Antares of the Scorpion. The bright star near it further north is in the Libra or Scales. The fine star as far from the Pointers as they are from the Pole is in the shoulder of the Centaur, half horse and half man.
Is he fighting anything?
Yes; he is running his spear through the mouth of the Wolf, which is stretched between Antares and the Pointers. The Centaur comes down to the Cross, and goes up north to the great Hydra, on which the Crow is perched.
What a beautiful star that is over Centaur, about twice as far from the Cross as that from the Pole!
That is Spica in the Virgin, close to the Crow. That makes up one quarter of our second circle. Looking still to the right, and north of the Cross, do you see any good-sized stars?
No, father, there is nothing worth looking at for the next quarter beyond the Cross and Ship till we get to Sirius.
Yet there are the Pneumatic Pump and the Mariner’s Compass. The great Hydra stretches itself all from the Scorpion, under the Crow, the Cup, and the Sextant, from near Antares to Canis Minor, the Little Dog.
Where is the Little Dog?
To understand that we must go on to our third quarter of the circle. You know Sirius and the three starred belt of Orion. The Belt is exactly over the equator. The three stars lead you down south to Sirius, and a line at right angles brings you to Procyon of the Little Dog, which thus forms a triangle with Sirius and the Belt. Get the Pole, Canopus, and Sirius in a line, and a little further to the north, on the one side you have the Belt, and on the other Procyon.
Though I see no stars of any consequence between the Great and Little Dogs, is there any constellation there?