A. Frederick Collins.

“The Antlers,” Congers, N. Y.

CONTENTS

chapterpage
I.How to Find the North Star[ 1]
II.How to Know the Stars[14]
III.The Sun, the Brightest of All Stars[29]
IV.The Planets, the Sun’s Kiddies[46]
V.Mother Earth, Old Adam’s Planet[66]
VI.The Moon, the Earth’s Daughter[89]
VII.Other Things in the Sky[107]
VIII.Seeing the Stars[121]
IX.The Spyglass or Telescope[136]
X.The Time o’ Day[151]
XI.The Stars of the Zodiac[166]
XII.Valuable Information[185]
Appendices[193]
Definitions of Some Words and Terms [213]
Index[221]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

fig.page
1.—Starboard showing cleats[ 2]
2.—Cardboard star[ 2]
3.—The North Star and Big Dipper on starboard[ 3]
4.—Finding the North Star and the Big Dipper[ 4]
5.—Line for sighting the North Star[ 5]
6.—The Big Dipper as we see it[ 6]
7.—The Great Bear as the ancients saw it[ 6]
8.—The Earth, Pole Star and Dog Star[ 7]
9.—The North Star and Big Dipper in winter[ 9]
10.—The North Star and Big Dipper in spring[10]
11.—The North Star and Big Dipper in summer[11]
12.—Telling time by the Big Dipper[12]
13.—Constellation of Cassiopeia[15]
14.—Cassiopeia as the Arabs saw her[16]
15.—The Little Dipper or Little Bear[16]
16.—The Little Dipper made into a Little Bear[17]
17.—The Great Square of Pegasus[18]
18.—Holding the chart of Pegasus overhead[19]
19.—The Flying Horse of Pegasus[20]
20.—Figure of a trapezium[20]
21.—Constellation of Orion[21]
22.—Orion the Mighty Hunter[22]
23.—Constellation of Auriga[23]
24.—Auriga the Shepherd[24]
25.—Constellation of Taurus[25]
26.—Taurus the Bull[26]
27.—Star map showing a part of the sky[27]
28.—Smoking glasses over candle flame[29]
29.—Seeing the sun through smoked glasses[30]
30.—A candle flame showing layers of flame[31]
31.—The sun as seen with a field glass[32]
32.—Prominences of the sun compared with the size of the earth[33]
33.—Cross section of the sun[34]
34.—Sun spot in Photosphere[35]
35.—Barometer tube[36]
36.—Barometer complete[36]
37.—Boy focussing burning glass on leaves to make fire[38]
38.—Boy sending flash signal with mirror[39]
39.—Continental Morse Code[39]
40.—Base for heliograph[40]
41.—Back view of heliograph[40]
42.—Top view of heliograph[41]
43.—Side view of heliograph[41]
44.—Heliograph complete[42]
45.—Numbered strip for sundial[43]
46.—Tin ring for sundial[43]
47.—Brass semi-circle with shadow wire[44]
48.—Sundial complete[44]
49.—To find the North by a watch[45]
50.—A star and a planet in a telescope[46]
51.—Sizes of planets compared[48]
52.—Three views of Mercury[49]
53.—Mars as seen through a telescope[49]
54.—Three views of Venus[50]
55.—The earth[51]
56.—Jupiter[51]
57.—Saturn[52]
58.—Uranus[53]
59.—Neptune[53]
60.—Marbles on top of table[54]
61.—Top view of solar system[55]
62.—Solar system in perspective[56]
63.—Egg shell on plate[57]
64.—Boy throwing stone to illustrate centrifugal force[58]
65.—Iron ball pendulum swinging in a plane[59]
66.—Iron ball pendulum swinging in curved line[60]
67.—Map of stars on sun’s path[62]
68.—Diagram of position of constellations[63]
69.—Plotting position of planet[64]
70.—Cross section of the earth[67]
71.—Sails of ship can be seen after hull has disappeared[67]
72.—Sailing round the earth[68]
73.—The earth moves under the swinging pendulum[69]
74.—If the earth’s equator were in a line with the sun[70]
75.—The earth tilted on its axis[70]
76.—Light in room to represent sun[71]
77.—Top spinning on plate[72]
78.—Circle around candle marked with seasons[73]
79.—Apple to represent earth suspended in air[74]
80.—Position of the earth and sun in autumn[74]
81.—Position of the earth and sun in winter[74]
82.—Position of the earth and sun in spring[74]
83.—Position of the earth and sun in summer[75]
84.—Cycle of seasons[75]
85.—Lines of force through and around a magnet[76]
86.—Lines of force around the earth[77]
87.—Watch spring needle for compass[77]
88.—Compass complete[77]
89.—Pocket watch-case compass[78]
90.—Dial of mariners’ compass[78]
91.—Needle for dipping needle[80]
92.—Dipping needle complete[80]
93.—Protractor showing degrees[81]
94.—Earth surface divided into degrees[81]
95.—Protractor set by dipping needle showing latitude[82]
