| Show ft fl demon written expressly for this magazine ische best month inythe ithe year ji in w which hidei to sa see and study tile the deir demon star many times limes has this illis strange olja object act met y your our vision but bu in in the multiplicity of ni matters atter chich have occupied your attention ioba lily you have naver never 0 observed the characteristic which gives this star the name which for ages at has held jt aias was n not 0 t so I 1 in n the old days when the shepherds lay upon the ground throughout the might inight andhor and for want of other occupation 1 cu noted the stars osey passed along the sart sana k in the ake west from youth to old age aad this on and the fathers pointed cumo their sons the configurations mode by grouping numbers of neighboring r in stars lt it was impossible that theli thay form any idea of the real nature of the stars which for the most part they supposed i to have been placed iri in the ilie sky sicy b by them the whims of their gods but at the ic sime same time they learned much was important and valuable in later astronomy they gave ave to 0 various groups of hofstar offa star tars fin fantastic Castic designations which they bear baa r to fo this thia da day Y and will to td the end of time they learned that different stars were stenli seen n the evenings at different seasons of the file year and that those seasons were invariable 1 they tile the comparative brightness figh Weiss of the morl more brilliant brillian it stars star sas as a matter matte of course but there was one star which showed a most astonishing phenomenon ordinarily it shone as a star of striking brightness but at frequent intervals interval which iare known jiovito jio wito be perfectly regular but which 1 fo for ralo along ng time liine aoud not have been so known it sank csank to io A low order of brightness and 1 then gradually brightened up li again gaiti for toia this reason eason i it was given the name danlie of the demon star algol is the accepted a proper name of df the demon S star tar being an arabic jiame signifying destruction destruction itis it is a sun some what greater than ouy own it is of course at a treat en dous distance so that at aig light ht y which aich travels t r a vels at A the he Ta tateos rate of nearly two hundred chousa id anil miles e s a second requires miana many years id to crosa crog s the distance i ay which we are separated about this sun at the alic distance of df only four million miles revolves a mighty nn dark dark I 1 icom com panion almost as great as itself if self the plane on which it revolves s happen sto to fae be dir directly colv on A li line 16 wi with adil 0 our tw ow own n p position os ifton iiii twenty enty hours fort forty yI cig eight 7 1 I 1 ali minutes and aft fifty five set seconds ands the satellite comes between us and the bright star shutting offa off a portion ofies of its liht light tile the whole change occupied about seven hours but only for foi about one hour is the change so great a as s to f 0 be strikingly dd ti ceable 1 i r 1 to find algal the he following simple di 11 erections with any one who fea really lly cares to know in inthe tile mily milky way in in the northeast during the evenings of the autumn months look for a bending row of three bright stars the middle and afi brightest glidest being called this star W Mir fac is also at the end of another hn and va vastly st Y longer row of four bright stars which stretches the south sout hanU anu east and ends ozithe Great S Square audre 1017 pegasus this isa t group of four bright st stars ar s i forming almost a mathematical aqua squa square rebut re but of so great proportions that usually it is not at first recognized once saen seen however however at is is never forgotten i n below thi this ilok long row and abid forming a triangle and alma tcp second star stai in the long loav is algol which J i a star siar of af the second magnitude of bv brightness iniss as a si a are rethe the other two twos on the occasions obscurations ii fourth ma magnitude g astar A star of low magni tilde e i is s near algol band and furnishes teasy easy i off ofa comparison om parison jt would be easy td g give i ve the lime when the may observed be U but W it W would misunderstood ibe by tany many readers instance on the evening when it occurs at ai seven bodock annew in new york it will ibe be ion ollya lya blittle after four 0 in oregon and the sun stilt still would be jin nil the ak sky it ais rs better that bac each ji jeader should first find flold algol and get bat he may know it at a glance this comes within a very dew cv evenings ellings then cc should DC erivn iriven ayery cleir evening until tile the starts unmistakably dim when this happens make a memorandum odthe of the slime aime day pid and iho chour ur and you vou then can ii any time figure ime when ithe next obscuration will occa occurs should it fall during the ahe of daylight the only way isto again add two iday tw twenty enty hour leour lorty fort minutes s and five seconds and keep trying enfil you get an evening ye ning which will afford an ord 10 a satisfactory Y view view if IU clouds you try y agaj ag aga h aj when you have confirmed ayour your coph y ya you uw 11 I 1 ll be zib able leAo to repent athe performance indefinitely and will ivill nave d a which will ibe be shared by only a i ew w |
