THE BOOK OF STARS

By A. Frederick Collins

The Book of Wireless
The Book of Stars
The Book of Magic
The Book of Electricity
Gas, Gasoline and Oil Engines
The Amateur Chemist
The Amateur Mechanic
How to Fly
The Home Handy Book
Keeping Up with Your Motor Car
Motor Car Starting and Lighting

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Publishers New York

THE BOOK OF STARS

BEING A SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF THE STARS
AND THEIR USES TO BOY LIFE

WRITTEN TO CONFORM TO THE TESTS
OF THE BOY SCOUTS

BY

A. FREDERICK COLLINS

“THE BOOK OF WIRELESS”;
“THE BOOK OF MAGIC,” ETC.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON

1920

Copyright, 1915, 1920, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Printed in the United States of America

TO THE BURNHAMS

WITH PLEASANT MEMORIES OF
MOUNT HAMILTON NIGHTS

A WORD TO YOU

The stars are the friends of everyone who knows them.

If you have never stood out in the open and watched the stars on a clear night, you have missed the most wonderful sight to be seen from this little old mud ball of ours, and my advice to you is not to let another night go by without making friends with the stars.

By the stars I mean everything in the far off sky that we can see, and this includes the white hot points of light we call the fixed stars, the blazing sun, the bright planets, the pale, cold moon, the fiery comets and the burning meteors.

All of these things in the sky are so easily ours to look at, to enjoy and to use, that we are apt not to take them at their true value, just as many of us do not appreciate to the fullest the green grass, the trees, the birds and all the other good things we have without price.

You may wonder how you can make any use of the stars, but there are dozens of ways by which they will serve your purpose, from finding the north to lighting a fire, and from telling the time to sending a signal, and they are all easy to you when you know how.

All the apparatus you need so that you can know the stars is a pair of good, sharp eyes, and if you are fitted with these you are ready to begin your work in starcraft this very night.

A great many folks believe that they must have a telescope with which to see the stars, and while, of course, a great deal more can be seen with a telescope than without one, still it must be remembered that the telescope was invented not longer than four hundred years ago and that many important discoveries in astronomy were made long before the telescope was invented. And, by the way, it was a boy who invented the telescope.

A small telescope, or a pair of field or opera glasses, will show you many things in the sky which you cannot see with the naked eye, and if you have one of these instruments, by all means use it. On the other hand, you can get along very well without a glass of any kind until you have learned the things that are set down in this book.

To win a merit badge in the organization of Boy Scouts, a boy must pass certain tests; but it is just as necessary for you to know the stars as it is for a Boy Scout, and this book is so written that anyone who studies it can pass the Boy Scout tests, and there are a few other things in it which everyone should know.

Once that you have an insight into starcraft, you will never need to be told again how very interesting and useful the stars are, and once that you have mastered the chief points in this book, you should make or buy a telescope having a two-or three-inch objective and get a little closer to the stars.

If any questions should come up which you don’t understand, if you will write to me, I will write to you.

A. Frederick Collins.

“The Antlers,” Congers, N. Y.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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.

It must be plain then that this star is the most important one of all to us, for by its friendly light we can easily tell the points of the compass, though we may be lost in an unknown land or shipwrecked on a strange sea. That is, of course, we can easily find the points of the compass if we have first learned how to find the North Star.

How to Make a Star Finder.—To find the North Star for the first time is a very easy matter if the simple directions given below for making and using a star chart, or star finder, are followed.

Get a smooth pine board, about 16 inches wide, 20 inches long and ⅞ inch thick; make two cleats of wood, each of which is 1 inch wide, 12 inches long and ½ inch thick, and screw these to the board near the ends and on the same side, to prevent the board from warping, as shown in [Fig. 1]. If a drawing board of any size is at hand, it will serve the purpose just as well as a homemade board.

The next thing to do is to obtain a sheet of cardboard about 12 by 16 inches and cover one side of it with a dull black paint; when the paint is thoroughly dry lay it, black side up, on the smooth side of the board.

