HOW TO OBSERVE THE HEAVENS. 



brightest in the firmament, being the principal star of the con- 

 stellation of Cam's major, and thence often called the Dog Star. 

 Indeed, this star, from its extraordinary splendour, will be recog- 

 nised at once by the eye, without the necessity of tracing its- 

 position by pointers. 



31. If a line be imagined to be drawn from Sirius to the star 7, 

 called Bellatrix, in the shoulder of Orion, and continued beyond 

 that point to about half the distance between these stars, it will 

 arrive at a conspicuous star of the first magnitude, called Alde- 

 baran, in the constellation of Taurus. This star is placed in the 

 southern eye of the bull, and the three stars of Orion's belt may 

 be considered also as pointers to it. 



The constellation of Taurus, of which Aldebaran is the principal 

 star, is remarkable for two splendid clusters visible to the naked 

 eye, and which, being known to the ancients, were called the 

 Hyades and the Pleiades ; the former group is in immediate juxta- 

 position with the eye of the bull, and the latter is in its neck. 

 The mythological origin of these constellations is, as commonly 

 given, as follows : The Hyades were the daughters of Atlas and 

 Pleione, whose brother Hyas being torn to pieces by a bull, they 

 were overwhelmed with grief, and are said to have wept so 

 incessantly, that the gods in compassion took them into heaven 

 and placed them near the bull's eye, where they still continue to 

 weep ; and, accordingly, it was a popular superstition that when 

 they rise immediately before the sun, wet weather ensues. Indeed, 

 the name Hyades is derived immediately from a Greek word 

 'TaSes, (Hyades), which signifies the " rainers." 

 , The Pleiades, also daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and therefore 

 sisters of the Hyades, were seven in number ; six being visible 

 and the seventh invisible. The seventh was called Sterope, and it 

 was related that she became invisible because, while her sisters 

 had all consorted themselves with gods, she alone yielded to 

 Sisyphus, a mortal. According to other traditions, the seventh 

 Pleiad was called Electra, and her disappearance was explained 

 by her grief at the destruction of the house of Dardanus. The 

 Pleiades are said to have destroyed themselves from grief at the 

 death of their sisters the Hyades. They were afterwards placed 

 among the stars, where they formed a cluster resembling a bunch 

 of grapes, whence they were sometimes called B6rpvs (Botrus). 

 The rising of these stars before the sun, like that of the Hyades, 

 was considered to forebode rain. 



If the line of the pointers drawn to the pole star be a little 

 deflected to the left and continued onwards, it will arrive at a re- 

 markable star of the first magnitude, shown in the figure, called o 

 Cygni, being the principal star in the constellation of Cygnus. 

 164 



