A similar fate awaits such asterisms as the “Northern Cross” in Cygnus;
the “Crow” (Corvus), which stands on the back of the great “Sea
Serpent,” Hydra, and pecks at his scales; “Job’s Coffin” (Delphinus);
the “Great Square of Pegasus”; the “Twins” (Gemini); the beautiful
“Sickle” in Leo; and the exquisite group of the Hyades in Taurus. In
the case of the Hyades, two controlling movements are manifest: one,
affecting five of the stars which form the well-known figure of a
letter “V,” is directed northerly; the other, which controls the
direction of two stars, has an easterly trend. The chief star of the
group, Aldebaran, one of the finest of all stars both for its
brilliance and its color, is the most affected by the easterly motion.
In time it will drift entirely out of connection with its present
neighbors. Although the Hyades do not form so compact a group as the
Pleiades in the same constellation, yet their appearance of
relationship is sufficient to awaken a feeling of surprise over the
fact that, as with the stars of the “Dipper,” their association is only
temporary or apparent.
[Illustration: The “Northern Crown”]
The great figure of Orion appears to be more lasting, not because its
stars are physically connected, but because of their great distance,
which renders their movements too deliberate to be exactly ascertained.
Two of the greatest of its stars, Betelgeuse and Rigel, possess, as far
as has been ascertained, no perceptible motion across the line of
sight, but there is a little movement perceptible in the “Belt.” At the
present time this consists of an almost perfect straight line, a row of
second-magnitude stars about equally spaced and of the most striking
beauty. In the course of time, however, the two right-hand stars,
Mintaka and Alnilam (how fine are these Arabic star names!) will
approach each other and form a naked-eye double, but the third, Alnita,
will drift away eastward, so that the “Belt” will no longer exist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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