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Pole, while Polaris is practically one degree, and still approaching,
so that in two centuries it will be less by half ! Polaris is
conspicuous as the tip of the Little Dipper's handle, toward which
Alpha and Omega in the bowl of the Great Dipper always * point,
as do the eyes of every northern navigator on the globe. English
captains who sail the Seven Seas refer to these figures by their
scientific appellations Ursa Major and Minor, Big and Little Bear,
not seeming to recognize the interesting dipper figures, though ac-
cepted by every school-boy in the United States.
Across the Milky Way from is yega another of first-magnitude,
Altair, in Aquila, the Eagle, easily distinguished by a faint equidistant
star on either hand, while slightly northwest of Altair is that
small architectural lozenge called Job's Coffin. Between Altair and
Vega, lying in the Milky Way, which greatly enhances its splendor,
with head pointing north, is the immense Northern Cross. Many
prefer this to the Southern Cross because of its great size and perfect
symmetry, though of its eight stars there is but one bright one
Deneb, at the top. A line drawn from Altair to Arcturus passes
through the Northern Crown, a sparkling diadem of five small stars
with a larger gem appropriately in the centre.
South of Cassiopeia, that circumpolar constellation in the form
of an open W, a line of stars leads to the great square of Pegasus,
the Flying Horse, the whole thing not unlike a deep, long-handled
sauce-pan. You can also witness in September the closing moments
of Scorpio, which soon migrates, like the birds, to the south.
It is easily identified by its stunning first-magnitude star Antares,
which in its great size and red fire rivals the planet Mars whence
its name, anti-Mars. East of Scorpio you run against Sagittarius,
the Archer, six of whose small stars form an inverted dipper perfect
in shape and because in the Milky Way known as the Milk
Dipper, while east of Sagittarius you can distinguish the three pairs
of small stars representing the head, tail and knees of the goat in
Capricorn, and still farther east looming above the horizon is Fomalhaut,
the eighteenth first-magnitude on the list. Near Fomalhaut
this September is Jupiter, glorious as Venus at her best, but minus
her soft golden light sharper, more electric, more masculine !
In December comes the greatest display of all : glorious Orion,
the Mighty Hunter, one mass of splendid gems, on knee, belt, shoulders,
and along his sword ; Aldebaran, red as Antares, in the head of
Castor and Pollux, the Twins, Procyon, the Dog Star, and
Taurus ;
Capella, queen of pentagonal Auriga to say nothing of that finest
"Jager" of them all, blue-white Sirius. No section of the heavens
from Arctic to Antarctic is so rich and dazzling. In February this
galaxy will be followed at a respectful distance by Regulus, in Leo,
sometimes called the Lion's Heart. While not a first-magnitude
star, Regulus is notably beautiful and advantageously set in the
handle of one of the most perfect figures in the firmament, the
Sickle.
Each one of these now familiar friends I annexed laboriously,
unable to get for love or money any aid beyond this old-time text-
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