The music of the spheres : $b A nature lover's astronomyGrondal, Florence Armstrong
Science
The music of the spheres : $b A nature lover's astronomy
Grondal, Florence Armstrong
Astronomy
Andromeda, in utter despair, bowed her head,--then looked up quickly on
hearing the cheers of the people, for the hero Perseus had appeared,
bounding and skimming along the sky and slanting downward toward the
foaming waves. The hero gave one glance at the awful monster, then drew
his sword and drove it deep into the sea-beast's scaly neck. With his
other hand he pulled the Medusa's head from his wallet,--and the
sea-beast slowly hardened into a beast of stone. With its glassy eyes
protruding like balls of obsidian, the creature then sank in a petrified
mass to the bottom of the sea.
The heroic youth, amazed at the effectiveness of the terrifying head,
flew quickly to Andromeda and struck away the fetters which bound her to
the shore. The King and his subjects then swarmed around them and amid
great rejoicing carried them to the palace. Not long after, the Princess
became the bride of the hero, who put away his fluttering shoes and set
sail in a ship to the island of Seriphus.
CEPHEUS, THE KING
[Figure 22]
This is Cepheus as he is traced among the stars, a king done in
shorthand. He claims no star above the 3rd magnitude, but since his
constellation is near the North Star and just above the Chair of his
Queen, a large and conspicuous "W," it is easy to find and may be seen
any clear night the year around. Cepheus may be seen at his best during
the summer evenings when his stars are nearly overhead in the dome of
the sky.
[Figure 23]
The other characters in this drama were placed among bright stars and
are therefore more easily found, although to less romantic moderns these
stars merely indicate the part of the sky-field where the ancients claim
the royal family were lifted to the stars.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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