Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/25

 The colors of the stars are brought out most vividly in the telescope if the observer knows just where to look for those which are the most pronounced. Some of the large stars are characterized by the most exquisite coloring,—which is sometimes further enhanced, as a glass will reveal, by a charming companion of a flamboyant or a delicate hue. Some of these "companions" are green, blue, orange, purple, gray, maroon and other colors, but such gayety is the exception rather than the rule. About three-fourths of the stars are white or bluish-white and nearly one-fourth of them are varying shades of yellow. The star Arcturus is of the deepest shade of yellow while the star Spica is so exceedingly white that poets and writers from the earliest times have spoken of the "purity" of its rays.

Although every star visible to the unaided eye may be identified by a Greek letter or a number, most of the brightest stars have individual names.

These individual names were given by the Arabian astronomers who nurtured astronomy through the Dark Ages when this science was almost forgotten by the rest of the world. These odd names have a certain appeal and many of them possess rippling musical qualities which add to the plain word as twinkles add to the star. It is a pleasure to say 'Capella,' or 'Antares,' when we see the gleam of the "Shepherd's Star," or the glow on the "Heart of the Scorpion"; or to call such jewels as shine on "Orion's Belt," 'Mintaka,' 'Alnilam' and 'Alnitak.' After the introduction one naturally takes a particular interest in 'Capella,' or 'Antares,' or 'Mintaka,' or 'Alnilam,' and continues to refer to it familiarly by name.

Each star not only attains a certain charm and individuality by having its own particular name, number, magnitude, color and