Page:Astronomy for Everybody.djvu/333

around the pole, but they have few bright stars and are of less interest than those we have mentioned. Among them is Draco, the Dragon, whose form coils itself up between the Bears, and whose head is represented by a triangle of stars in XVIII hours, near the August zenith.

The zenithal and southern constellations to be looked for will vary with the season. We begin with the position of the sphere at 0 hours sidereal time, which occurs at ten o'clock in October, eight in November, and six in December.

The equinoctial colure is first to be imagined. It passes from the pole upward near the westernmost bright star of Cassiopeia and can be traced south through the eastern side of the square of Pegasus. The latter easily recognised landmark of the sky is formed by four stars of the second or third magnitude. The square is fifteen degrees on a side.

Northeast from the northeast corner of the square is the Great Nebula of Andromeda. It is plainly visible to the naked eye as a whitish, ill-defined patch of light, and is a fine object when seen in a telescope.

The Milky Way now spans the heavens like a slightly inclined arch, resting on the east and west regions of the horizon, and having its keystone a little north of the zenith, in Cassiopeia. Tracing it from this constellation toward the east, we first have Perseus, which stands in the Milky Way itself. The brightest star in this constellation is Alpha Persei, of the second magnitude.