Suppose that we were to start on this vast journey, taking with us the great Lick telescope of California. And suppose that all the way we never once looked back in this direction until we reached the neighborhood of that bright star--until we got near enough to see Alpha Centauri as a large radiant Sun. Then suppose that we turned round and gazed through the big telescope towards this little Earth left so far behind. What do you think we should see? No Earth at all! No Moon! No Jupiter, no Venus, no Mars, no planets! No great, warm, glowing Sun! Only one little faint distant star sending forth its feeble glimmer! All else would have vanished utterly. At the distance of the nearest star, nobody, looking in this direction, with man’s eyes and with such telescopes as we have on Earth, could find out anything at all about the Solar System. All the worlds and their moons would be hidden. The very most that anyone could see would be our Sun, as one tiny star. Just so we on the Earth gaze at the far-off stars; and we see them shining as lonely suns with no worlds travelling round them. Yet they _may_ not be lonely. Any one of those stars _may_ have its own great kingdom of worlds. Any number of planets _may_ be there. Who can tell? We are not able to know, because the gentle shining of borrowed or reflected light cannot possibly reach to such a distance. The most that we have any right to say is that we are not able to _see_ any worlds belonging to the stars. QUESTIONS. 1. What is meant by the Signs of the Zodiac? The twelve constellations against which in turn the Sun is seen in the course of a year. 2. How is the Sun seen against these constellations? In consequence of our Earth’s yearly journey round the Sun. 3. Do we actually see the stars beyond the Sun? No; for all stars in the same direction as the Sun are hidden by his brightness. 4. Tell me the names of the twelve constellations. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. 5. How many very bright stars are in those constellations? Five stars of the first magnitude. 6. Can all stars in the sky be seen from all parts of the Earth? No. Some stars to the far north are never seen in the far south; and some stars to the far south are never seen in the far north. 7. Tell me of a constellation never seen from Australia. The Great Bear. 8. Tell me of a star-group never seen from New England. The Southern Cross. 9. What are Stars? Stars are Suns. 10. Why do Stars twinkle? Only because of the way in which their light travels through our air. 11. Tell me of one way by which we may know planets from stars? A star generally twinkles; and a planet generally does not twinkle. 12. Do any planets belong to the distant stars? Any of the stars may have worlds belonging to them, but we cannot see such worlds. 13. Why cannot we see them? Because the distance is too great.