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Show I SKIES IN FEBRUARY. I Eight First Magnitude Stars to Appear Above the I HorizonConstellation of Mighty Orion. B Eight stars of the first magnitude will bo above the horizon at 7 o'clock at the close of the month. Named In the order of their brightness, thej are Skills, I the IViR-Star, below und at the left of Orion, which ivnds before us as we face Hue soutn; Cupella,, the She-eloat, nearly overhead, nigel. In the left foot of Orion, and rietelgeuise, In his right shoulder, 1'iocyon, the I.lttle Dor at tho left, or enst of Hetelgeuse, making It and Slriui u nearlv equal-sided triangle; trian-gle; Aldibarau, the "Hull's i:e," at tho rlrht of netelgiuso and nt about the tamo altitude, Pollux, tho lower of the two Twins (Oemlnl), now to be seen In tho east at two-thirds of the distance from the horizon to the zenith, Hegulus, the principal star In the old lonstellatlon Leo, which Is now falily nbovo tho horizon In the east. This star may readily be ldentllled from Its position at tho end of tho handle of the "Sickle," w lch forms tho Lion's bushy head and shou'ders. Overhead sits Auriga, the Wrgonev. Tho constellation may easily be located by means of tho bright star Capella, In the left shoulder. On tho oll-fashluned celetlal chart, which gnvo figures of the constellations, Amiga was represented sealed, with a goat upon his left shoulder, her three kids In his lap, nnd holding In his right hand the reins with which he d-rtes Invisible steeds The constellation, constella-tion, as thus conceded, li undoubtedly very undent. It Is sild to hae been found depicted, substantially as described aboe, upon Ass)rlan tablets, which i hows It to have been known to the Chnldcan astronomers. The llvo brighter stars of this group form a quite striking pentagonal llgure, the two more southerly south-erly stars of which are In tho Wagoner's feet. One of these Is the star Ul Nath, I of the second magnitude, which tips the northern horn of the celestial Dull This null (Taurus) consists merely of head, horns and shoulder. It may bo located by means of the star Aldebaran, ut one corner of the V-shaped cluster of the Hyadcs, which forms the Bull's fuce. The Pleiades nre In hM shoulder. At tho right, oi west of Taurus Is Ailes, the Ham, of which the most conspicuous con-spicuous portion Is a pair of stars, ono of the second and one of the thlid magnitude mag-nitude which sere to locate the ltam's head llctween west and northwest the great squatc of Tegasus Is partly below tho l.oitzon. Trom the northeastern corner of this square the uppet right-hand corner, as tho figure Is now posed runs a curod lino of four second-magnitude stais In the direction of Capella. The llrst thice of these staig belong to Andro-medn. Andro-medn. the lowermost that at the corner of the square being Alpha, In her head, and the uppermost dramma. In her left foot The middle stai Is lletn It Is the brightest of three which form the maldcifs belt Near the northern extremity of this belt Is the famous Andromeda nebula, visible to the naked ocas oc-as a blurred star of about the fifth magnitude. Through an opera-glass Its nebulous character Is perceived unmistakably. The uppermost of the four stars pointed out is Alpha Persel, at about me center of the elongated group of stars which foims the body of the constellation 8 Perseus. At the left of a line drawn from this star to (lamma Andromedae is lletn I'ersel, ordinarily of tho second magnitude, better known ns Algol, tha 'Demon,' one of tho longest known of the visible stars. A description of Its peculiarity was given last month. i At the right of Perseus, in mtdheavens In the northwest may be seen the W-shapcd tlgure of Cassiopeia, the Lady In her Chair. At about the same altitude alti-tude In the northeast the Great Dipper, In the Ursa Major, stands upon lis handle, Its two "Pointers" at about tho same altitude at the Pole-Star, whose j osllkm they Indicate. Note that this star, of the second magnitude, stands about midway between the center of Cassiopeia and tho middle star In the Dipper's Dip-per's handle. , looking at the stars themselves and losing sight of the picture, we can easily make out among them a. crude likeness to a gigantic human shape such a giant as a school boy might draw upon his slate or an Indian upon a piece of birch-bark and we may feel fairly eel tain that this figure Is the original and true Orion. The Arabic name of this constellation wat Al Jauza, the Giant The name is perpetuated in that of one ot Its brightest two stars, llet-el-geuse Hat-aljauza, Armpit of the Olant. ltlgel, the name of tho star at the lower right-hand corner of the treat X. Is the Arabic rljal, which means foot. Salph, at the loner left-hand left-hand corner. Is of the third magnitude. The name Is Arabic and means sword. Lollutrlx, al the upper right-hand corner, is of the second magnitude. This name is I.atln, meaning warrioress. As the name of a star Its point is obscure. Washington Post |