utumn weighs
The year, and adds to nights and shortens days,
And suns declining shine with feeble rays."--DRYDEN'S VIRGIL.

[Illustration: MAP NO. 22.]

The eastern end of Pisces, represented in map No. 22, includes most of
the interesting telescopic objects that the constellation contains. We
begin our exploration at the star numbered 55, a double that is very
beautiful when viewed with the three-inch glass. The components are of
magnitudes five and eight, distance 6.6", p. 192 deg.. The larger star is
yellow and the smaller deep blue. The star 65, while lacking the
peculiar charm of contrasted colors so finely displayed in 55, possesses
an attraction in the equality of its components which are both of the
sixth magnitude and milk-white. The distance is 4.5", p. 118 deg.. In 66 we
find a swift binary whose components are at present far too close for
any except the largest telescopes. The distance in 1894 was only 0.36",
p. 329 deg.. The magnitudes are six and seven. In contrast with this
excessively close double is psi, whose components are both of magnitude
five and a half, distance 30", p. 160 deg.. Dropping down to 77 we come upon
another very wide and pleasing double, magnitudes six and seven,
distance 33", p. 82 deg., colors white and lilac or pale blue. Hardly less
beautiful is zeta magnitudes five and six, distance 24", p. 64 deg.. Finest
of all is alpha, which exhibits a remarkable color contrast, the larger
star being greenish and the smaller blue. The magnitudes are four and
five, distance 3", p. 320 deg.. This star is a binary, but the motion is
slow. The variable R ranges between magnitudes seven and thirteen,
period three hundred and forty-four days.

The constellation Aries contains several beautiful doubles, all but one
of which are easy for our smallest aperture. The most striking of these
is gamma, which is historically interesting as the first double star
discovered. The discovery was made by Robert Hooke in 1664 by accident,
while he was following the comet of that year with his telescope. He
expressed great surprise on noticing that the glass divided the star,
and remarked that he had not met with a like instance in all the
heavens. His observations could not have been very extensive or very
carefully conducted, for there are many double stars much wider than
gamma Arietis which Hooke could certainly have separated if he had
examined them. The magnitudes of the components of gamma are four and