Constellation

“ That brilliant constellation which seems to hang just over one's head in the high altitude of our sagebrush states, held hypnotically the sleepy gaze of Pink, whose duty it was to go on guard when the others turned in for the night. ”

“ As they wander from constellation to constellation the soft light of their placid faces gives a beauty and variety to the spectacle that endears them to us, and at the same time enhances by contrast their own charm and that of the glittering, unchanging stars.
There is nothing that gives one such a sense of sweet familiarity with the heavens as a really recognizing acquaintance with the planets. They are not, like the stars, associated with particular seasons. ”

“ As, through the tranquil and pure evening skies, a sudden fire shoots from time to time, moving the eyes which were at rest, and seems to be a star which changes place, except that from the region where it is kindled nothing is lost, and it lasts short while, so, from the arm which extends on the right, to the foot of that Cross, ran a star of the constellation which is resplendent there. ”

“ As we shall later explain, the constellation is no longer in the sign of the same name.
If you look southward at the sky some night for any particular [Pg 170] constellation you need not expect the stars which form it to stand out separate and distinct, as shown in Figs. 172 and 174; if you do you will be sadly disappointed, for many of the constellations of the zodiac are hard to recognize compared with the Big Dipper, or Orion, or Pegasus.
Fig. 172.—Constellations and Signs of the Zodiac. ”

“ It is a large and important constellation, containing 87 stars, of which one is of the 1st magnitude, four of the 2nd, three of the 3rd, ten of the 4th, etc. It always presents a splendid appearance, and is perhaps, therefore, the best known of all the constellations. ”

“ A knowledge of one constellation enables the student to determine the position of the next in order. In this work, the identification of each constellation depends on a knowledge of what precedes, always bearing in mind the fact that each season starts as a new and distinct part to be taken by itself, and has no bearing on that which comes before. ”

“ There are I believe only three stars of the first magnitude and one of the second, in this constellation, and they form, in fact, not a cross but an irregular quadrilateral. It needs a vivid imagination and the aid of small stars to get even a semblance of a cross out of it. ”

“ It is in one of these constellations that the Sun, Moon and planets are always to be found. [Pg 169]
A good way to find any one of the constellations is by knowing the time when it will be on your meridian, that is the line over your head due north and south, during a given month. Any constellation of the zodiac will be on your meridian at 9 o’clock P. M., during the month given opposite its name in the following table:
To find any constellation during any other month than that given in the last column above subtract two hours for each following month. ”

“ After once recognizing a few of these constellations or beholding through a telescope the glories of a double star or the face of a distant world, one will never again fail through indifference to raise his eyes to the heavens. There is one thing certain—if all the wondrous phenomena of visible stars could be seen on but one of the nights of our long ride about the sun, the civilized world would spend its last cent on glasses and sit up until dawn to feast its eyes on the sublimity of the spectacle. ”

“ The tremendous truth that on a starry night we look, in every direction, into an almost endless vista of suns beyond suns and systems upon systems, was too overwhelming for comprehension by the inventors of the constellations. So they amused themselves, like imaginative children, as they were, by tracing the outlines of men and beasts formed by those pretty lights, the stars. They turned the starry heavens into a scroll filled with pictured stories of mythology. ”

“ Thus the constellations form a pictorial scroll of legendary history and mythology, and possess a deep interest independent of the science of astronomy. For their history and for the legends connected with them, the reader who desires a not too detailed résumé, may consult Astronomy with the Naked Eye, and for guidance in finding the constellations, Astronomy with an Opera-glass, or Round the Year with the Stars. The quickest way to learn the constellations is to engage the aid of some one who knows them already, and can point them out in the sky. ”

“ We have seen from the foregoing summary of the principal Constellations that there is great diversity in the brightness of the stars, and that while our eyes are dazzled with the brilliancy of certain orbs, others, on the contrary, sparkle modestly in the azure depths of the night, and are hardly perceptible to the eye that seeks to plumb the abysses of Immensity. ”

“ Corona Borealis gives the half of a diadem of sparkling jewels.
A knowledge of the constellations, and, if possible, of the curious old myths and legends attaching to them, should form part of the equipment of every educated person; yet very few people can tell one group from another, much less say what constellations are visible at a given hour at any particular season of the year. People who are content merely to gape at the heavens in 'a wonderful clear night of stars' little know how much interest they are losing. ”

“ In some cases the stars regarded as belonging to a constellation form a well-marked group on the sky, sufficiently separated from other stars to be conveniently classed together, although the resemblance which the group bears to the object after which it is named is often very slight. ”

“ With these constellations we finish our review of the celestial wonders that lie within the reach of so humble an instrument as an opera or field-glass. We have made the circuit of the sky, and the hosts that illumine the vernal heavens are now seen advancing from the east, and pressing close upon the brighter squadrons of winter. Their familiar figures resemble the faces of old friends whom we are glad to welcome. These starry acquaintances never grow wearisome. Their interest for us is as fathomless as the deeps of space in which they shine. ”

“ The twelve constellations of the zodiac form an ingenious machine, a great wheel with buckets, which pour into the sun and moon, those shining ships that sail continually through space, the portions of light set free from the world. ”

“ The beginnings of celestial mechanics.—From the earliest dawn of civilization, long before the beginnings of written history, the motions of sun and moon and planets among the stars from constellation to constellation had commanded the attention of thinking men, particularly of the class of priests. The religions of which they were the guardians and teachers stood in closest relations with the movements of the stars, and their own power and influence were increased by a knowledge of them. ”

