Page:Astronomy for Everybody.djvu/335

In the figure given here, notice the star to the left of Vega; Epsilon Lyræ it is called. A keen eye will, on careful examination, see that this star is really composed of two, lying so close together that it is not easy to distinguish them. With an opera glass this will more easily be accomplished.
Fig. 53.—Lyra, the Harp. But the most curious fact is that if a telescope be pointed at the pair, each of the stars will be found to be double, so that Epsilon Lyræ is really composed of four stars.

Another star, about as near to Vega as Epsilon is, lies at one corner of a parallelogram or elongated diamond, which stretches south of Vega., At the farther blunt corner of the diamond lies Beta Lyræ, marked B in the figure, a remarkable variable star. To the left of it is Gamma. The law of variation will be described in a later chapter.

To the right of Lyra, and In the Milky Way, lies Aquila, the Eagle. It will be described later.

The other constellations low in the west will be described later. At present we shall pass rapidly over the constellations of the Zodiac.

If the ecliptic were painted on the sky we should now see it rising to the north of the east point of the horizon, passing in the south to mid-sky, where it would cross the