File:Astronomy for high schools and colleges (1881) (14577231488).jpg

Identifier: astronomyforhigh00newc (find matches)
Title: Astronomy for high schools and colleges
Year: 1881 (1880s)
Authors: Newcomb, Simon, 1835-1909 Holden, Edward Singleton, 1846-1914, joint author
Subjects: Astronomy
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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oman numeralsaround the margin show the meridians of right ascension,one for every hour. In order to have the map representthe northern constellations exactly as they are, it must beheld so that the hour of sidereal time at which the observeris looking at the heavens shall be at the top of the map.SupjDOsing the observer to look at nine oclock in the even-ing, the months around the margin of the map show theregions near the zenith. He has therefore only to hold themap with the month upward and face the north, when hewill have the northern heavens as they appear, exceptthat the stars near the bottom of the map will be cut o£Eby the horizon. The first constellation to be looked for is Ursa Major, THE (JONSTELLA TIONS. 423 the Great Bear, familiarly known as the Dipper. Thetwo extreme stars in this constellation point toward thepole-star, as already explained in the opening chapter. Ursa Minor, sometimes called the Little Dipper, isthe constellation to which the pole-star belongs. About
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MAP OF THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS. 15° from the pole, in right ascension XY. houi-s, is a starof the second magnitude, ^ Ursce Minor is, about as brightas the pole-star. A curved row of three small stars liesbetween these two bright ones, and forms the handle ofthe supposed dipper. 424 ASTRONOMY. da, or * the Lady in the Chair, is near hour Iof right ascension, on the opposite side of the pole-starfrom Ursa Major, and at nearly the same distance.The six brighter stars are supposed to bear a rude resem-blance to a chair. In mythology, Cassiopeia was the queenof Cepheus, and in the mythological representation of theconstellation she is seated in the chair from which she isissuing her edicts. In hour III of right ascension is situated the constella-tion Perseus, about 10° further from the pole than Cas-siopeia. The Milky Way passes through these two con-stellations. Draco, the Dragon, is formed principally of a longrow of stars lying between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.The head of the m

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