Antares will prove useful in finding the Scorpion as there are no other bright stars in that part of the sky. The position of Scorpius is shown in [Fig. 178].
Sagittarius, the Archer.—A summer constellation: It is made up of many stars which can be seen with the naked eye and is always pictured in the almanacs as a centaur, or man-horse, shooting an arrow from a bow at the heart of the Scorpion.
Sagittarius is a fine constellation, right in the path of the Milky Way, and this makes it easy to find. There are several interesting things in this constellation and among them are the clusters of stars and nebulæ.
Then there are seven stars in Sagittarius, which make a little dipper turned upside down, and because it is in the Milky Way it is called the milk dipper; when you once find it, you will never be able to see Sagittarius again without seeing the milk dipper.
Fig. 179.—Lyra, Aquila, Capricornus.
The winter solstice, that is, the most southern point which the Sun reaches, lies halfway between the constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius and also between the two stream lines of the Milky Way.
When the Sun reaches this point, which is the 20th of December, the noonday shadows are the longest and the Sun seems to again stand still until Christmas, when he will begin to move north once more.
Capricornus, the Sea-Goat.—A constellation of autumn: On the same plan that the ancients made Sagittarius a man-horse, so they made Capricornus a goat-fish.