“ We girls, Winnie Merryman and Claudia Price and I have decided to study the heavens every Friday that it is clear enough, and I’m going to begin a star map right away. You know how it is done? You take an old umbrella and a lot of little paper stars which you stick on the inside of the umbrella in the forms of the constellations. Then when you have learned the constellations you draw them from memory so that in time you learn them all, and can recognize them when you look up. ”

“ When the constellations and the chief stars are learned and kept in memory, the face of the sky becomes instinct with interest, and each successive season brings with it the return of some familiar group which is hailed as one hails an old friend. ”

“ The constellations in all their splendor would circle before their eyes with the revolution of their planet about the sun, and with the exception of the sun itself—which they could see by making a journey to the opposite hemisphere—all the members of the solar system would pass in succession through their mid-heaven, and two of them would present themselves with a magnificence of planetary display unknown on the earth. ”

“ What I now propose to do is to inquire whether we may not find the true figures and proportions of the ancient constellations in another way—viz., not by looking for them among the constellations as at present bounded and figured in our star-maps, but by searching the heavens themselves for them. ”

“ When the winter months begin, the sun is in the constellation of Sagittarius, in the beginning of spring in the constellation of Pisces, in the beginning of summer, in Gemini, and at the commencement of autumn, in the constellation of Virgo. The zodiacal constellations are very important, and to the people in the olden days, the sun's position in front of them was a way to tell the season of the year. ”

“ Orion is the most brilliant of all the constellations, and when he comes to the meridian he is accompanied by several adjacent constellations of great splendour. There is then above the horizon the most glorious view of the celestial bodies that the starry firmament affords ”

“ When stars are clustered together, we say the group is a constellation. All of the starry people and animals are only different constellations. In this group each boy has a star on his head, a star on one knee and a star on [424] one foot, which makes six stars. Trace the twins on cardboard, cut them out together in one piece and punch a hole through the centre of each star. Hold the constellation up to the light, and the group of wee, sparkling stars seen through the pinholes will resemble Fig. ”

“ The beginner will often be troubled in his observations by the presence in some constellation of a brilliant object which outshines all of the stars shown in his charts, and is plainly an interloper among them. He may at once set the stranger down for one of the planets—it may be Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, or Venus, or possibly, if close to the horizon, Mercury. ”

“ The division of the stars into constellations constitutes the uranography or the “geography of the heavens.” The majority of the constellations are very ancient, and their precise origin is unknown, but those which are invisible from the northern hemisphere have all been named since the great exploring expeditions to the south seas. There are more than sixty constellations now generally recognised. Twelve of these belong to the zodiac, and bear the same names as the zodiacal signs, although the precession of the equinoxes has drifted them out of their original relation to the signs. ”

“ The stars in the stream fluctuate with an alien motion. Reversed, estranged, isolated, every shape of large stars escapes and returns, escapes and returns. Fitful in the steady night, those constellations, so few, so whole, and so remote, have a suddenness of gleaming life. You imagine that some unexampled gale might make them seem to shine with such a movement in the veritable sky ”

“ Do they shine thus in the daytime, we are led to wonder, like the constellations in the heavens, though hidden by the greater light of the sun? They are always demonstrative in the night, be it never so cloudy, foggy, or damp in the low latitudes. ”

“ Having fixed the general outlines and location of the constellations in your mind, and learned to recognize the chief stars, take your opera-glass and begin with the constellation Leo and the star Regulus. Contrive to have some convenient rest for your arms in holding the glass, and thus obtain not only comfort but steadiness of vision. A lazy-back chair makes a capital observing-seat. ”

“ These constellations have been known for countless ages, and for our present purposes we may think of them as permanent groups in the heavens, which do not alter either their own shapes or their positions relatively to each other. These groups of stars extend all around the sky. They are not only over our heads and on all sides down to the horizon, but if we could dig a deep hole through the earth, coming out somewhere near New Zealand, and if we then looked through, we should see that there was another vault of stars beneath us. ”

“ In the twinkling of an eye, and faster than the admiring gazer can tell, the stars seem to leap out from their hiding-places. By invisible hands, and in quick succession, the constellations are hung out ”

“ These are the gorgeous constellations set thick with starry gems, the revolving orbs of densely crowded spheres, the systems beyond systems, clusters beyond clusters, and universes beyond universes, all brilliantly glittering with various coloured light, all wheeling and swaying, floating and circling round some distant, unknown, motive, centre-point, in the pauseless measures of a perpetual dance of joy, keeping time and tune with most ecstatic harmony, and producing upon the enthralled mind the not imaginary music of the spheres. ”

“ The eye is as teachable as the hand. Every one knows the most prominent constellations,—the Pleiades, the Great Bear, and Orion. Many persons can draw the figures made by the most brilliant stars in these constellations, and very many young people look for the 'lost Pleiad.' But common observers know these stars only as bright objects; they do not perceive that one star differs from another in glory; much less do they perceive that they shine with differently colored rays. ”

“ Three small constellations lie between Andromeda, Cetus and the Square of Pegasus, and a word about them here will help to impress this part of the sky upon the mind without the trouble of carrying maps every time one feels inclined to gaze at the stars. These constellations are Pisces, the Fish; Triangulum, the Triangle and Aries, the Ram. ”

“ If you observe the Heavens on a fine starry night, and are sufficiently acquainted with the principal stars of the Zodiac as described in a preceding chapter, you may be surprised on certain evenings to see the figure of some zodiacal constellation slightly modified by the temporary presence of a brilliant orb perhaps surpassing in its luminosity the finest stars of the first magnitude. ”