28 OUR PHYSICAL WORLD 



line be extended through them in the opposite direction from 

 Perseus and about as far again from Cassiopeia as is Perseus, a 

 very bright star is encountered, Deneb, in the constellation of 

 Cygnus, the Swan (Fig 15). The chief stars of this constellation 

 are shown in the figure, and it is to be noted that some of them 

 are arranged in the form of a cross, so that the group is sometimes 

 known as the Northern Cross. Cygnus, or more correctly, 



FIG. 14. Draco, the Dragon 



Cyncnus, the Swan, is the son of Mars and the most intimate 

 friend of Phaethon. Phaethon was the son of Phoebus, who 

 drove the chariot of the sun. He persuaded his father to let 

 him drive for one day. The steeds, feeling the strange driver, 

 ran away, bringing the sun so close to the earth as to scorch it. 

 Jove struck Phaethon with a thunderbolt, and he fell into the 

 river Eridanus (p. 40). Cygnus lingered at the spot, repeatedly 

 plunging beneath the flood to seek some relic of his lost com- 



