ASTRONOMY WITH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



201 



Berenice's Hair. 



yond the reach of an opera-glass, but it is worth while to know where 

 this curious region is, even if we can not behold the wonders it con- 

 tains. The stars Omicron (o), Pi (tt), etc., forming a little group, 

 mark the head of Virgo. 



The constellation Libra, lying between Virgo and Scorpio, does not 

 contain much to attract our attention. Its two chief stars, a and (3, 

 may be readily recognized west 

 of and above the head of Scor- 

 pio. The upper one of the two, 

 /3, has a singular greenish tint, 

 and the lower one, a, is a very 

 pretty double for an opera-glass. 



Just north of Virgo's head 

 will be seen the glimmering of 

 Berenice's Hair. This little con- 

 stellation was included among 

 those described in the article on 

 " The Stars of Spring," but it is 

 worth looking at again in the 

 early summer, on moonless nights, 

 and we give here a picture of its 

 stars as seen with a good glass. The singular arrangement of the 

 brighter members of the cluster at once strikes the eye. 



Bootes, Avhose leading brilliant, Arcturus, occupies the center of 

 our map, also possesses a curious mythical history. It was called by 

 the Greeks the Bear-Driver, because it seems continually to chase 

 Ursa Major, the Great Bear, in his path around the pole. The story 

 is that Bootes was the son of the nymph Calisto, whom Juno in one 

 of her customary fits of jealousy turned into a bear. Bootes, who 

 had become a famous hunter, one day roused a bear from her lair, and 

 not knowing that it was his mother, was about to kill her, when Jupi- 

 ter came to the rescue and snatched them both up into the sky, where 

 they have shone ever since. How this story remained in men's minds 

 is shown by Lucan's reference to it when, describing Brutus's visit 

 to Cato at night, he fixes the time by the position of these constel- 

 lations in the heavens : 



'"Twas when the solemn dead of night came on, 

 "When bright Calisto, with her shining son, 

 Now half the circle round the pole had run. 1 ' 



Bootes is not specially interesting for our purposes, except for the 

 splendor of Arcturus. This star has possessed a peculiar charm for 

 me ever since boyhood, when, having read a description of it in an 

 old treatise on Uranography I felt an eager desire to see it. As my 

 search for it chanced to begin at a season when Arcturus did not rise 

 till after a boy's bed-time, I was for a long time disappointed, and I 



