Page:Field Book of Stars.djvu/137

 THE PLANETS. T is not within the scope of this work to dwell at length on a discussion of the planets. Certain planatory matter regarding them is necessary, however, to prevent confusion; for the student must bear in mind the fact that from time to time the planets appear in the constellations, and unless identified would lead him to think that the diagrams were inaccurate.

The reader is referred to any one of the four large plates that precede each season. He will observe that a portion of an ellipse has been traced on each of them, and that this line has been designated the Ecliptic, which simply means the sun's apparent pathway across the sky.

This pathway is divided into twelve equal parts of thirty degrees each, and to these twelve divisions are given the names of the constellations of the Zodiac in the following order: ../Aries/ (♈&#xFE0E;), ../Taurus/ (♉&#xFE0E;), ../Gemini/ (♊&#xFE0E;), ../Cancer/ (♋&#xFE0E;), ../Leo/ (♌&#xFE0E;), ../Virgo/ (♍&#xFE0E;), ../Libra/ (♎&#xFE0E;), ../Scorpio/ (♏&#xFE0E;), ../Sagittarius/ (♐&#xFE0E;), ../Capricornus/ (♑&#xFE0E;), ../Aquarius/ (♒&#xFE0E;), ../Pisces/ (♓&#xFE0E;).

The sun, starting from the first degree of Aries, the 115