164 Our Surroundings 



Dipper but on the opposite side. It is called the queen in her 

 chair. Cassiopeia is represented as a queen seated on her throne. 

 On her right is her husband, Cepheus, the king of Ethiopia; on 

 her left Perseus, her son-in-law, and above her Andromeda, her 

 daughter. There are constellations named after all these. The 

 five brightest stars in Cassiopeia form an irregular W which 

 opens towards the North Star. In mythology, Cassiopeia's daugh- 

 ter, Andromeda, was rescued by Perseus from a sea monster 

 sent by Neptune, the ruler of the sea, to destroy the shores of 

 Ethiopia over which Cassiopeia and her husband reigned. 



Pleiades, the Seven Sisters. This constellation lies south of 

 the groups just described. It is the most conspicuous group 

 in this part of the heavens. Although it contains many stars, 

 only six are visible to the naked eye. The Pleiades were the 

 daughters of Atlas, the deity who bore up the pillars of heaven. 

 They were noted for their virtue and affection for one another. 

 Pursued by the great hunter, Orion, they 'besought their gods 

 for help, and Jupiter, pitying them, transferred them to the 

 heavens. Mythology tells us there were formerly seven stars, 

 but that one left her place in order not to behold the ruin of 



Troy of which her son was the 

 founder. 



The Milky Way. The 

 luminous, cloud-like band which 

 may be seen on any clear, 

 moonless night across the 

 heavens is called the milky way, 

 or galaxy. It is composed of 

 millions of stars, located much 

 farther away than any of 

 the bright stars. The North 

 American Indians refer to it 

 observatory, poetically as the "road of souls." 

 A SMALL PART OF THE MILKY WAY Why Stars Twinkle. 

 Each point of light is a giant sun. Each star sends toward the 

 earth a tiny beam of light. The twinkling of the stars, which 

 adds so much to the beauty of many a clear night, is caused by 



