Page:Field Book of Stars.djvu/132

 ERIDANUS (e-rid'-a-nus)—OR THE RIVER PO. (Face Southwest.)

—Three degrees north and two degrees west of Rigel, in ../Orion/, lies (β) Eridani, the source of the River. Thence it flows west till it reaches (π) Ceti, then drops south 5 degrees, thence east southeast, its total length being about 130 degrees.

The great curve the river takes, just east of the Whale, resembles a horseshoe.

Acherna, the first-magnitude star in Eridanus, is too far south to be seen in this latitude.

Note the pretty star group around (β) and a pair of stars of an orange hue below (γ).

The asterism known as "The Brandenburg Sceptre," consisting of four stars of the fourth and fifth magnitude, can be seen standing in a straight line north and south below the first bend in the River, just west of ../Lepus/. 110