898 Handbook of Nature-Study 



story found in literature, that once the unaided eye could see seven 

 instead of six stars in the Pleiades, and much poetic imagining has been 

 developed to account for the "lost Pleiad." 



LESSON CCXXVIII 

 ALDEBARAN AND THE PLEIADES 



Leading thought The Pleiades seem to be a little misty group of six 

 stars, but instead there are in it three thousand stars. Half way between 

 the Pleiades and Orion's belt is Aldebaran, an ageing ruddy star. 



Method Draw the diagram (p. 895) on the blackboard showing Orion, 

 Aldebaran and the Pleiades, and the lines B, C, D. Give an outline of 

 the observations to be made by the pupils, and let them work out the 

 answers when they have opportunity. Each pupil should prepare a chart 

 of these constellations. 



Observations i. Imagine a line drawn from Rigel to Betelgeuse and 

 then another line just as long extending to the west of the latter at a little 

 less than a right angle, and it will end in a bright, rosy star, not so red as 

 Betelgeuse. 



2. What is the name of this star ? Write it on your chart. 



3 . Can you see the figure V formed by Aldebaran and four fainter stars ? 

 Sketch the V and show where in it Aldebaran belongs. This V-shaped 

 constellation is called the Hyades. 



4. Imagine a line drawn from Orion's belt to Aldebaran and extend it 

 to not quite an equal length beyond it, and it will end near a "fuzzy little 

 bunch" of stars which are called the Pleiades. Place the Pleiades on your 

 chart. 



5. How many stars can you see in the Pleiades? 



6. Why are they called the seven sisters? 



7. How many stars in the Pleiades which are named, and how many 

 does photography show that there really are in the group? 



8. How far apart from each other are the nearest neighbors of the 

 Pleiades ? 



9. What do the astronomers think about the Pleiades and why do they 

 think this? 



THE TWO DOG STARS, SIRIUS AND PROCYON 



Teacher's Story 



If a line from Aldebaran pass through the belt of Orion and is extended 

 about as far on the other side, it will reach the Great Dog Star, following at 

 Orion's heels. This is Sirius, (Sir'-e-us) the most brilliant of all the stars in 

 our skies, glinting with ever changing colors, sometimes blue, at others rosy 

 or white. It must have been of this star that Browning wrote : 



"All that I know 

 Of, a certain star 

 Is, it can throw 

 (Like the angled spar) 

 Now a dart of red, 

 Now a dart of blue." 



