it was a calm, still, moonless night, which closed in with raven wings a glorious sunset in the south atlantic ocean. the gay clouds, in brilliant dress, that hung about the sun as he glowed to his evening rest, had gradually changed their garments for those of more sombre hues; and then, as gradually, had changed from mountain shapes to feathery forms, till softening night dissolved them into invisible vapour.
the stars came stealthily forth; a few bolder ones rushing first to the front, while the more modest stars feared to show themselves till the last sign of daylight fled.
first, second, third, fourth, and other magnitudes thus successively gleamed from the cloudless arch, above and around the boy.
after a time he said—
“why were the ram, bull, lion, scorpion and others so called? i have often wondered at their odd names, and have tried to make out a bear in the great bear, or a dog about the stars near sirius, but never could see any resemblance to the animals.
i don’t wonder at your surprise. some learned astronomers of our day pretend that the ancients by the nile and euphrates had no meaning in the names they gave to the constellations. this is not likely, especially as we know that the signs of the zodiac were pictured in their temples.
[pg 42]but who gave the names to the other stars that are not signs of the zodiac?
the ancients. but it is time now to sleep away all thought of the stars in the care of him who cares for the stars.”
during the night our young friend had a disturbed rest. the constellations kept circling round him; while lions, bulls, fish and crabs were mingled, in strange confusion. they glared at him with their hollow eyes till the boy was quite frightened, and cried out in his sleep.
the morning sun awoke the boy, and put to flight the stars. when sweet evening came the twinkling lights stole forth again, and the astronomical dialogue was renewed by james.
“please, father, i want to know the various constellations.
we will class them, my son, into north polar, south polar, and equatorial.
the north polar star, at the end of the little bear’s tail, is a capital guide for the north pole; but i don’t see any little bear southward, walking round his tail-tip, like a horse tethered in a paddock, so that i may discover the south pole.
no, we have not a south polar star, and no bright stars at all near the south pole of the heavens.
let us have a little more about the zodiac first, father. i know the twelve signs are constellations[pg 43] over the tropics; but i don’t know why you call them the zodiac.
zodiac is from a greek word, meaning a small figure of an animal, as they are nearly all animal figures.
how many northern and southern constellations are there?
in the ancient celestial atlases we find twenty-one northern and fifteen southern, besides the zodiac; then more were added of new ones named or old ones subdivided, till we have, including the zodiac, sixty-two northern and fifty-five southern constellations.
of course, the old astronomers of egypt and babylon could not have seen all the south polar stars?
we should hardly fancy it. strange tricks have been played with the names of the constellations. only think of english writers, sixty years ago, wanting to have your orion called nelson; and the university of leipsic, to please the french emperor, proposed to steal the belt and sword from orion, and call them the constellation of napoleon.
i am glad they didn’t, though. but how is the line drawn to distinguish the spaces of the constellations?
their sizes vary. orion, for instance, takes up a great space in the heavens, while others occupy little room.
how many stars go to make up a constellation?
you mean those seen by the naked eye. these differ in number. i will run over some[pg 44] of the zodiac. aries has 66, taurus 141, gemini 83, cancer 85, leo 95, virgo 110, libra 51, scorpio 44, sagittarius 69, capricornus 51, aquarius 108, pisces 113.
but there must be a lot more seen in them by the telescope.
yes. the six stars of the pleiades turn out to be 188. in orion there are 2000 stars easily distinguished. your three in the belt are 80, and the star in the sword you find to be a dozen.
will you kindly show me, dear father, how i can find the south pole of the heavens, as there is no bright star near it?
i will try and give you a rough chart. look at the southern cross. draw an imaginary line from the top star through the one at the foot; and four times that distance in the same line will bring you to the south pole of the heavens.
yes; and if i had that point over my head i should be where no one else has been—at the south pole of the earth. now i have my centre, i would like to describe a circle at the distance of the cross and know the stars inside of it.
begin, then. look at the two bright ones pointing toward the cross beside it. they are the pointers to the cross. a lot of bright stars together, on the other side of the cross, are in the ship, argo. follow on the circumference that way, and you arrive at a large star, a little north of our course, called canopus. from the cross to canopus is one-quarter[pg 45] of the circle round the pole, and it is filled up with the ship.
what a ship!
it goes northward, too, to sirius, the dog-star. canopus is half-way between sirius and the south pole, and is in the line between the two.
that is a capital point, for i know them.
south of the ship, between it and the pole, are the little flying fish. the table mountain and chameleon, with feeble stars, are between the fish, again, and the poles.
now i have that quarter of the circle, well.
keep on to the right, still away from the cross and beyond canopus, nearly as far again, and you see a bright star in our circle, which is called achernar, at the bottom of the long river po.
not the italian river, but the celestial one.
