Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/30

 about 1610. Before this the earth was supposed to be the center about which the universe moved.

The star scenes along this tremendous journey, which covers 576,000,000 miles and requires a year to complete, vary with the seasons of the year—yet year after year as we retrace the same path, the same familiar stars shine in the same familiar groups, each appearing in its set position in the east and at the same time each season.

Viewed through the window of the earth's cold and icy atmosphere, the stars seen during the winter part of the journey seem to scintillate with particular brilliancy. Since we are then passing by the most colorful stars and the most spectacular star groups the gorgeousness of these scenes is unequaled. During the summer the stars are more demure and tranquil in their light but their soft fires gleam with the gold of romance which the ancient people cast about them in journeys of the past. After once recognizing a few of these constellations or beholding through a telescope the glories of a double star or the face of a distant world, one will never again fail through indifference to raise his eyes to the heavens. There is one thing certain—if all the wondrous phenomena of visible stars could be seen on but one of the nights of our long ride about the sun, the civilized world would spend its last cent on glasses and sit up until dawn to feast its eyes on the sublimity of the spectacle.