Astronomy with an Opera-glass: A Popular Introduction to the Study of the Starry Heavens with the Simplest of Optical InstrumentsServiss, Garrett Putman
Science
Astronomy with an Opera-glass: A Popular Introduction to the Study of the Starry Heavens with the Simplest of Optical Instruments
Serviss, Garrett Putman
Astronomy
North of the star Epsilon will be seen a little group in the ear of the
Bull (see cut, "The Golden Horns of Taurus"), which presents a brilliant
appearance with a small glass. The southernmost pair in the group are
the Kappas, whose distance apart is very nearly the same as that of the
Thetas, described above; but I think it improbable that anybody could
separate them with the naked eye, as there is a full magnitude between
them in brightness, and the smaller star is only of magnitude 6.5, while
sixth-magnitude stars are generally reckoned as the smallest that can be
seen by the naked eye. Above the Kappas, and in the same group in the
ear, are the two Upsilons, forming a wider pair.
Next we come to the Pleiades:
"Though small their size and pale their light, wide is their fame."
In every age and in every country the Pleiades have been watched,
admired, and wondered at, for they are visible from every inhabited land
on the globe. To many they are popularly known as the Seven Stars,
although few persons can see more than six stars in the group with the
unaided eye. It is a singular fact that many of the earliest writers
declare that only six Pleiades can be seen, although they all assert
that they are seven in number. These seven were the fabled daughters of
Atlas, or the Atlantides, whose names were Merope, Alcyone, Celaeno,
Electra, Taygeta, Asterope, and Maia. One of the stories connected with
them is that Merope married a mortal, whereupon her star grew dim among
her sisters. Another fable assures us that Electra, unable to endure the
sight of the burning of Troy, hid her face in her hands, and so blotted
her star from the sky. While we may smile at these stories, we can not
entirely disregard them, for they are intermingled with some of the
richest literary treasures of the world, and they come to us, like some
old keepsake, perfumed with the memory of a past age. The mythological
history of the Pleiades is intensely interesting, too, because it is
world-wide. They have impressed their mark, in one way or another, upon
the habits, customs, traditions, language, and history of probably every
nation. This is true of savage tribes as well as of great empires. The
Pleiades furnish one of the principal links that appear to connect the
beginnings of human history with that wonderful prehistoric past, where,
as through a gulf of mist, we seem to perceive faintly the glow of a
golden age beyond. The connection of the Pleiades with traditions of the
Flood is most remarkable. In almost every part of the world, and in
various ages, the celebration of a feast or festival of the dead, dimly
connected by traditions with some great calamity to the human race in
the past, has been found to be directly related to the Pleiades. This
festival or rite, which has been discovered in various forms among the
ancient Hindoos, Egyptians, Persians, Peruvians, Mexicans, Druids, etc.,
occurs always in the month of November, and is regulated by the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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