Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/54

 old idea that the stars were "fixed." The facts, however, are amazing and one must immediately readjust his ideas of what constitutes big and little, fast and slow, for in studying astronomy the small distances on our earth and the vast distances in space, and man-made speed and God-made speed, can hardly even be compared.

The stars of the Big Dipper are an exceptional group for they are all bright stars of the second magnitude, with the exception of Megrez at the junction of the handle to the bowl. These seven stars, and the "Rider," were given names by the Arabian astronomers, and although modern astronomers prefer for the most part a Greek letter prefixed to the genitive case of the Latin name of the constellation—such as β Ursae Majoris—these names are rather interesting to know. Starting from the top of the Big Dipper's handle, the Arabian names are as follows: Benetnasch, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phaed, Merak, and Dubhe.



The "Little Dipper" hangs on the Pole of the Heavens, swinging swiftly around night after night, century after century. It hangs stiffly, as a dipper should, from the bright golden nail of the North Star. From its appearance, it would seem that the rapid