96.—Two sticks screwed together[83]
97.—Two sticks across bucket of water[83]
98.—Protractor and sticks on drawing paper[84]
99.—Sextant in use. Shooting the sun[85]
100.—Shadows at the North Pole[87]
101.—Moon and earth joined together like a dumbbell[89]
102.—Balls connected with an elastic[90]
103.—Map showing Pacific Ocean[90]
104.—Imitating the volcanoes in the moon[91]
105.—Real volcanoes[92]
106.—Naked eye drawing of full moon[93]
107.—Experiment showing how one revolution of the moon
round the earth makes it turn once round its axis[94]
108.—Apple cut to show crescent[95]
109.—Diagram showing how the moon’s phases are made[96]
110.—Diagram of the moon’s phases as we see them[97]
111.—Boy, lamp and orange showing phases of moon[99]
112.—Attraction of the moon causes the tides[100]
113.—How spring tides are formed[101]
114.—How spring tides are formed[101]
115.—How neap tides are formed[102]
116.—How neap tides are formed[103]
117.—View of the earth from the moon[104]
118.—Telling time by the moon[105]
119.—Eclipse of the moon by the earth (experiment)[107]
120.—Moon eclipsed by the earth (diagram)[108]
121.—The moon as seen when in partial eclipse[108]
122.—Eclipse of the sun by the moon (experiment)[109]
123.—The sun eclipsed by the moon (diagram)[109]
124.—Total eclipse of the sun, showing path of the sun[110]
125.—Total eclipse of the sun, from photo[111]
126.—Annular eclipse of the sun[111]
127.—Partial eclipse of the sun[111]
128.—Comet showing Nucleus, Coma and tail[113]
129.—An ellipse, parabola and hyperbola[113]
130.—Head and tail of comet do not obey the same laws[114]
131.—Halley’s comet, from photo[115]
132.—Meteorite of iron etched with acid[116]
133.—The Milky Way[117]
134.—Different forms of nebulæ[119]
135.—Ripples or waves on water[124]
136.—Vibration of a bell[125]
137.—Sound waves in the air set up by bell[126]
138.—Waves in the ether[127]
139.—Forming an image with a lens[128]
140.—The human eye[128]
141.—Light reflected by an apple[132]
142.—Light reflected. Spoon in glass of water[132]
143.—How light is reflected[133]
144.—Prism[133]
145.—Prism forming a spectrum[134]
146.—Convex lens[134]
147.—Concave lens[135]
148.—Lipperhey’s boy discovers telescope[137]
149.—Disk of cardboard for pinhole telescope[138]
150.—Cross section of pinhole telescope[138]
151.—The telescope (Galileo)[139]
152.—Opera glasses[140]
153.—Pasteboard mounting of lens[140]
154.—Pasteboard lens mounting[141]
155.—Opera glass telescope. Cross section[141]
156.—Telescope. Cross section view[142]
157.—Magnifying power of telescope[143]
158.—Full view of moon[145]
159.—Glass globe cracked[146]
160.—Map of the moon[147]
161.—The moon girl[147]
162.—Diagram showing how to find solar noon[153]
163.—Circle divided into 360 degrees and 24 hours[157]
164.—The earth divided into 24 standard meridians[158]
165.—Standard time meridians in U. S.[159]
166.—Standard time at different cities[161]
167.—Ruled glass in transit instrument[162]
168.—The time ball[164]
169.—Receiving time signals by wireless[165]
170.—The zodiac as invented by the ancients[167]
171.—The zodiac as we know it today[167]
172.—Constellations and signs of the zodiac[170]
173.—Cardboard zodiac[171]
174.—Constellations of zodiac in circle[172]
175.—Constellations of Aries the Ram[174]
176.—Constellations of the Lion and Big Dipper[177]
177.—Constellations of Virgo the Virgin[179]
178.—Libra, Lion, Scorpio, Virgo[179]
179.—Lyra, Aquila, Capricornus[181]
180.—Camera pointing to North Star[186]
181.—Star trails[187]
182.—Boy looking through prism at slit in cardboard[189]
183.—Fraunhofer’s lines[190]
184.—The spectroscope[191]
185.—Geometrical figures[195]
186.—Kullmer star finder[209]

THE BOOK OF THE STARS

CHAPTER I
HOW TO FIND THE NORTH STAR

If you want to know something about the stars which will be helpful as well as entertaining, the first thing you should do is to be able to find the North Star.

The North Star is taken as a starting point in the sky for two very good reasons: first, of all the thousands of stars which the eye can see, it moves the least; and second, it is north from any place on the Earth’s surface from which it can be seen.