Sky Study 889 



stars in the process of forming. Nebulas are mostly telescopic, although 

 two or three may be detected by the keen, unaided eye as a little blur of 

 light, like that surrounding the third star of Orion's sword. There are 

 eight thousand or more nebulae which have been discovered and mapped. 

 Some idea of their tremendous size is given by Ball when speaking of the 

 ring nebula of Lyra, which we cannot see with the naked eye, and yet if a 

 railroad train started to cross its diameter at the middle, and went at the 

 rate of a mile a minute, one thousand years would not complete the journey. 



The number of stars that may be seen with the unaided eye, if one were 

 to travel from the southern to the northern polar region, would be between 

 six and seven thousand; but it would require very keen eyes to see two 

 thousand at one time. With the help of the telescope, about eight hundred 

 thousand stars have been discovered, classified and catalogued, while 

 photography of the skies reveals millions. It is thought that the new 

 international photographic chart, which shall cover all the space seen from 

 our globe may show thirty millions of stars. The Milky Way or Galaxy, 

 that great, white band across the heavens, is made up of stars which are so 

 far away that we cannot see them, but see only their diffused light. It is 

 well called a "River of Stars" flowing in a circle around our whole solar 

 system; and, except during the spring months, one-half of it may be seen 

 directly above us while the other half is hidden below us. The place of the 

 Milky Way in the heavens seems fixed and eternal; any star within its 

 borders is always seen at the same point. When the Northern Cross lifts 

 itself toward the zenith we are able to see that, near that constellation, the 

 star river divides into three streams with long, blue islands between. 



Reference books There are a large number of excellent text-books and 

 popular books on astronomy. The following are a few which I have used 

 most often: Astronomy for Everybody, Newcomb ; Todd's New Astron- 

 omy; The Friendly Stars, Martin; Starland, Ball; The Stars Through an 

 Opera Glass, Serviss; Other Suns than Ours, Proctor; Other Worlds 

 than Ours, Proctor. 



For children Earth and Sky, Holden ; Stories of Starland, Proctor; The 

 Children's Book of Stars, G. E. Mitton ; Storyland of the Stars, Pratt ; Stars 

 in Song and Legend, Porter; The Planisphere, Thos. Whittaker. 



HOW TO BEGIN STAR STUDY 

 THE POLE-STAR AND THE DIPPERS 



Teacher's Story 



The way to begin star study is to learn to know the Big Dipper, and 

 through its pointers to distinguish the Pole-star; for whenever we try to 

 find any star we have to find the Big Dipper and Pole-star first so as to have 

 some fixed point to start from. There are four stars in the bowl of the Big 

 Dipper and three in the curved handle. A line drawn through the outer 

 two stars of the bowl, if extended, will touch the North Star, or Pole-star. 

 It is very important for us to know the Pole-star, because the northern end 

 of the earth's axis is directed toward it, and it is therefore situated in the 

 heavens almost directly above our North Pole. For those of us who live in 

 the northern Hemisphere, the North Star never sets, but is always in our 

 sky. Of course, the North Star has nothing to do with the axis of our earth 



