The earth travels in a long journey around the sun. This was surmised by Copernicus in 1530 and proved by Kepler and Galileo about 1610. Before this the earth was supposed to be the center about which the universe moved. [Figure 04] The star scenes along this tremendous journey, which covers 576,000,000 miles and requires a year to complete, vary with the seasons of the year--yet year after year as we retrace the same path, the same familiar stars shine in the same familiar groups, each appearing in its set position in the east and at the same time each season. Viewed through the window of the earth's cold and icy atmosphere, the stars seen during the winter part of the journey seem to scintillate with particular brilliancy. Since we are then passing by the most colorful stars and the most spectacular star groups the gorgeousness of these scenes is unequaled. During the summer the stars are more demure and tranquil in their light but their soft fires gleam with the gold of romance which the ancient people cast about them in journeys of the past. After once recognizing a few of these constellations or beholding through a telescope the glories of a double star or the face of a distant world, one will never again fail through indifference to raise his eyes to the heavens. There is one thing certain--if all the wondrous phenomena of visible stars could be seen on but one of the nights of our long ride about the sun, the civilized world would spend its last cent on glasses and sit up until dawn to feast its eyes on the sublimity of the spectacle. CHAPTER III THE ROMANCE OF THE STARS IN the vividness of their fancy, intensified by glorious scenery and sunny skies, the ancient Greeks believed that the gods dwelt on the summit of Mount Olympus and that queer and lovely beings roamed about the land. They heard the raging of the Wind-gods, the dancing feet of wood nymphs, the trip, trip, trip of satyrs and the music of Pandean pipes as this merry god went skipping over hill and lea. They knew that naiads peeped from the mist in fountains and dryads lived in the hearts of trees, while down in the sea, Neptune tossed up the billows with his trident and the little sea-maids sat in them and rocked and sang. Heroes, semi-divine, swept the earth of its monsters, while gods in golden chariots attended to the welfare of mankind. So deeply sincere was this mythological faith that great temples and beautiful shrines were built in honor of the gods, and one can scarce find a spot in all of Greece, or in all the sky that hangs over Greece, that is not hallowed by some wonderful legend.