8 GENERAL SCIENCE 



As we have said before, the true stars shine with a 

 twinkling light as distinguished from the steady light 

 of the planets ; most of the fixed stars are suns like ours 

 - many of them much larger with their own systems 

 of planets. We can readily understand how very large 

 and luminous they must be when we learn that, although 

 the nearest fixed star is millions of millions of miles away, 

 yet we can see it and observe its brilliance, even though 

 it takes three and one half years for its light to reach 

 us, traveling at the enormous speed of 186,000 miles a 

 second. 



Constellations. Certain groups of bright stars near 

 together are known as constellations. Most of them 

 were traced and given their names long ago by the com- 

 mon people shepherds and sailors, who lived much 

 out of doors with nothing to aid them in their study of 

 the heavens but their own eyes and fancy. 



Of the ancient constellations there are about forty- 

 eight. All are outlined by stars that may be seen with 

 the naked eye, for they were discovered long before the 

 invention of the telescope. Their names have been given 

 from some fancied resemblance to an ancient hero, an 

 animal, or an object. Most of them do not much resemble 

 the thing for which they are named and in this respect 

 prove rather disappointing. On the whole they are 

 mere abstractions bounded by certain imaginary and 

 by no means definite lines. Many of them overlap each 

 other. 



The North Star. If we look in the northern part of 

 the sky, we may see a group of seven stars which outline 

 the form of a long-handled dipper. This group is known 

 as the " Big Dipper " and is a part of a larger constel- 

 lation called the Great Bear ( Ursa Major). The two 