that heavenly stream runs northward to orion. now, between canopus and achernar we see but few stars, although we pass the constellations of the painter’s easel, rhomboidal net, and clock. between achernar and the pole are the tiny stars of the little hydra. but between the little hydra and the flying fish, resting like on the table mountain, is the beautiful nubecular major, the great magellanic cloud.
now i know where i am again. the rhomboidal net is on one side of the cloud, and the flying fish on the other. the table by the pole is south of it. but what is north of it,[pg 46] for canopus is not quite in a line with the cloud and the pole?
the sword fish is on the cloud. but go again to achernar, and draw a line thence to the pole.
why, it goes right through the little magellanic cloud.
that cloud is between the hydra and the toucan. that bird’s head beyond achernar is in our circumference of the cross. a little further on that round line is the bright star in the peacock’s head; though the indian, with his arrows, stands between the peacock and the toucan.
the very place for a hunter. but go on, please, for you are fast completing the circle, by getting back to the cross.
the end of the peacock’s tail brings us three-fourths round; and above it, from the pole, is the southern crown.
i see it; but it ought to hang over something better than a peacock’s tail.
it so happens that the telescope comes between them. below the peacock, and close round the south pole, is the constellation octant. now for the last quarter, between the cross and the peacock.
i know part of that—the cross’s pointers. but what are those three stars a little below the pointers, toward the peacock?
they are the southern triangle. between the cross and the pole is the fly; while between the triangle and the pole is the bird of paradise.
[pg 47]what a cold place to put so delicate a bird! but to what constellation do the two pointers to the cross belong?
to the centaur’s two fore feet. the last of my circumpolar stars are those of the altar, lying north of the triangle, a little to the left of the pointers. you may see them on the edge of the milky way—two stars close together, and four others to the right further apart. the compasses, hardly to be noticed, are between the altar and the pointers.”
this was a long lesson, requiring much study afterwards. when mr. marple thought the lad knew the southern stars near the pole, he was ready to advance with the constellations again, and proposed to take a fresh round.
“we will,” said he, “take another sweep round the heavens, embracing the space between our old circle of the cross and that over the equator, though i will not take equatorial stars now.
may we begin at the crown, father?
between the cross and crown is the altar. north of and near the crown is sagittarius the archer, beside which is the scorpion.
how can i tell that?
the scorpion has a line of bright stars coming down south to the altar, with a twist like a curl in its tail.
what is that bright red star at the upper end of it?
[pg 48]antares of the scorpion. the bright star near it further north is in the libra or scales. the fine star as far from the pointers as they are from the pole is in the shoulder of the centaur, half horse and half man.
is he fighting anything?
yes; he is running his spear through the mouth of the wolf, which is stretched between antares and the pointers. the centaur comes down to the cross, and goes up north to the great hydra, on which the crow is perched.
what a beautiful star that is over centaur, about twice as far from the cross as that from the pole!
that is spica in the virgin, close to the crow. that makes up one quarter of our second circle. looking still to the right, and north of the cross, do you see any good-sized stars?
no, father, there is nothing worth looking at for the next quarter beyond the cross and ship till we get to sirius.
yet there are the pneumatic pump and the mariner’s compass. the great hydra stretches itself all from the scorpion, under the crow, the cup, and the sextant, from near antares to canis minor, the little dog.
where is the little dog?
to understand that we must go on to our third quarter of the circle. you know sirius and the three starred belt of orion. the belt is exactly over the equator. the three stars lead you down south to sirius, and a line at right angles brings you to procyon of the[pg 49] little dog, which thus forms a triangle with sirius and the belt. get the pole, canopus, and sirius in a line, and a little further to the north, on the one side you have the belt, and on the other procyon.
though i see no stars of any consequence between the great and little dogs, is there any constellation there?
monoceros, the unicorn, keeps them apart. the hare and noah’s dove are on the other side of canis major. they are both south of orion. in the dove, a little out of the line half-way from canopus to sirius, is the pretty phact. the five stars in a line between canopus and sirius are in canis major, the great dog constellation.
what a gay show of stars between the pole and orion! but what a blank beyond to the right. i see one, however, opposite to sirius, forming a parallelogram with it, the belt, and phact.
that is zaurack, in the river po; and the great space beyond that, to the right, far north of achernar, is cetus the whale. the star menkar or menhab, a little north of zaurack, is in the whale’s head, while diphda is in its tail. achernar is about half-way from diphda to the pole. between the two are the chemical furnace, the sculptor, and the ph?nix.
i don’t care about these. have you not nearly got round, father?
the last quarter of our circle lies between the southern crown and the whale’s tail.
