Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/489

Rh ζ, also called is the most interesting of all the stars of the Dipper. Maunder says that in every way it is the first of double stars. The fourth magnitude star Alcor forms with it a naked eye double, and it has a closer companion visible in the telescope. Mizar was the first double star discovered telescopically, Riccioli having made the discovery at Bologna in 1650. It was also the first double star to be photographed, and the first star discovered to be double by the spectroscope. In India, Mizar was regarded as one of the seven sages. It is approaching our system at the rate of nineteen miles a second.

η Ursæ Majoris, the last of these seven famous stars, was called "Benatnasch," meaning the "Governor of the Daughters of the Bier," i. e., the chief of the mourners. It was also known as "Alcaid." In China, this star was called "a Revolving Light," and it marks the radiant point of the Ursid meteors of Nov. 10th. It is approaching the earth at the rate of sixteen miles a second.

Alcor is the name of the naked eye star close to Mizar. These two stars were called "the Horse and the Rider." In North Germany the Rider is supposed to start on his journey before midnight, and to return twenty-four hours later, his waggon turning around with a great noise. The Arabs called this star "Suha," meaning the "Forgotten," "Lost," or "Neglected One," and they also called it "the Test," an allusion to its visibility, as those who could see it were supposed to be keen of sight. The Arabs had the following proverb concerning this star:

The Arabs also called this star "Winter," and "the Little Letter."

The Greeks identified Alcor with the lost Pleiad Electra, who had wandered away from her companions and had been changed into a fox. A Latin title for the star was "the Little Starry Horseman." In England it is called "Jack