THE UNIVERSE IN WHICH WE LIVE 31 



Sisters." The lost one, "Electra," is supposed to have run off 

 to the Great Bear and is now Alcor. Many more are visible 

 with a telescope and they are then seen to be enveloped in a great 

 nebula so they "glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver 

 braid" (Tennyson). Onondaga Indians have a legend that the 

 Pleiades were a group of happy children skipping off into the sky 

 and having such a good time that they never came back. The 

 Greek legend makes them the daughters of Atlas, all very beauti- 

 ful. Jupiter assumed the disguise of a bull, Taurus, in order to 

 carry away Europa, whom he considered the most beautiful, 

 from her sisters when they were playing in the meadows. 



Alcyone or Halcyone is the brightest star of the group. It 

 used to be thought that the kingfisher, Halcyone, nested about 

 the time this star culminated at the time of the winter solstice. 

 Ceyx, king of Thessaly and husband of Halycone, was drowned. 

 She, seeing his body floating, repeatedly rushed into the sea to 

 save him. Then the gods changed them both to halcyon birds, and 

 they go skimming across the waters and rushing into it always. 



The Pleiades lie on the neck of Taurus, the Bull (Fig. 17, p. 32). 

 The head of the animal is indicated by a V-shaped figure to the 

 southeast of the Pleiades. One star of this group, Aldebaran, 

 is a first-magnitude star and is one eye of the Bull. The V-shaped 

 group forming the tips of horns, eyes, and the tip of the nose is 

 known as the Hyades. The Roman year began in March 

 when Taurus was just visible above the eastern horizon. Hence 

 Virgil's line: "The white bull opens with his golden horns the 

 year." Only the head and shoulders of the Bull are pictured as 

 visible in the old star maps, for his body is supposed to be sub- 

 merged in the sea, in which he is swimming to make his escape 

 with Europa after capturing her in the meadows near the shore. 



A line run through the Pleiades and Aldebaran and still 

 farther to the south and east reaches three bright stars in line, 

 the belt of Orion, the Hunter. This constellation of Orion is the 

 most brilliant in the sky. To the south of the belt is a first- 

 magnitude star, Rigel, and to the north one that has a reddish 



