Half-hours with the Telescope: Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a Means of Amusement and Instruction.Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
Half-hours with the Telescope: Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a Means of Amusement and Instruction.
Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Astronomy; Telescopes
Immediately below [alpha] Arietis is the star [alpha] Ceti, towards the
right of which (a little lower) is Mira, a wonderful variable. This star
has a period of 331-1/3 days; during a fortnight it appears as a star of
the 2nd magnitude,--on each side of this fortnight there is a period of
three months during one of which the star is increasing, while during
the other it is diminishing in brightness: during the remaining five
months of the period the star is invisible to the naked eye. There are
many peculiarities and changes in the variation of this star, into which
space will not permit me to enter.
Immediately above Mira is the star [alpha] Piscium at the knot of the
Fishes' connecting band. This is a fine double, the distance between the
components being about 3-1/2", their magnitudes 5 and 6, their colours
pale green and blue (see Plate 5).
Close to [gamma] Aquarii (see Frontispiece, Map 4), above and to the
left of it, is the interesting double [zeta] Aquarii; the distance
between the components is about 3-1/2", their magnitudes 4 and 4-1/2,
both whitish yellow. The period of this binary seems to be about 750
years.
Turning next towards the south-west we see the second-magnitude star
[epsilon] Pegasi, some 40 deg. above the horizon. This star is a wide but
not easy double, the secondary being only of the ninth magnitude; its
colour is lilac, that of the primary being yellow.
Towards the right of [epsilon] Pegasi and lower down are seen the three
fourth-magnitude stars which mark the constellation Equuleus. Of these
the lowest is [alpha], to the right of which lies [epsilon] Equulei, a
fifth-magnitude star, really triple, but seen as a double star with
ordinary telescopes (Plate 5). The distance between the components is
nearly 11", their colours white and blue, their magnitudes 5-1/2 and
7-1/2. The primary is a very close double, which appears, however, to be
opening out rather rapidly.
Immediately below Equuleus are the stars [alpha]^{1} and [alpha]^2
Capricorni, seen as a naked-eye double to the right of and above [beta].
Both [alpha]^1 and [alpha]^2 are yellow; [alpha]^2 is of the 3rd,
[alpha]^1 of the 4th magnitude; in a good telescope five stars are seen,
the other three being blue, ash-coloured, and lilac. The star [beta]
Capricorni is also a wide double, the components yellow and blue, with
many telescopic companions.
To the right of Equuleus, towards the west-south-west is the
constellation Delphinus. The upper left-hand star of the rhombus of
stars forming the head of the Delphinus is the star [gamma] Delphini, a
rather easy double (see Plate 5), the components being nearly 12" apart,
their magnitudes 4 and 7, their colours golden yellow and flushed grey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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