BY D. W. BELISLE.
ARGO NAVIS.—This beautiful constellation occupies a large space in the southern hemisphere, though few of its stars are seen in our latitude. It is situated south-east of Canis Major, and may be known by three stars forming a small triangle in the prow and deck of the ship. Sixteen degrees south of this triangle is a very brilliant star in the row-lock, called Naos. This star is the south-east corner of the Egyptian X, and comes to the meridian on the 3d of March, when, for a few hours only, it is visible in our latitude. It is then eight degrees above the horizon. Seven degrees south of Naos, on the 7th of March, may be seen Gamma, a brilliant star which, for a few moments, skims the horizon, and then disappears. It is never in our latitude more than one degree above the horizon, and is rarely visible. Thirty-six degrees south of Sirius is Canopus, a star of great brilliancy and beauty. It is of the first magnitude; but, having a south declination of fifty-three degrees, it cannot be seen in the United States. Twenty-five degrees east of Canopus is Miaplacidus, a star of the first magnitude in the oars of the ship. This is also invisible to us. This constellation contains sixty-four stars, which, seen from the southern hemisphere, are of singular beauty and brilliancy.
"There they stand,
Shining in order, like a living hymn
Written in light."
According to Greek mythology, the ship was placed in the heavens to perpetuate the expedition of Jason into Colchis to recover the Golden Fleece. Hebrew mythology also claims the origin of it, and with them it perpetuates Noah's Ark, in which a remnant of every living thing was saved during the deluge. There is good foundation for the supposition that the Argonautic expedition is founded on certain Egyptian traditions relating to Noah's Ark, and that the Greeks located them within their territory, and claimed them as a triumph of Neptune, the god of the sea.
CANCER.—This constellation is situated directly east of the Twins, and occupies considerable space in the heavens. Its stars are small and scattered, yet it may readily be distinguished by three small stars in the centre, which form a triangle, and nearly in the centre of this triangle is a nebula, sufficiently luminous to be distinguished with the naked eye. The appearance of this nebula to the unassisted eye is not unlike the nucleus of a comet, and it was repeatedly mistaken for the comet of 1832, which passed in its neighborhood. On being viewed through a telescope, it resolves into distinct stars, and we thus catch a glimpse of an interminable range of systems upon systems, and firmaments upon firmaments; and, in contemplating the immensity of space that encircles them, the imagination becomes bewildered and lost. Who can trace the boundless depths of air?
Beyond the reach of telescope,