Fig. 1.—Starboard Showing Cleats.

From another sheet of white cardboard cut out seven stars, about the size and shape shown in [Fig. 2], and cut out another star nearly twice as large, to represent the North Star.

Now place the white stars on the black surface of the cardboard in the positions shown in [Fig. 3], using the smaller stars to form the outline of the Big Dipper and the large star for the North Star.

Fig. 2.—Cardboard Star.

When all of the stars have been properly arranged, fasten them to the black cardboard with a bit of glue or mucilage. Push a thumb tack, or a pin, through the center of the large star, which is the North Star, and well into the board, so that the chart, or star map, can be turned round on the board with the North Star as its axis. When this is done your star finder is complete.

Finding the North Star.—All being in readiness, take this chart, or star finder, out-of-doors some evening when the seeing is good and all the stars in the northern sky are shining brightly, and face about north, holding the starboard in front of you, as shown in [Fig. 4].

Usually the direction of north is well known, and yet there are some places where the streets and roads do not run due north and south, and for this reason it is sometimes hard to tell exactly which way is north. In such a place either use a compass to get your bearing, or, if you haven’t a compass, face about as nearly north as you know how.

Fig. 3.—The North Star and Big Dipper on Starboard.

(Position of Big Dipper in Autumn.)

Having looked at your star chart carefully raise your eyes from the board until they are in a line with the northern horizon, that is, the line where the earth and the sky seem to meet. Keep on raising your eyes in a straight line until they reach a group of stars, which is about 40 degrees above the horizon. ([See Fig. 98].) The line for sighting the North Star is shown in [Fig. 5].

All the stars of this group are very faint except one and this particular star will stand out bright, distinct and alone, for the other two stars of the same group which can be plainly seen are not very close to it. The star you have found is the North Star, or Pole Star, or to give it its proper name Polaris (pronounced Po-la´-ris).

Fig. 4.—Finding the North Star and the Big Dipper.

To make sure you have not mistaken some other star for the North Star it will be a good idea to prove your find. Search around in the northern sky a little and you will see a group of seven bright stars fixed in the sky just as the cardboard stars are fixed on the black surface of your chart, and which are shown in [Figs. 4] and [5].

The Big Dipper.—This group of seven stars is called the Big Dipper because if a broken line joined all the stars together a very good figure of a big dipper would be formed. A group of stars is called a constellation, and this constellation is shown as we see it in [Fig. 6], and as the ancient shepherds and sailors pictured it in [Fig. 7].

Fig. 5.—Line for Sighting the North Star.

In England this group of stars, or constellation, is sometimes called the Plough, for our friends across the pond see in it the likeness of a plough as well as of a dipper. It is also called the Great Bear the world over after the ancient name given it, but it requires some stretch of the imagination to liken it to that nubbly short-tailed animal.

All these fancy names were given this great group of stars long before the birth of Christ and by these names the constellation is still familiarly called. Astronomers of the present time also call this constellation the Great Bear, but they say it in Latin and so it becomes Ursa Major, which is a very high toned and scholastic sounding word. But the Big Dipper is a name that is good enough for all ordinary purposes and so we’ll use it.

Fig. 6.—The Big Dipper As We See It.

The stars forming the Big Dipper stand out so bright and clear in the northern sky that you won’t have the slightest trouble in finding it, especially if you have the star finder at hand to help you.

In using the star finder there is one thing you should keep well in mind and that is that the Big Dipper as we see it turns round the North Star, like the hands of a clock, but in the opposite direction. That is, the Big Dipper, when below the North Star, seems to turn round the North Star from left to right.

Fig. 7.—The Great Bear as the Ancients Saw It.

In a word the North Star forms one end of the axis round which not only the Big Dipper but the whole starry heavens seem to revolve as though they were fastened to the spokes of a great wheel. This is the way it seems to us. As a matter of fact, though, all the stars are fixed in their positions in the sky, and the reason they seem to revolve round the North Star is because the Earth from which we see the stars turns round instead.

Fig. 8.—The Earth, Pole Star and Dog Star.

