Gemini is an important constellation, as the Sun reaches its most northern point in it in summer; this is called the summer solstice, and takes place about June 21. When the Sun has reached this point it casts the shortest shadow at mid-day and it seems to stand still for a few days before it takes its downward course. The summer solstice is halfway between the two points of the equinox.
Cancer, the Crab.—This is a small constellation of dull stars that is chiefly interesting because it once contained the point of the summer solstice, but that was ages ago.
The only thing about Cancer to attract attention is a hazy patch of light called the Manger. On each side of the Manger is a fairly bright star and this pair of stars is called the Ass’s Colts; they will help you to find Cancer.
The Manger has often been mistaken for a comet by those who lit upon it with the naked eye, but it is really a cluster of small stars.
Leo, the Lion.—There are two separate groups of stars that make up this king of beasts. The first group takes the shape of a sickle and the other the form of a square. The sickle, which is formed of six bright stars, is Leo’s head and shoulders, and the four stars of the square make up his hindquarters.
Two lines, drawn from the Big Dipper across the sky, as shown in [Fig. 176], will meet the sickle and the square.
The very bright star in the end of the handle of the sickle is Regulus, which means little king, and far to the other side of the constellation right in the end of the Lion’s tail is another bright star called Denebola.