5i8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Upon turning the eye back from Rigel to Aldebaran the peculiar color 

 of the latter is readily perceived. Spectroscopic analysis has revealed 

 the presence in Aldebaran of hydrogen, sodium, magnesium, calcium, 

 iron, bismuth, tellurium, antimony, and mercury. And so modern dis- 

 coveries, while they have pushed back the stars to distances of which 

 the ancients could not conceive, have, at the same time, and equally, 

 widened the boundaries of the physical universe and abolished forever 

 the ancient distinction between the heavens and the earth. It is a 

 plain road from the earth to the stars, though mortal feet can not 

 tread it. 



Keeping in mind that in our little ])icture of the Hyades the top is 

 north, the right hand west, and left hand east, the reader will be able 



to identify the princi- 

 pal stars in the group. 

 Aldebaran is readily 

 recognized, because it 

 is the largest of all. 

 The bright star near 

 the u])i)er edge of the 

 picture is Epsilon Tau- 

 ri, and its sister star, 

 forming the point of 

 the V, is Gamma Tauri. 

 The three brightest 

 stars between Epsilon 

 and Gamma, forming 

 a little group, are the 

 Deltas, while the pair 

 of stars surrounded by 

 man 3^ smaller ones, half- 

 '^^^ ^^^°'=^- way between Aldeba- 



ran and Gamma, are the Thetas. These stars present a very pretty- 

 appearance, viewed with a good glass, the effect being heightened by 

 a contrast of color in the two Thetas. The little pair southeast of 

 Aldebaran, called the Sigmas, is also a beautiful object. The distance 

 apart of these stars is about seven minutes of arc, while the distance 

 between the two Thetas is about five and a half minutes of arc. These 

 measures may be useful to the reader in estimating the distances be- 

 tween other stars that he may observe. It will also be found an inter- 

 esting test of the eye-sight to endeavor to see these stars as doubles 

 with the unaided eye. Persons having keen eyes will be able to 

 do this. 



North of the star Epsilon will be seen a little group in the ear of 

 the Bull (see cut, "The Golden Horns of Taurus"), which presents a 

 brilliant appearanoo Avith a small glass. The southernmost pair in 

 the group are the Kappas, whose distance apart is very nearly the same 



