thought may be driven home to your minds-its distance is so immense that it is impossible to bring it near enough to reduce its enormous sphere-in many cases, no doubt, a million miles in diameter-to even the smallest disk! As we look out upon the stars innumerable, and reflect that each of them is, in all probability, a central sun, more or less like our own, with its retinue of planets, and that these planets are doubtless, in large proportion, inhabited by intelligent beings-for God wastes nothing, and has made nothing in vain-can it be otherwise than that, in the atmosphere of such a thought, things little and mean should be dwarfed to their true proportions and fade from sight; while the feeling of awe and reverence for the might, the wisdom, and the goodness of God is deepened and intensified? The more the mind dwells upon subjects of this character the more the heart is impressed by them, until we come to stand by night, with the devout astronomer, beneath the dome of this majestic temple, "fretted with golden fires," one thought alone filling our heart and his, that of the prophet of old, "What hath God wrought!" And this is culture of the best; it is this which should be the supreme end of all educational training.

Our Solar system forms part of a great stellar system, or nebula, which includes not only the constellations conspicuous at one time or another during the year in our evening sky, but also the entire Milky Way, with its millions of stars! This nebula is supposed by astronomers to be much longer than broad, shaped somewhat like the capital letter Y, but with the two branching arms closer together than they usually appear in said letter. Our sun, with its attendant planets, is thought to

be somewhere near the junction of the two arms.

When we reflect that this is but one of nearly a thousand nebulæ, or star systems, each no doubt occupying its fixed place in the universe, moving as a unit, according to fixed laws, attracted by and dependent in some degree upon every other of the thousand or more star systems known and unknown to the astronomer-when we consider the measureless depths of immensity and the infinite number of suns which these thousand or more nebulæ comprise, each of these suns being in all probability the light and life of its retinue of planets - the view broadens, orbing more and more grandly, until nothing remains beyond but the Eternal God.

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The constellations which have thus far been given and those which are to follow are so well marked that once seen, some of them at least will always be remembered. Teachers owe it to themselves to learn something of Nature above and around them, in order that they may direct the attention of their pupils to subjects that will afford unfailing sources of pleasure throughout their lives. Those whose attention is called to these subjects late in life for the first time, have great reason to regret their loss Carlyle says on this subject:

For many years it has been one of my constant regrets that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of natural history, so far at least as to have taught me the grasses that grow by the wayside, and the little winged and wingless neighbors that are continually meeting me with a salutation which I cannot answer, as things are. Why did not somebody teach me the Constellations, too, and make me at home in the starry heavens which are always over head, and which that the time will come when the schoolmaster will I don't half know to this day? I love to prophesy be strictly required to possess these two capabilities, and that no ingenious little denizen of this universe be thenceforward debarred from his right of liberty in these two departments, and doomed to look on them as if through grated bars all his life.

We have learned something about the first two constellations which gave their names to the signs of the Zodiac; the third, Gem'ini, or the Twins, lies east of Taurus, and the two principal stars, Cas'tor and Pollux, mark the heads of the two figures at the northern end of the constellation as it now appears in the eastern sky about 10 o'clock in the evening. The outline of their bodies is marked by an oblong figure, the brightest star of which is Alhe'na, and the others are Wa'sat, Te'jat, and Mebus'ta or Meluc'ta. To the northwest of Castor and Pollux is a large pentagonal figure, one angle of which is marked by an ex

ceedingly brilliant star named Capella. This constellation is Auri'ga, the Wagoner, who carries a goat upon his shoulder, and her kids in his pouch-these latter marked by three faint stars in an isosceles triangle below Capella. The distance of this star is estimated at seventy-two light years from our earth, that is to say, while the light is but eight minutes on its way from our sun to the earth, it requires the enormous period of seventy-two years to reach us from Capella! The other shoulder is marked by Menka'lina. One of the feet, which touches the tip of the Bull's horn, is marked by the star El Nath. This star is therefore in both constellations. The tip of the other horn makes an isosceles triangle with El Nath and Aldebaran.

little outlay of time and effort. After we have once learned their positions and names, the stars, as they come up from season to season, are welcomed more and more gladly as old friends, whose coming again we hail with ever-increasing pleasure after each successive half-year's absence.

You see how our star list grows upon us, from the fact that we proposed at first to take but twenty-five of those more conspicuous, but have already exceeded that number. We have not yet decided where the list shall end, but it is hoped that most of the teachers present will take notes, and give their schools the benefit of any practical hints received here as to the study of the constellations.

*

*

*

It was

Some three-quarters of an hour before the regular opening of the evening session was occupied in reviewing from the black-board the numerical list and the diagrams of Stars and Star Groups already given. found that some forty or fifty teachers had been looking up the constellations whose position at a given hour had been described, and whose outlines indicated by their leading stars. This number, though encourag

learn, it needs only to look up intelligently into the sky. The teachers were congratu lated on having come to Lancaster, it being an excellent place from which to see the stars! There are many other places, no doubt, very favorable for such observations, but the lecturer had seen them so often from this that he could commend it without hesitation from satisfactory personal experience.

A line drawn southward through Sche'at and Markab (or the west side of the Square of Pegasus) passes east of a brilliant star in the Southern Fish, named Fo'malhaut. Southward through the eastern side of the Square we have Diph'da, in Cetus, the Whale. Between these lines we now see Saturn, which by this time next year will be some twelve degrees from its present position-its year being equal to thirty of our years, while Jupiter, which remains one year in each constellation of the Zodiac, its year being equaling, was pronounced far too small, since, to to twelve of our own, now blazes in the southwestern sky in the early evening, the most brilliant of all the planets or stars now visible. West of the Square of Pegasus, you will notice a bright star with two fainter ones at equal distances on either side, the three stars making a short straight line; these mark the constellation Aquila, the Eagle; the bright star is Altair', the other two, Alshain and Tara'zad, the last named being farthest north. Toward the zenith from this constellation we find a quadrilateral of faint stars at no great distance, known as the Dolphin, or Job's Coffin. Northwest from the Eagle, and at a considerable distance from it, a very brilliant star, Ve'ga, marks the constellation Lyra, the Harp, which includes also the four faint stars close by, forming a parallelogram, the two farthest from Vega being She' liak and Su'laphat, the former being nearest the horizon as it sinks in the western sky. All these constellations are readily distinguished by their principal stars, and you will be surprised to find how rapidly your celestial map fills up, and how soon the diagrams of the leading constellations become familiar.

So far as my own limited observation and experience go, I have found no other subject of study that returns so much for so little affording so rich return of gratification for so

There is one constellation in particular which, if the nights are clear, should be familiar to every member of the Institute before the close of the sessions He referred to Orion, grandest of all, now visible after nine which had been given. This constellation, as o'clock in the south-eastern sky, a diagram of has been said, can be seen from all parts of the earth. It has been a star group of interest to countless millions since before the dawn of history. Nor should the Pleiades, now (Nov. 13) half way up the eastern sky by nine o'clock, be unknown to any who read the Bible, or who have enjoyed Tennyson's "Locksley Hall," in which he sings:

Many a night from yonderivied casement, ere I went to rest,
Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.
Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.

Those who have read neither the Bible nor "Locksley Hall," can hardly plead ignorance of the Almanac, since everybody knows more

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