Stránka:roll 1910.djvu/118

102 BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA from Rigel, that is, about two Dipper-rims; it is three total Dipper-lengths from the Dipper on a line drawn from the inner rim through the middle of the outer side. It is nearly in a line with Aldebaran and Betelgeuse, and as far from the latter as it is from the former. Sirius is a wonder- fully bright star, really 70 times as brilliant as the sun, is 20 times as large, and about 500,000 times as far from the earth as the sun is (Serviss). That is, if i inch stands for our dis- tance from the sun, then Sirius is 7 miles from us. Long sup- posed to be the nearest and the greatest of all the fixed stars, but Canopus in the Southern Hemisphere is known to be vastly greater, probably the greatest of all. Alpha of the Centaur is much nearer. The Dog-star has a dark companion. . (CANOPUS (Ca-no'-pus), of Argo.) Supposed to be the greatest of the stars, probably 300 or 400 times as large as our Sun; not visible in the North. . (ALPHA, of the Centaur.) The nearest of the stars. Not visible in the Northern States {Flammarion, p. 304). . ARCTURUS (Arc-tu'-rus). A red or orange star in Bootes. Continue the curve of the handle of the Dipper, about the total length of the Dipper, and it leads to Arcturus. Bootes is the Bear-hunter, because it chases the Polar Bear around the Pole. Arcturus, Denebola, and Spica make an equilateral tri- angle. It is one of the few near enough to the Earth to have its distance measured. The three great stars in the north are Arcturus, Vega, and Capella. . VEGA (Ve'-ga). A bluish-white star in Lyra. Draw a line from the inner bottom corner of the body of the Dipper through the first star to the handle from the Dipper — continue it twice the total length of the Dipper and you come to Vega. " In 12,000 years Vega will be close to the pole, as it was 14,000 years ago" {F.). Serviss says Vega is the most magnificent of all the stars to which the role of Pole-star can fall. . RIGEL (Ri'-gel). A bluish-white star in Orion. Draw a line across the brim of the Dipper, away from the handle and as long as three times the length of the whole Dipper, and it ends at Rigel, in the left foot of the Giant Hunter Orion. ** Rigel