=Gemini, the Twins.=--It is easy to see why the ancients called this constellation of the zodiac the Twins, for its two chief stars, _Castor_ and _Pollux_, are quite close together and while of different colors they are of about the same brightness. These two stars are the heads of the Twins and four other stars are their feet and these stand forever on the Milky Way. The Twins are easily found since they are next to Taurus, the Bull. [Illustration] Gemini is an important constellation, as the Sun reaches its most northern point in it in summer; this is called the _summer solstice_, and takes place about June 21. When the Sun has reached this point it casts the shortest shadow at mid-day and it seems to stand still for a few days before it takes its downward course. The summer solstice is halfway between the two points of the equinox. =Cancer, the Crab.=--This is a small constellation of dull stars that is chiefly interesting because it once contained the point of the summer solstice, but that was ages ago. The only thing about Cancer to attract attention is a hazy patch of light called the _Manger_. On each side of the Manger is a fairly bright star and this pair of stars is called the _Ass’s Colts_; they will help you to find Cancer. [Illustration] The Manger has often been mistaken for a comet by those who lit upon it with the naked eye, but it is really a cluster of small stars. =Leo, the Lion.=--There are two separate groups of stars that make up this king of beasts. The first group takes the shape of a _sickle_ and the other the form of a _square_. The sickle, which is formed of six bright stars, is Leo’s head and shoulders, and the four stars of the square make up his hindquarters. Two lines, drawn from the Big Dipper across the sky, as shown in Fig. 176, will meet the sickle and the square. [Illustration] The very bright star in the end of the handle of the sickle is _Regulus_, which means little king, and far to the other side of the constellation right in the end of the Lion’s tail is another bright star called _Denebola_. [Illustration: FIG. 176.--CONSTELLATIONS OF THE LION AND BIG DIPPER.] =Virgo, the Virgin.=--This constellation is of interest, because the Sun again crosses the point where the equator and ecliptic meet, and the days and nights are again of the same length everywhere on the Earth, just as they were at the spring, or _vernal equinox_. But this time, when the Sun is in Virgo, it crosses the equator from north to south about September 21 and so this _equinox_ is called the _autumnal equinox_, which means equal autumn days. [Illustration] By drawing a line from Polaris through Mizarin through the handle of the Big Dipper and producing it beyond Arcturus, and on until it reaches a big, bright, white star you will have reached Virgo, as shown in Fig. 177. This big, white, bright star is Spica, and it is the chief star in Virgo.