TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 
95 
Cassiopeia had compared her beauty 
favorably with that of the sea nymphs. 
They were so indignant that they sent 
the sea monster. When Cassiopeia 
was honored by being placed in the sky 
as a constellation her enemies, the sea 
nymphs, succeeded in having her 
placed near the pole so that half of the 
time she would be turned head down 
in humility. 
Fhe constellation is often called Cas- 
siopeia’s Chair. If we look at the stars 
we can imagine that we see the form of 
Figure 2. Queen Cassiopeia seated on her 
throne. 
the chair on which Cassiopeia sits (the 
top of the chair turned toward the 
pole). But. as often happens in such 
cases, when we examine the figures as 
they have come to us from ancient 
times we see that the real chair bears 
no resemblance to the one we have 
picked out. nor to any other arrange- 
ment of the stars. 
1 he star, Eta Cassiopeiae, at C, Fig- 
ure i, is a very interesting double star. 
It consists of a bright orange-colored 
star with a fainter one close to it of a 
purple color. Purple is not a common 
color among stars. The contrast makes 
this among the most interesting colored 
double stars in the whole sky. Unfor- 
tunately, it is not seen well with small 
instruments. This star is more than a 
double star ; it is a binary star — that is, 
a double star whose members, or com- 
ponents as they are called, move about 
each other’s orbits. The revolution in 
the orbit requires about three hundred 
years. This star is one of about a dozen 
binary stars whose distances have been 
fairly well determined. When the dis- 
tance and the period are known we can 
use the law of gravitation to determine 
other facts about the star. Eta Cas- 
siopeiae is found to be about sixteen 
light years away, say ninety-three tril- 
lions of miles ; that is, a million times as 
far as the sun. This means that it is 
among the nearer stars. From this dis- 
tance we learn that the stars are 474 
times as far from each other on the 
average as the earth and sun; that the 
two stars combined are 1.2 times as 
massive as the sun and that they give 
out 1.4 times more light. 
* * * * * 
The Winter Solstice. 
1 he sun is farthest south December 
22 . 4 ;o8 A. M„ Eastern Standard Time. 
On this day the sun gives least light 
and heat to those north of the equator, 
lo the whole earth it gives nearlv the 
greatest amount, as we are closest to 
the sun at this time of the year At 
this time winter begins. This is the 
shortest day and on this day the sun 
rises farthest south of west and is 
lowest in the sky at noon. 
I hree days after the solstice we cele- 
brate Christmas. The two events are 
related. Feasts were held in celebra- 
tion of the winter solstice by many 
peoples as far back as can be traced. 
his was quite natural, as this event 
marked the turning point from cold to 
warm and from death to life in the 
^egetable kingdom. V hen there was a 
desire to celebrate the birth of Christ, 
disputes arose as to the date of his 
birth and various dates in widely dif- 
ferent parts of the year were selected 
as the proper time for the celebration. 
1 he present time was eventually 
chosen largely with a view of concil- 
iating the pagans who had been accus- 
tomed to the solstice celebrations at 
this time. The first authentic document 
which assigns December 25 as the date 
of the birth of Christ was written A. D. 
354 - stating that “year 1 after Christ in 
the consulate of Caesar and Panins, 
the Lord Jesus Christ was born on De- 
cember 25. a Friday and the 15th day of 
the new moon. Xo celebration is men- 
tioned. It may be noted that Decem- 
ber 25 1 A. D. w^as Sunday and not 
Friday. 
The Latins held a feast for Mithras, 
