From the “Great Dipper” we turn to a constellation hardly less
conspicuous and situated at an equal distance from the pole on the
other side—Cassiopeia. This famous star-group commemorating the
romantic Queen of Ethiopia whose vain boasting of her beauty was
punished by the exposure of her daughter Andromeda to the “Sea
Monster,” is well-marked by five stars which form an irregular letter
“W” with its open side toward the pole. Three of these stars are
usually ranked as of the second magnitude, and two of the third; but to
ordinary observation they appear of nearly equal brightness, and
present a very striking picture. They mark out the chair and a part of
the figure of the beautiful queen. Beginning at the right-hand, or
western, end of the “W,” their Greek letter designations are: Beta (β),
Alpha (α), Gamma (γ), Delta (δ), and Epsilon (ε). Four of them, Beta,
Alpha, Delta, and Epsilon are traveling eastwardly at various speeds,
while the fifth, Gamma, moves in a westerly direction. The motion of
Beta is more rapid than that of any of the others. It should be said,
however, that no little uncertainty attaches to the estimates of the
rate of motion of stars which are not going very rapidly, and different
observers often vary considerably in their results.
In the beautiful “Northern Crown,” one of the most perfect and charming
of all the figures to be found in the stars, the alternate combining
and scattering effects of the stellar motions are shown by comparing
the appearance which the constellation must have had five hundred
centuries ago with that which it has at present and that which it will
have in the future. The seven principle stars of the asterism, forming
a surprisingly perfect coronet, have movements in three directions at
right angles to one another. That in these circumstances they should
ever have arrived at positions giving them so striking an appearance of
definite association is certainly surprising; from its aspect one would
have expected to find a community of movement governing the brilliants
of the “Crown,” but instead of that we find evidence that they will
inevitably drift apart and the beautiful figure will dissolve.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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