Earth and Sky Every Child Should Know: Easy studies of the earth and the stars for any time and placeRogers, Julia Ellen
Science
Earth and Sky Every Child Should Know: Easy studies of the earth and the stars for any time and place
Rogers, Julia Ellen
Astronomy -- Juvenile literature; Geology -- Juvenile literature
As soon as you see these things you will see the four bright stars that
outline the figure of the great hunter, but only two of them are of the
first magnitude. The red one has a hard name--Betelgeuse (pronounced
_bet-el-guz´_). That is a Frenchified word from the Arabic, meaning
"armpit," because this star marks the right shoulder of Orion. The other
first-magnitude star is the big white one in the left foot. Its name is
Rigel (pronounced _re´-jel_) from an Arabian word meaning "the foot."
You can see the giant now, I am sure. Over his left arm hangs a lion's
skin which he holds out to shield him from the bull's horns. See the
shield--about four rather faint stars in a pretty good curve? Now look
for his club which he holds up with his right hand so as to smite the
bull. See the arm and the club--about seven stars in a rather poor
curve--beyond the red star Betelgeuse? Now you have him, and isn't he a
wonder!
It is even easier to see the Bull which is trying to gore Orion. Look
where Orion is threatening to strike, and you will see a V. How many
stars in that V? Five. And which is the brightest? That red one at the
top of the left branch of the V? Yes. That V is the face of the Bull and
that red star is the baleful eye of the angry Bull which is lowering his
head and trying to toss Orion. The name of that red eye is Aldebaran
(pronounced _al-deb´-ar-an_).
I wish Aldebaran meant "red eye," but it doesn't. It is an old Arabian
word meaning the "hindmost," or the "follower," because every evening it
comes into view about an hour after you can see the famous group of
stars called the Pleiades, which are in the shoulder of the Bull.
I do not care to trace the outline of this enormous bull, but his horns
are a great deal longer than you think at first. If you will extend the
two arms of that V a long way you will see two stars which may be called
the tips of his horns. One of these stars really belongs in another
constellation--our old friend the Charioteer, the one including
Capella. Wow! what a pair of horns!
But now we come to the daintiest of all constellations--the Seven
Sisters, or Pleiades (pronounced _plee´-a-deez_).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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