A Field Book of the Stars. William Tyler Olcott
formed by Castor, Aldebaran in Taurus, and Capella in Auriga. There is a record of an occultation in Gemini noted about the middle of the fourth century b.c.
The Arabs saw in this group of stars two peacocks, the Egyptians two sprouting plants, and the Hindus twin deities, while in the Buddhist zodiac they represented a woman holding a golden cord. Since classic times, however, the figure has always been that of human twins.
At the point indicated near θ a new star was discovered by Enebo in March, 1912. It attained a maximum of about magnitude 3.5 and has at this writing waned to the eleventh magnitude.
AURIGA (â-ri´-ga)—THE CHARIOTEER. (Face Northwest.)
Location.—A line drawn from δ to α Ursæ Majoris, and prolonged about 45°, ends near the bright Capella, in Auriga, a star of the first magnitude, and one of the most brilliant in the heavens. It is unmistakable, having no rival in brightness near it. Auriga is a beautiful and conspicuous constellation. It is characterized by a clearly defined pentagon. Note the three fourth-magnitude stars near Capella known as "The Kids." The star β is common to Auriga and Taurus, being the former's right foot and the latter's northern horn. The field within the pentagon is particularly rich in clusters. Capella forms a rude square with Polaris, ε Cassiopeiæ, and ο Ursæ Majoris, and forms an equilateral triangle with Betelgeuze in Orion, and the Pleiades in Taurus.
A line from θ to α Aurigæ prolonged about 20° ends near α Persei.
Capella is visible at some hour of every clear night throughout the year. Of the first-magnitude stars it is nearest to the Pole, and it rises almost exactly in the northeast.
To the Arabs Capella was "The Driver," because it seemed to rise earlier than the other stars and so apparently watched over them, or still more practically as "The Singer" who rode before the procession cheering on the camels, which last were represented by the Pleiades.
CANCER (kan´-ser)—THE CRAB. (Face West.)
Location.—Cancer lies between Gemini and Leo. A line drawn from Nath in Auriga to Pollux in Gemini, and prolonged about 15°, ends in Præsepe, the Manger, the great star cluster in Cancer, which is also called "The Bee Hive." It contains 300 stars. The stars γ and δ are called the Aselli—the ass's colts feeding from the silver manger.
The star β lies about 10° northeast of Procyon. Acubens, α lies on the same line the same distance beyond β. These two stars form the tips of the inverted "Y" which distinguishes Cancer.
An imaginary line from Capella through Pollux will point out Acubens. Close to it are two faint stars. The Bee Hive lies within an irregular square formed by γ, δ, η, and θ, and looks like a nebula to the naked eye.
In June, 1895, all the planets except Neptune were in this quarter of the heavens, and Halley's comet was in this constellation on its first appearance in 1531.
The dimness of γ and δ is an infallible precursor of rain, and if the Bee Hive is not visible in a clear sky, it is a presage of a violent storm.
HYDRA (hi´-dra)—THE SEA-SERPENT. (Face South and Southwest.)
Location.—The head of Hydra, a striking and beautiful arrangement of stars, lies just below the Bee Hive, in Cancer, 6° south of Acubens in that constellation, and forms a rhomboidal figure of five stars.
Hydra is about 100° in length and reaches almost from Canis Minor to Libra. Its stars are all faint except Alphard, or the Hydra's heart, a second-magnitude star remarkable for its lonely situation, southwest of Regulus, in Leo. A line drawn from γ Leonis through Regulus points it out. It is of a rich orange tint. Castor and Pollux, in Gemini, point southeast to it.
The constellations Crater, the Cup, and Corvus, the Crow, both stand on the coils of Hydra, south of Denebola, the bright star in the tail of the Lion.
Hydra is supposed to be the snake shown on a uranographic stone from the Euphrates, 1200 b.c.
The little asterism Sextans, the Sextant, lies in the region between Regulus and Alphard. It contains no stars brighter than the fourth magnitude.
LEO (le´o)—THE LION. (Face South.)
Location.—A line drawn from Pollux, in Gemini, to γ in Cancer, and prolonged about 12°, strikes Regulus, the brilliant star in the heart of the Lion. Regulus lies about 9° east of Acubens, in Cancer, and about 12° northeast of Alphard, in the heart of Hydra.
Leo is one of the most beautiful constellations in the zodiac. It lies south of the Great Bear, and its principal stars are arranged in the form of a sickle which nearly outlines the Lion's head. This group is so striking as to be unmistakable. Regulus is in the handle of the sickle. It is one of the stars from which longitude is reckoned, lies almost exactly on the ecliptic, and is visible for eight months in the year.
Denebola, the bright star in the Lion's tail, lies 25° east of Regulus, and about 35° west of Arcturus, in Boötes. It is the same distance northwest of Spica, in Virgo, and forms with Spica and Arcturus a large equilateral triangle.
ζ is double, and has three faint companion stars.
ε has two seventh-magnitude companion stars, forming a beautiful little triangle.
Regulus is white in color, γ yellow, π red.
γ is a beautiful colored telescopic double star and has a companion visible in an opera-glass.
The figure of Leo very much as we now have it appears in all the Indian and Egyptian zodiacs.
COMA BERENICES (kō´-ma ber-e-ni´-sez)—BERENICE'S HAIR.
Location.—A line drawn from Regulus to Zosma, in Leo, and prolonged an equal distance, strikes this fine cluster, which is 18° northeast of Zosma, δ Leonis.
The group lies well within a triangle formed by Denebola, Arcturus, in Boötes, and Cor Caroli, in Canes Venatici, which triangle is the upper half of the Diamond of Virgo.
Twenty or thirty stars in this group can be counted with an opera-glass, and the group can be easily distinguished with the naked eye, when the moon is not visible.
The first half of the month of April can be called the most brilliant sidereal period of the year. At this time eleven first-magnitude stars are visible in this latitude at 9 p.m. From east to west they are: Vega, Arcturus,