THE STARRY HEAVENS 



555 



so enormous, and which keeps in subjection so many heavenly bodies, and 

 illuminates them ; when we reflect that there are in space, and visible, 

 stars many times larger than our ruling star, each a sun, and that our sun 

 would, if put where the great Sirius glows, be but a speck in the firmament, 

 and his system invisible to our eyes, we may well wonder at the magnitude 

 of the subject, and the Infinite Wisdom and Power " that telleth the number 

 of the stars, and calleth them all by their names." 



HOW TO READ THE SKY. 



A few particulars, to- enable a reader to identify the most prominent 

 stars, may be given as starting-points from which some few excursions into 

 the spangled heavens may be attempted. 

 But the suggestions must be considered 

 with reference to the ever-varying direc- 

 tions of the supposed lines in consequence 

 of* the daily revolution of the sphere. We 

 have illustrated this in the cut in the 

 margin, wherein the Lesser Bear is shown 

 as swinging round the Polar Star in differ- 

 ent positions. Sometimes the lines of 

 direction will be vertical, sometimes in- 

 clined, but all retaining their relative 

 positions. 



We have already learnt that the 

 "pointers" of the Great Bear indicate 

 the Polar Star in the Lesser Bear, and we 

 can (roughly) estimate the distance between the pointers as 5. This will 

 give us the distance between the pointers and the Polar Star as 29 . By 

 following an imaginary line through the two northern stars of the " Waggon" 

 (the Ber) away from the "horses," we shall find Capella about 50 away. 



Fig. 629. The "Swing" of the Lesser Bear. 



the 



Fig. 630. - Diagram of the Pol Star. 



If we pass from the first star next the waggon of " Charles's Wain" to 

 Pole Star, and past it, we shall arrive at an irregular W. This iff 