[pg 50]that will be north of the peacock and indian. what is the bright star between the whale’s tail and achernar?
the head of the ph?nix. and forming a triangle with it and the tail is the noble fomalhaut of the southern fish, under the sign pisces and near the toe of aquarius. the goat capricornus is to the right of fomalhaut.
why, there is nothing hardly between fomalhaut and the crown.
between the peacock and the crown are the two stars close together, forming the foot of sagittarius, whose body stretches from the crown to capricornus; while the crane and the microscope lie between the peacock and fomalhaut.
it would require a good telescope to see that faint-looking microscope.
you will see seven stars in a line, left of the peacock, dipping down toward the pole—these form the crane.
and a long-necked fellow it is, too.”
another rest was necessary here, to enable james to connect in his mind the last collection of constellations with his circumpolar ones. his father then took him to those about the equator and north of it, and thus introduced him to the twelve signs of the zodiac.
“you have learned, my dear boy, the names of these signs; i want now to teach you their positions.
[pg 51]yes; i would like to know how big the bull is. do his horns poke the polar star, while he hangs his tail over the equator?
our bull is a funny one, for he has no tail, because he has no hind quarters. if he reached from the pole to the equator, a few bulls would fill up the sky, and leave no room for bears, swans, hunters, and other creatures up there. now look at the orion’s belt, and run down the line of the three stars as you did to sirius, but in the opposite direction, as far north as the other is south.
i have it—a beautiful star between the belt and the pretty pleiades.
that is aldebaran, the bull’s eye. your pleiades are in the bull’s neck. the hyades are the cluster near the eye.
what is the great star, a little out of the road, between aldebaran and the belt?
that is betelgeux, in the shoulder of orion, who is looking up to the bull. betelgeux is on the north side of the belt; and rigel, of orion’s heel, is at the same distance to the south of the belt. aldebaran, rigel, and menkar, of the whale’s nose, form an equilateral triangle.
aries the ram is to the right of the bull, near where his tail should be, and orion is to the left or east, but a little southerly. but now for the twins.
are they the two right north of procyon, and forming the corner of a right-angled triangle with betelgeux and procyon?
they are the twins, castor and pollux,[pg 52] though the latter is the larger. cancer the crab is to the left of the twins.
i cannot see so much as the claw of him. but i see a splendid star further to the left, with procyon between it and the belt.
that is regulus in leo the lion. it is one of his forepaws, and beyond to the left is deneb, of the lion’s tail. the little lion is north of leo, and between it and the great bear, the favourite constellation of england.
virgo the virgin should come next. i can see spica, which is twice as far from the cross northward as the cross is from the pole.
spica is in the ear of corn held in the virgin’s hand. the virgin’s head touches the lion’s tail at deneb.
what a tall lady she must be! but what is that staring star forming the head of a triangle with deneb and spica?
the arcturus of job, in the knee of bootes the husbandman, standing on mount m?nalus. the small stars between arcturus and deneb are in the hair of berenice. the northern crown, between hercules and bootes, is seen nearly overhead in england.
you have got a long way from us now, father. please come back to the virgin.
well, then, you know the southern crown, at any rate. sagittarius is right over it northward, while antares of scorpio is to the right a little.
the stars of libra the balance must be somewhere between spica and antares, i suppose.
[pg 53]the two stars together in the equator, just north of scorpio, are in the old man ophiuchus, who is south of hercules. there is a serpent on each side of him.
what nice company!
yes, with the club of hercules shaking over his head, and poniatowski’s bull ready to toss his shoulder. but he has the shield of the polish hero sobieski behind him, which hangs, too, over the head of sagittarius.
how shall i find aquarius?
he has his foot on fomalhaut, he leans back on capricornus, and has pisces, the fishes, on the other side.
what is the great star north of capricornus?
that is altair, in aquila the eagle, whose wings are spread over the equator. aquila is between ophiuchus and aquarius.
as we have got over aquarius, and come to pisces, which are over cetus the whale, i suppose we are at aries again.
we are. but i should like you to know that pegasus, the flying horse, is over aquarius, and that the swan and lyre are between that and hercules, and north of the eagle. taking a line from the south pole through the whale’s tail, we have a bright star in the back of pegasus, called algenib, not far from the junction of the equator and ecliptic in pisces.
the star beyond algenib, further north, is larger, though.
alpherat is its name, and it is one of the eyes of andromeda, the lady with the chains on her hands.
[pg 54]o, i know all about that story, father. the ancients said she was fastened to a rock in the sea, and a monster was gnawing at her. but a warrior, called perseus, came with his sword and delivered her.
then, as you have andromeda’s eye, you can fancy the zodiacal fish biting her, and perseus with his sword to the left. there is a triangle between aries and andromeda.
what a dazzling star that is, forming the north corner of a triangle with aldebaran and the twins.
yes, capella, or the little kid, in the arms of auriga, is certainly very fine. auriga’s foot is on the bull’s head. half-way from alpherat of andromeda to capella, is medusa’s head, just over the pleiades.
we have gone round, i think, father, but i do wish i could see the old bear again.
you have only to imagine yourself following out a line from the belt through castor and pollux.
yes, but i should have to dive down into the ocean to reach his claws.”
