Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/777

Rh line drawn from Capella to El Nath, but much nearer to Capella. Turn your glass upon these spots, and you will be delighted by the beauty of the little stars to whose united rays they are due.

El Nath has around it some very remarkable rows of small stars, and the whole constellation of Auriga, like that of Gemini, glitters with star-dust, as the Milky-Way runs directly through it.



Let us turn back again to Denebola in the Lion's Tail. Now glance from it far down into the southeast, and you will see a brilliant star flashing not far above the horizon. This is Spica, the chief twinkler of Virgo, and you will find it marked on our circular map. Then look into the northwest, and at about the same distance from Denebola, but higher above the horizon than Spica, you will catch the sparkling of a large, reddish star. It is Arcturus in Boötes. The three, Denebola, Spica, and Arcturus, mark the corners of a great equilateral triangle. Nearly on a line between Denebola and Arcturus, and somewhat nearer to the former, you will perceive a curious twinkling, as if a cobweb spangled with dew-drops were hanging there. One might think the old woman in the nursery rhyme who went to sweep the cobwebs out of the sky had skipped this corner, or else that its delicate beauty had preserved it even from her housewifely instincts. This is the little constellation called Berenice's Hair. Your opera-glass will enable you to count twenty or thirty of the largest stars composing this cluster, which are arranged, as so often happens, with a striking appearance of geometrical design. This constellation has a very romantic history. It is related that the young Queen Berenice, when her husband was called away to the wars, vowed to sacrifice her beautiful tresses to Venus if he returned victorious over his enemies. He did return home in triumph, and Berenice, true to her vow, cut off her hair and bore it to the Temple of Venus. But the same night it disappeared. The king was furious, and the queen