To the right, or west, of Fomalhaut, and higher up, is the constellation of Capricornus, very interesting on many accounts, though by no means a striking constellation to the unassisted eye. The stars Alpha ([alpha]), called Giedi, and Beta ([beta]), called Dabih, will be readily recognized, and a keen eye will perceive that Alpha really consists of two stars. They are about six minutes of arc apart, and are of the third and the fourth magnitude respectively. These stars, which to the naked eye appear almost blended into one, really have no physical connection with each other, and are slowly drifting apart. The ancient astronomers make no mention of Giedi being composed of two stars, and the reason is plain, when it is known that in the time of Hipparchus, as Flammarion has pointed out, their distance apart was not more than two thirds as great as it is at present, so that the naked eye could not have detected the fact that there were two of them; and it was not until the seventeenth century that they got far enough asunder to begin to be separated by eyes of unusual power. With an ordinary opera-glass they are thrown well apart, and present a very pretty sight. Considering the manner in which these stars are separating, the fact that both of them have several faint companions, which our powerful telescopes reveal, becomes all the more interesting. A suggestion of Sir John Herschel, concerning one of these faint companions, that it shines by reflected light, adds to the interest, for if the suggestion is well founded the little star must, of course, be actually a planet, and granting that, then some of the other faint points of light seen there are probably planets too. It must be said that the probabilities are against Herschel's suggestion. The faint stars more likely shine with their own light. Even so, however, these two systems, which apparently have met and are passing one another, at a distance small as compared with the space that separates them from us, possess a peculiar interest, like two celestial fleets that have spoken one another in the midst of the ocean of space.