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THE FIXED STARS

any star. Every one seems to be going straight ahead on its own account, never swerving to the right or left. It does not seem possible to admit the existence of bodies large and massive enough to control such rapid motions. A body massive enough to attract Arcturus from its head-

Fig. 64.—Arcturus and the Surrounding Stars in Constellation Bootes.

long course would throw all that part of the universe in which we live into disorder. The problem where the rapidly moving stars came from and whither they are going is therefore for us insoluble. What makes the case yet more difficult is that different stars move in different directions, without any seeming order, so that one motion seems to have no connection with another, unless in a few very rare cases.

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