HEAVENLY BODIES 487 



Bootes (the bear driver) is represented as a huntsman grasping a 

 club in his right hand, while with his left he holds by a leash his two 

 greyhounds! Bootes is supposed to have been Arcus. 



Arcturus (ark-tu'-rus) is a beautiful bright star in this constella- 

 tion. The light given off by this sun is equal to a thousand times that 

 of our sun. Its light reaches us in about 160 years, and it has a diam- 

 eter of several million miles. In fact this is one of the largest of the 

 suns. It is traveling nearly five miles a second toward the earth. 

 During June and July Arcturus is almost overhead in the early 

 evening. 



Hercules, the great warrior, holds a club in his right hand. 



Corona Borealis (bo're"-a'-lis), the northern crown, consists of six 

 stars arranged in a semi-circular form. 



Serpentarius (sur'pen-ta'ri-us), or Ophiuchus (6Ti-u'kus), is the ser- 

 pent bearer. 



Libra represents the goddess of justice. The constellation may be 

 recognized by the four-sided figure formed by the principal stars. 



Scorpio is a huge scorpion. 



Scorpio sprang from the ground at the call of Juno to sting Orion. 



Antares (an-ta'-rees), the principal star of Scorpio, is a fiery red star 

 around which revolves a bright green star. It can best be seen about 

 ten o'clock in the evening during June and July. 



Sagittarius (saj-i-ta'-ri-us), the archer, holds a bent bow as if ready 

 to let an arrow fly at Scorpio. 



The Southern Fish has one important star, Formalhaut, far down in 

 the south. This star is in the mouth of the fish, of a slight reddish 

 tint, and has no rival in the southern sky. It is used by sailors for navi- 

 gation. 



Cygnus (cyg'nus), the swan, is a group of stars forming the large 

 and beautiful Northern Cross. Deneb (den'eb), or Arided (a'-ri-ded'), 

 is in this constellation. It is a very large sun, white in color. It has 

 been estimated it would require 325 years for light to come from this 

 star. 



Lyra, the harp, contains one brilliant blue star Vega (vee-ga), the 

 brightest summer star. It is a very large sun, giving off ninety times 

 as much light as our sun. Light travels to us from Vega in twenty- 



