512 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



whose commingled scintillations form a celestial illumination of sin- 

 gular splendor. 



" Thus graced and armed lie leads the starry host." 



By the time Orion has chased the Bull half-way up the eastern 

 slope of the firmament, the peerless Dog-Star, Sirius, is flaming at the 

 edge of the horizon, while farther north glitters Procyon, the Little 

 Dog-Star, and still higher are seen the twin stars in Gemini. When 

 these constellations have advanced well toward the meridian, as shown 

 in our circular Map No. 1, their united radiance forms a scene never 

 to be forgotten. Counting one of the stars in Gemini as of the first 

 rank, there are no less than seven first-magnitude stars ranged around 

 one another in a way that can not fail to attract the attention and the 

 admiration of the most careless observer. Aldebaran, Capella, the 

 Twins, Procyon, Sirius, and Rigel mark the angles of a huge hexagon, 

 while Betelgeuse shines with ruddy beauty not far from the center of 

 the figure. The heavens contain no other naked-eye view comparable 

 with this great an-ay, not even the glorious celestial region where the 

 Southern Cross shines supreme, being equal to it in splendor. 



To counterbalance the discomforts of winter observations of the 

 stars, the observer finds that the softer skies of summer have no such 

 marvellous brilliants to dazzle his eyes as those that illumine the hy- 

 emal heavens. To comprehend the real glories of the celestial sphere 

 in the depth of winter one should spend a few clear nights in the rural 

 districts of New York or New England, when the hills, clad with spark- 

 ling blankets of crusted snow, reflect the glitter of the living sky. In 

 the pure frosty air the stars seem splintered and multiplied indefinitely, 

 and the brighter ones shine with a splendor of light and color unknown 

 to the denizen of the smoky city, whose eyes are dulled and blinded 

 by the glare of street-lights. There one may detect the delicate shade 

 of green that lurks in the imperial blaze of Sirius, the beautiful rose- 

 red light of Aldebaran, the rich orange hue of Betelgeuse, the blue- 

 white radiance of Rigel, and the pearly luster of Capella. If you have 

 never seen the starry heavens except as they appear from city streets 

 and squares, then, I had almost said, you have never seen them at all, 

 and especially in the winter is this true. I wish I could describe to 

 you the impression that they can make upon the opening mind of a 

 country boy, who, knowing as yet nothing of the little great world 

 around him, stands in the yawning silence of night and beholds the 

 inimitably great world above him, looking deeper than thought can 

 go into the shining vistas of the universe, and overwhelmed with the 

 wonder of those marshaled suns. i 



Looking, now, at Map No. 1, we see the heavens as they appear at 

 midnight on the 1st of December, at 10 o'clock p. m. on the 1st of Jan- 

 uary, and at 8 o'clock p. m. on the 1st of February. In the western 

 half of the sky we recognize Andromeda, Pegasus, Pisces, Cetus, Aries, 



