An introduction to astronomy: designed as a text-book for the use of students in college. By Denison Olmsted ...

278 FIXIO) STAR^S.
About -12 east of the figlre Y in the armil of Aquarius, is an
asIssellmblage of fiEve stars, forming a pretty regular /enl& mtli2.,
which is one of tlhe northern members of the consitellation
iscs;, all(:d far to the northeast of this figure, north of tlhe
head of r\ies, lies the tlhird memllber, tlhe tthree beillt re'presented as connected together by a ribbont, or wavy baln(l composed of minllut stars.
4t 4. 1'lTe Coonstellations of the Zodiac e1)ing first well
learned, so as to be readily reognizedl, will filcilitate the Ilearnilg of others that lic nortlth altl soutlh of them. Let us thercfore next review the principal Ai7vl/tern Constellations, beginifing at the N-orth P'ole.
-{htsA Al \iou (thle:1rcxrmi, B]31iA).'lhe 1i'Gole-slta (.)olai8s)
is inl the extremnity of tle tail of the JLittle.ear.:It:is of tlhe
thir(l magtlitude, and beino)g within less than a dlegree ar1nd a
lhalf of the Norti iXole of the leaviens, it serves at present to
indicate the position of the )pole. it will be recollected, 1owOever, that onl accoiunt of tthe precession of tlhe equinoxes, tlhe
pole of tle leavens is constantly shifting its place fri'om east to
wvest, revolving about the pole of thle ecliptic. andl will in tillmC
recede so far from the pole-star, tlhat tllis will no longer, retainl
its p)leselnt distinlctioll (Art. 190).'T'lhlree sttars inl a straight
litc, t- or 5 aparlt), commelncing with o.lais, leal to a tr'apeziuln of ftur stars, tlhe whtole sevenI togctlher forming tlhe figure
of a dippe', thle tnaep 11iuli buint te to body, and the three firsttelntioned stars being thle hantdle.'Us,.MA,.JO1 (tlhe GP:Uivr 13.A:t) is one of tle tlargest and
most celebralted of thle constellations. It is usually recoglizedt
by tlhe figure of a larger anld or 101t)lrfct d}iper' tlhan tlhe one
inll the ittle BeCa. h.etle stars, as before, constituting the hla<cn(le, alnd four otllors, iin thie form of a trapezium, the body of
the figure..Thele two western st;ars of the tirapeziumtl1 ranging
1I1early w\\ith tlhe North Star, are called the./)oidters; and beginning with thle northernC of thlCse two, and following roun1(d
from left to rig!ht through the whlole seven, they correspond in
ralnk to tlhe succession of the Iirlst soeven letters of tltec Greek(
alplabet, Al]p/tua. Beta, Gamma,.Delta,,i))s8til0on, Ztet,.ta.
Several of them:also are known by tlheir Arablic names.'1tthus,
the filrst in the tail, corresponding to Epsilon, is Alioth,, tlhe