CHAPTER XL. 

 THE FIXED STARS. 



FIXED STARS MAGNITUDE OF THE STARS CONSTELLATIONS DESCRIP- 

 TIONS OF THE ZODIACAL CONSTELLATIONS NORTHERN AND 

 SOUTHERN STAR GROUPS DISTANCE OF STARS. 



WE have been considering the planets so far as they are known to 

 astronomers, but no doubt we shall find out others some day beyond 

 Neptune in space, for it must be assumed that there are other planets 

 wandering about in the infinite firmament. At present, however, we cannot 

 spare time for such speculation ; we have got to peep at the stars and 

 their groupings. 



" What little bits of things the stars are," a child said once in our hear- 

 ing ; and there were others present who were inclined to believe that the 

 tiny light spots we could see looked small not because they were distant, 

 but because they were of no great magnitude ; and when those children 

 were told that the tiny stars were " suns " like our sun, giving heat and light 

 millions and millions of miles away, and, so far as we can tell, some are 

 much bigger and hotter than our own sun, they were very much surprised 

 indeed, and one little girl aptly quoted Dr. Watts : 



" Twinkle, -twinkle, little star, 

 How I wonder what you are " ! 



Now let us endeavour to learn something about these apparently tiny specks, 

 and why they " twinkle." 



At a very early period in the history of astronomy the observers of the 

 heavens grouped stars together in fancied resemblances to men or animals ; 

 and these " constellations," as they are termed, are combinations of fixed 

 stars that is, of stars which do not wander about as the planets do. But 

 these so-called fixed stars have motions ; they are only relatively fixed with 

 reference to their positions to each other as they appear to revolve daily 

 round the earth. But stars have a movement of their own, which is termed 

 their " proper motion." 



It is to Halley that the discovery of these real star motions is due. He 

 saw three very bright stars (Sirius, Aldebaran, and Arcturus) were not in 

 the places they had been assigned. The sun also has been found to possess 

 a "proper motion," and, with the planets, is travelling as determined by Sir J. 



