A Field Book of the Stars Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: PISCES]

TRIANGULUM (tri-an-gu-lum)--THE TRIANGLE. (Face East.)

LOCATION.--A line drawn from the star ? Pegasi to Algol in Perseus pa.s.ses through Trianguli.

The triangle is clearly defined and a beautiful figure. It lies just below Andromeda, and above Aries.

Triangulum is a very ancient constellation, being formerly named Deltoton, from the Greek letter Delta ?.

It was in this locality that Piazzi discovered the asteroid Ceres, January 1, 1800.

a Trianguli is sometimes called "Caput Trianguli."

a and Trianguli were known as "The Scale Beam." According to Argelander the constellation contains fifteen stars.

The Triangle has been likened to the Trinity, and the Mitre of St.

Peter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRIANGULUM]

AQUARIUS (a-kwari-us)--THE WATER CARRIER. (Face Southwest.)

LOCATION.--A line drawn from Pegasi to a of the same constellation, and prolonged as far again, ends just east of the so-called water jar of Aquarius, which is formed by a group of four stars in the form of a "Y," as indicated in the diagram. The Arabians called these four stars a tent.

The jar is represented as inverted, allowing a stream of water represented by dim stars in pairs and groups of three stars, to descend, ending in the bright star Fomalhaut, the mouth of the Southern Fish.

A rough map of South America can be traced in the stars ?, ?, t, d, 88, ?.

A rude dipper can be made out in the western part of the constellation, formed of the stars a, , ?, e.

The stars t and ? are doubles. Of the former pair, one is white, the other orange in color. Fomalhaut was the object of sunrise wors.h.i.+p in the temple of Demeter at Eleusis in 500 B.C. The ancients called this region of the sky "the Sea."

In the vicinity of d, Mayer observed in 1756 what he termed a fixed star. Herschel thought it a comet. It proved to be the planet Ura.n.u.s.

? is almost exactly on the celestial equator.

? is a red star, the most prominent of the first stars in the stream.

The stars in Piscis Australis can be traced out with an opera-gla.s.s.

Fomalhaut and Capella, in Auriga, rise almost exactly at the same minute.

Fomalhaut is one of the four "royal stars" of astrology. The others are Regulus, Antares, and Aldebaran.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AQUARIUS]

CAPRICORNUS (kap-ri-kr-nus)--THE SEA GOAT. (Face Southwest.)

LOCATION.--A line drawn from a Pegasi through ? and ? in the same constellation, and projected about 25, strikes a and in Capricornus.

This constellation contains three princ.i.p.al stars--a and mentioned above, and d about 20 east of them.

The water jar of Aquarius is about the same distance northeast of d Capricorni that Fomalhaut, in the Southern Fish, is southeast of it.

a has a companion which can be seen by the naked eye. It is a fine sight in an opera-gla.s.s. These two stars are gradually separating.

is a double star, one being blue, the other yellow.

The constellation resembles a chapeau, or peaked hat, upside down.

The stars in the head of the Sea Goat, a and are only 2 apart, and can hardly be mistaken by an observer facing the southwestern sky during the early evening in autumn.

Five degrees east of d is the point announced by Le Verrier as the position of his predicted new planet, Neptune.

Flammarion claims that the Chinese astronomers noted the five planets in conjunction in Capricornus, in the year 2449 B.C.

The sign of the Goat was called by the ancient Orientalists "The Southern Gate of the Sun."

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPRICORNUS]

ARIES (a-ri-ez)--THE RAM. (Face Southeast.)

LOCATION.--The star a in Aries, known as Hamal, and sometimes as Arietis, a star of the second magnitude, is about 7 south of a Trianguli. A line drawn from the Pole Star to ? Andromed, and prolonged about 20, ends at Hamal.

Aries contains three princ.i.p.al stars, forming a characteristic obtuse-angled triangle.

The star ? Arietis was one of the first double stars discovered. A telescope is required to split it. Hamal lies near the path of the moon, and is one of the stars from which longitude is reckoned.

Below Aries may be seen the characteristic pentagon in the head of Cetus, the Whale.

More than two thousand years ago Aries was the leading constellation of the zodiac, and now stands first in the list of zodiacal signs.

The Arabians knew this constellation as Al Hamal, the sheep.