comstock] THE BEGINNING OF STAR STUDY 3»7 



phere the North Star never sets but is always to be seen. How- 

 ever, the Xorth Star does not have any more to do with the axis 

 of our earth than the figure on the blackboard has to do with the 

 pointer ; this star simply happens to lie in the direction toward 

 which the northern end of the earth's axis points. In the south- 

 ern skies there is no convenient star which lies directly above 

 the South Pole, so there is no South Pole Star. The Pole Star 

 cannot be seen from the Southern Hemisphere because of the 

 curvature of the earth. But if we should start on a journey from 

 Florida toward Baffin's Bay we should discover that each night 

 the Pole Star would seem to be higher in the sky, and if we 

 should succeed in reaching the North Pole, we should find the 

 Pole Star directly over our heads. And none of the stars which 

 we could see would rise or set but would move around us in circles 

 parallel to the horizon. 



Since the earth is a great magnet and since the poles of the 

 magnet are almost coincident with the poles of the earth's axis the 

 magnetic needle naturally points north and south. Thus it is 

 that the North Star happens to be nearly in the direction toward 

 which the northern end of the compass needle points. 



In correlating the myths which have to do with the names of 

 the constellations, the pupils should be made to understand that 

 the ancients believed almost any kind of a story about their Gods. 

 And since they saw these constellations in the skies night after 

 night they naturally connected them with the stories of their 

 Gods and Goddesses and thus gave them the names which we 

 use to this day. Two interesting little books give these myths: 

 "Storyland of the Stars" by Mary Pratt, American Book Com- 

 pany; "Stars in Song and Legend," Porter, Ginn and Company. 



THE DISTANCE OF THE STARS 



Although the stars are so far away from us we have learned 

 many things about them, and after the pupils have become familiar 

 with the Polar Constellations and Orion, as outlined in the pre- 

 ceeding lessons, it would be well to give them some idea of what a 

 star really is. An informal talk should cover the following points : 



The scientists have three ways of finding out about the stars, 

 first, through the telescope, second, through the wonderful instru- 

 ment, the spectroscope, which can only be understood after we 

 study physics, and third, by mathematical calculations. Through 



