January Sky Review
BT J. HIIr.H PBTirTT
w!?0noJSr' Extension Division
A new year ia with us. anH its
rrival brings a skyful of celes-
uai jewels for the early evening
urmament.
Old Sol is now making his
aauy journey very low across
the south. But Luna will be
rising far north for several eve-
yet. Full moon occues Jan
nary 8. The brilliant nlanet Ju
piter clears the horizon far over
toward the northeast about an
hour after sunset, and is a splen
did object high in the east a
few hours later.
Red Mars is still, consDicu-
ous quite high in thesky some
what west of south as soon as
darkness descends. Mercury is
now too near the sun to be ob
served. .
Two Planets Fairly Well Up'
The early dawn finds two
planets fairly well up in the
southeast. The extremely bril
liant one, now at about its best,
is Venus. It cannot be mistaken
.or overlooked since it far out
shines any star-like body in the
entire sky. It glows like a little
lantern hung on the blue wall
of heaven. A little south of
Venus yellow non-twinkling
Saturn is easily spotted. Note
the red star Antares very low
in the southeast.
For the study of the brighter
evening stars (planets are not
stars) let us observe about 8
p.m. standard time. Over in the
northwest the fine figure of the
Northern Cross is standing up
right. Deneb, at the top of the
figure, is a bright star. A little
below Deneb the crossarm of
the dimmer stars in easilv lo
cated. Then running down al
most to the horizon other faint
stars outline the longer part of
the cross.
Bright Vega Flashing
Almost on the skyline, and to
the right of the Northern Crosn
note the flashing of the bright
Vega m tfte Harp of Orpheus.
And almost overhead the five
stars forming the W of Cassi
opeia are easily SDotted. m
looks more like an M in this
position.)
High in the southeast, the
finest of all star groups, Orion,
the Hunter, rules ,the winter
heavens. Notice the short line
of three moderately orient stars
running down a little to the left
of vertical. This is Orion's belt
Surrounding the belt and form-
mg a large four-sided figure we
find four prominent stars, two
quite bright. The reddish one
above is Betelgeuse in the hunt
er's shoulder; the brilliant white
one below, Rigel. the shoe
buckle.
Sirius Lower
Considerably lower than and
to the left of Orion there scin
tillates brilliant Sirius in the
Big Dog. Somewhat higher and
fanner east, Frocyon m the Lit
tle Dog is prominent. Above
glowing Jupiter in the east Pol
lux and Castor extend upward
in the order mentioned. Verv
high in the east yellow Canella
sparkles. South of Capella 'or
ange Aldebaran is one member
of the V-shaped Hyades. A little
south of overhead the tiny dip
per of the little Pleiades stars
is bewitching.
Is That So?
By Eugen Burns
Ranger-Naturalist
To live in desert and badlands,
animals and plants have made
fantastic adaptations. Surprising
ly, their adjustments have much
in common, as witnes:
To avoid the drying heat of
the sun, many desert animals
spend most of the life below in
the cool, damp earth. Many of
these have become professional
burrowers with limbs wonder
fully well adapted for their un
derground existence.
Likewise, a good share of the
stunted desert plants' existence,
su.cn as the sagebrush, is under
ground. It is not unusual for a
plant only two feet high above
ground to have an enormous
perhaps 20 feet or more into the
network cf roots going down
rerresningly cool, damp ground.
Animals such as the lion, coy
ote, Hyena, desert fox. most in
sects, scorpions and spiders seek
shade or shelter during the heat
of the day when evaDoratibn Ls
at a maximum and become ac
tive, when the comparatively
dew-laden cool night air acts as
a check to evaporation.
- Desert plants of course, can
not find shade but they at least
droop their leaves, turning them
edgewise to the broiling midday.
sun. come evening, their leaves
unfold, blossom open, and their
withheld fragrance is now pour
ed upon the night air when the
night loving insects abound
Do Away With Leaves
Other plants do away with
their leaves entirely and have
thick stems which retard evapo
ration, bpines are frequent.
Just like the sninv cactuses.
many. lizards have developed
tnicK impervious skins. Some
reptiles, like the gila monster,
have spines. Others, thick scales.
Desert beetles have hard wine
covers which form a sheath over
the greater part of the body to
protect against the loss of water.
As a result, like the cactuses,
they do not mind the intense
glare of the daytime sun.
Most desert plants have de
vised methods of storine water
in their thick-skinned stems,
notably tne candlabra-like cac
tuses of Arizona. Likewise many
animals such as tortoises and liz
ards and a few frogs store water
in various organs and cavaties
within their bodies. A better-
known one, of course, is the
camel which drinks deeply when
water is available and then can
live for a considerable time off
the water stored in its body (not
the hump).
In contrast to most broad
leafed trees of the rainy areas,
desert plants give off compara
tively little water through tran
spiration.'
Most Dry Skinned
So. too. few moist-skinned an
imals live in the desert. Most are
dry skinned, such as birds, rep
tiles, some mammals such as an
telope, gazelles and several small
rodents, and many insects. To
all practical purposes, these have
no sweat glands to cool off their
body surfaces.
In areas where there are sea
sonal rains with lone interven
ing dry spells, both plants and
animals crowd tremendous ac
tivity into the short damn sea
son and then become dormant
during the draught or die leav
ing behind them seeds to carry
on tneir speaies. During the
rainy season, some of these
pianis, sucn as the watermelon,
produce succulent leaves anH
sometimes fruits eon ta
siderable amounts of waton re
spite the dry surroundings. Oth
ers senq Duds into the soil, then
die out as the surface dries out.
Other short-lived plants, true
emphemerals. run throueh their
entire life history from seed to
seea with incredible rapidity.
Again, what do animals Ho?
Like the plants, some have a
tremendously accelerated growth
during the rainy season. Their
reproductive stage is reached
rapidly and they lay eggs or re
produce their kind, then bury
themselves in the clav or naked
mud where they become dor
mant during the draught per
haps even for several years as
do some snails, when necessary.
certainly, not unlike the underground-stored
buds. Other ani
mals lay eggs and die thus- de
spite the shortage of food and
water, the species lives on as do
the plants' seeds.
(Copyright 1954, by
Eugene Burns)
(Released by McClure
Newspaper Syndicate)
Free: By special arraneement
with the editors of the Encyclo
pedia Americana, my panel of
judges will award each week to
the reader who sends me ho
best question on nature and
wildlife a complete 30-volume
set of this world-famous refer.
ence work in a handsome Seal
craft binding. Each "week, new
questions will be considered.
Sorry, I simply can't answer
your many friendly letter.
Please address your auestions to-
IS THAT SO, co Medford Mail
Tribune, Box 575, Sausalito
Calif.
Sunday, January I, 1955
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE mi
117 SO. CENTRAL
PHONE 2-6241
President To Recommend
90-Cent Minimum Wage
Augusta, tia. HU.PJ President
Eisenhower will recommend in
his State of the Union message
to Congress on Jan. 6 that the
national minimum wage be in
creased from 75 cents to 90 cents
an hour.
Sen. Wayne Morse (Ind.-Ore.l
recently recommended that the
minimum wage be boosted to $1
an hour.
RENT A New
PIANO or ORGAN
On A Rental-Sales Plan
You may renr a new Baldwin or WurSirzer Piano or a
Hammond Cho;d or Spinet Organ for as long as six
months and have the rental apply on the purchase of
the instrument if you so desire.
PURUCKER PIANO HOUSE
mm
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A-:-
I .i.'
111 North Central
Phone 2-5702