484 GENERAL SCIENCE 



These two young men were very skilled in training horses and boxing. They 

 accompanied Jason in his search for the golden fleece. Castor was slain which caused 

 Pollux so much grief that Jupiter placed them in the heavens as immortals. These 

 stars, Castor and Pollux (pbl'uks), were supposed to exert a benign influence on the 

 ocean; therefore, they were loved by sailors. 



The two stars may be easily seen during the winter months almost 

 in the zenith, in a part of the sky where there are no other bright stars. 

 Pollux is a yellow star and about the age of our sun, while Castor is 

 white and a young star. 



Orion is represented as a hunter attacking Taurus, the bull. 



Orion was bitten in the heel by Scorpion, because of his boast that he could con- 

 quer any animal. Diana placed him among the stars. Sirius and Procyon (pro'sl-6n), 

 his dogs, are following him. The Pleiades are flying before him. 



Below Orion's belt is Rigel, a bluish white star, a sun blazing with 

 the fires of youth. Rigel is a young sun. This star is so far away we 

 cannot measure the distance. 



Above the Orion's belt is the beautiful red star Betelgeuse (bet-el- 

 guz). It is a very old star, and is growirig cold as the color shows.. 

 This star will soon be an extinct sun. It is so far away from us that 

 the distance has not been measured with certainty. 



Canis Major (Great Dog), and Canis Minor (Little Dog) contain 

 each a brilliant star, Sirius, the dog star, and Procyon (pro'-si-6n) 

 the little dog star. 



Sirius is the most brilliant of all the stars in the sky. It is ever 

 changing to blue, rosy and white. It is a young star about twenty 

 times the size of our sun. The light from this sun reaches us years 

 after it starts, as the distance from us is at least 50,000,000,000,000 

 and possibly more than 100,000,000,000,000 miles. The brilliancy of 

 this star is estimated to be from 72 to 228 times as great as that of our 

 sun. 



Procyon is a white star which gives out about eight times as much 

 light as our sun, and the light requires about ten years to reach us. 



Leo, the lion. This constellation has its principal stars arranged in 

 the form of a sickle. At the end of the handle of the sickle is the 

 glittering white star Regulus (reg'-u-lus). This is a great sun, giving 

 out 1000 times as much light as our sun. It takes about 160 years 

 for the light to reach us from this giant of the heavens. 



