Of course, the old astronomers of Egypt and Babylon could not have seen all the south polar stars?
We should hardly fancy it. Strange tricks have been played with the names of the constellations. Only think of English writers, sixty years ago, wanting to have your Orion called Nelson; and the University of Leipsic, to please the French emperor, proposed to steal the belt and sword from Orion, and call them the constellation of Napoleon.
I am glad they didn’t, though. But how is the line drawn to distinguish the spaces of the constellations?
Their sizes vary. Orion, for instance, takes up a great space in the heavens, while others occupy little room.
How many stars go to make up a constellation?
You mean those seen by the naked eye. These differ in number. I will run over some of the Zodiac. Aries has 66, Taurus 141, Gemini 83, Cancer 85, Leo 95, Virgo 110, Libra 51, Scorpio 44, Sagittarius 69, Capricornus 51, Aquarius 108, Pisces 113.
But there must be a lot more seen in them by the telescope.
Yes. The six stars of the Pleiades turn out to be 188. In Orion there are 2000 stars easily distinguished. Your three in the belt are 80, and the star in the sword you find to be a dozen.
Will you kindly show me, dear father, how I can find the south pole of the heavens, as there is no bright star near it?
I will try and give you a rough chart. Look at the Southern Cross. Draw an imaginary line from the top star through the one at the foot; and four times that distance in the same line will bring you to the south pole of the heavens.