The Druids. The Peruvians. Australian savages. Pleiades above." The other half was "the Pleiades below." The rising of the Pleiades at sunset occurs about November 1. On that night was one of the most noteworthy festivals of the Druids, in which they celebrated the destruction and rejuvenation of the world. The sacred fire, which had burned continuously in the temple during the past year, was extinguished, and then the spirits of those who had died during the year embarked in ghostly array in the boats which were to take them to the seat of judgment, where the god of the dead apportioned to each his lot. In the church calendar of to-day November 1 is known as All Saints' Day. The preceding evening is Hallowe'en. The following day is All Souls' Day, and is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church by supplications for the souls of the pious dead. A festival commemorative of the dead is held at this time of year in many parts of the world. The Peruvians visit the tombs of their relatives, to bring food and drink for the departed, and to lament with plaintive songs and weeping. In India the month of November is called the month of the Pleiades, and a Hindu festival of the dead is celebrated about the middle of the month. The Persians once named the month after the angel of death. Australian savages are said still to hold a corroboree" at this season, in honor of the Pleiades, which, say they, "are very good to the black fellows." These occasions are also festivals of the dead; the savages paint white stripes upon their bodies in such fashion that they appear like skeletons, as they execute weird nocturnal dances about their fires. From Prescott's "History of the Conquest of Mexico" we learn that the Mexicans celebrated a great cycle of fifty-two years, the celebration occurring on a November night. There was a tradition that the The Mexicans. world was once destroyed at this time. When the shades of evening fell, and the Pleiades rose, the ceremonies began. As this group of stars approached the zenith a human sacrifice was offered, to avert a repetition of the dreadful calamity. When once the Pleiades had passed the highest point of their course, and were seen to be descending in the west, the gloom and dismay of the people gave place to rejoicing. The names now used for most of the stars of the first magnitude come from Greek or Latin sources, and are significant. Thus Arcturus comes from the Greek, and means "the bear-driver." Antares, the red star in the heart of the Scorpion, shows by its name that it is the rival of Ares (the Greek name for Mars, the ruddy planet). The word Sirius is probably derived from the Greek oɛiptos, and therefore signifies "the scorching one. Quite a number of names were given by the Arabians. Aldebaran signifies "the follower"; it is supposed to have received this designation because it rises shortly after the Pleiades. Altair, "the flying eagle," is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila, the Eagle. Betelgeuse is a modification of the Arabic Ibt-al-jauza, which means "the giant's shoulder" ; the star is located in the shoulder of Orion, the mighty hunter. Stars which had no proper names were, up to the beginning of the seventeenth century, usually designated by referring to their positions in the constellations. Thus we read of the star in the right knee of Boötes, or in the club of Hercules. This inadequate plan is happily no longer in vogue. In 1603 Bayer published a star atlas in which he made. Proper names of stars. The modern system of naming. Flamsteed's numbers. Catalogues. use of the letters of the Greek and Roman alphabets. According to this system the brightest star in the constellation Lyra is called Alpha Lyræ.* The next star in that constellation, in point of brightness, is Beta Lyræ. When the letters of the Greek alphabet have been exhausted, and there remain stars yet unlettered, the Roman alphabet is taken up. If all the letters of the Roman alphabet have been used and there yet remain naked-eye stars which are unnamed, numbers assigned by the astronomer Flamsteed are employed. At present every star visible to the unassisted eye can be referred to by letter or number. The system of numbers is entirely independent of the letters, every star in a given constellation having a number, even though it may have been previously called by a letter. The numbers were not given in order of brightness. When the daily revolution of the stars brought the constellation Taurus to the meridian of Greenwich, the first naked-eye star which crossed the meridian was called by Flamsteed 1 Tauri; the next star was 2 Tauri, etc. The hundreds of thousands of faint stars whose positions have been determined by modern astronomers receive their names from their current numbers in star catalogues. For instance the 1634th star in Lalande's catalogue is known as Lalande 1634. The stars in all modern catalogues are arranged in the order in which they cross the meridian of any place, without reference to the constellations within whose boundaries they lie. What does a modern catalogue tell about each star which it contains? This question cannot well be answered until we learn the meanings of two simple ex Lyra is the genitive case, or, as we would say in English, the possessive case of the Latin word lyra. and declination. pressions, "right ascension" and "declination." These terms are analogous to those used in geography in Right ascension locating places on the earth. As there is a terrestrial equator, so there is a celestial equator, as heretofore explained. As the latitude of a city is its distance, expressed in degrees, from the terrestrial equator, so the declination of a star is its distance from the celestial equator. There is a prime meridian on the earth, e. g., the meridian of Greenwich, from which longitude is reckoned eastward or westward; there is also a certain celestial meridian which passes through the celestial poles, and cuts the celestial equator at a particular point called the "vernal equinox," the location of which we shall explain more particularly hereafter. As the city of Denver has a longitude of seven hours, so some star has a right ascension of seven hours. While longitude on the earth is reckoned either eastward or westward from the principal meridian, the right ascension of a star is reckoned eastward only. In a star catalogue we expect to find three things stated about each star, its right ascension, its declination, and its brightness. An explanation of the method of estimating brightness will be given in the next chapter. The letters of the Greek alphabet are given below, for the benefit of those who may not know them. They will The Greek slip easily into the memory, in the process of learning the alphabet. constellations which are given in the next three chapters. A review. Three constel CHAPTER IV. THE CONSTELLATIONS FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY. "Ye quenchless stars! so eloquently bright, While half the world is lapp'd in downy dreams, -Montgomery. We are now ready to confront the sky for the purpose of getting a hailing acquaintance with the most interesting of the star-groups. For we have already learned something of their origin, of the methods of naming the stars in each constellation, and the way of locating them by right ascension and declination. We have also obtained ideas concerning the apparent daily motion of the star-sphere, and can therefore foresee, to a certain extent, the effect of this motion on the position of a constellation during the successive hours of the night. Every reader will not find time to learn all the constellations described in this and the next two chapters. But every one should form the acquaintance of at least. lations a month. three constellations a month. Therefore the three most conspicuous constellations of those given for each month are named in black letter. One may read the remainder of the book before the constellation work is finished. The work is so arranged that it may be done, a little at a time, during the first six months of the year. the vacation months of summer the pleasant evenings During |