By looking at the drawing shown in [Fig. 8], it will be seen that the north pole of our Earth is directly under the North Star,—hence the name Pole Star—and that if we could draw a line through the center of the Earth from the south pole to the north pole and extend the line far enough, or produce it as it is called, it would finally meet the North Star.

Let us take, now, another star, called the Dog Star—its real name is Sirius (pronounced Sir´-i-us)—which is not far from a line with and overhead of the Earth’s equator; suppose we are some place on the earth where we can see both the North Star and the Dog Star at the same time, and keeping in mind that the Earth is turning round on its axis; it must be plain, then, that though both of these stars are fixed in the sky and never change their positions we on the Earth will turn away from the Dog Star until the Earth has turned half way round, but we will not turn away from the North Star.

The eye, however, is easily deceived; for example, if we are on a moving train nearby objects, such as houses, trees, etc., will seem to be moving in the opposite direction to which we are going while we seem to be standing perfectly still. The illusion is much more complete when we are seeing the stars, for the motion of the Earth as it spins on its axis and shoots round the Sun in its orbit is so steady that we cannot notice it; for this reason it seems as if it is the stars which are moving and that we are standing still.

It is easy to understand now why the Big Dipper, and all the other stars, seem to move in great circles round the North Star as well as why the Big Dipper marked with cardboard stars on your chart may not have the same relative position to the horizon as the Big Dipper of real stars in the northern sky, when you view them together as in [Fig. 4].

Not only does the revolution of the Earth on its own axis once in every 24 hours cause the Big Dipper to seem to turn round the North Star, but the yearly journey of the Earth round the Sun makes a change in the position of the Big Dipper as we see it at different seasons of the year. And what has been said about the Big Dipper is just as true of all the other constellations.

For these reasons we would need an almanac to help us keep track of the exact hour when the Big Dipper would be in a given position for every night in the year. But you can always find the Big Dipper any evening in autumn about nine o’clock, by remembering that it is turned right side up as shown in [Figs. 3] and [4]. Again, if you look for the Big Dipper in winter at about nine o’clock in the evening you will find it standing on its handle a little to the east as in [Fig. 9]. In spring about 9 o’clock, it will have moved on round the North Star until it is upside down, as in [Fig. 10], while in summer, at 9, it is hung up by its handle high in the sky, as shown in [Fig. 11]. The four positions of the Big Dipper during the same hours of the different seasons are shown in [Fig. 12], which also shows the four positions of the Big Dipper during each 24 hours.

Fig. 9.—The North Star and Big Dipper in Winter.

By turning the chart round on the board counter-clockwise you will soon come to a point where the Big Dipper of paper stars and the Big Dipper of real stars are in exactly the same position.

Fig. 10.—The North Star and Big Dipper in Spring.

You have, no doubt, noticed that a line joins the two end stars of the Big Dipper and the North Star in [Figs. 3], [4], [10], and [11]. These two end stars of the Big Dipper are called pointer stars, for they point directly to the North Star; that is if we draw a line with the eye through the pointer stars and produce, or continue the line, it will run into the North Star, nearly.

By using these pointer stars it is easy for any one who knows the Big Dipper to be able to find the North Star on any clear night in the year, for the Big Dipper can be seen the year round.

The seven stars which form the Big Dipper are not the brightest stars in the sky by any means, yet each one is a great white sun as large or larger than our own Sun.

Fig. 11.—The North Star and Big Dipper in Summer.

Now look sharply at the middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper, whose name is Mizar (pronounced Me´-zar), and see if you can make out another little star whose name is Alcor (pronounced Al´-cor) hugging up close to it. The Arabs who named them called these two stars the Horse and its Rider. If you can see this little star Alcor you will have cause to shake hands with yourself, for if your eyes are good you can see it and if they are only fair to middling you cannot see it. This is one of the famous Arab tests for eyesight.

Fig. 12.—Telling Time by the Big Dipper.

How to Tell Time by the Big Dipper.—We have seen how the Big Dipper seems to turn round the North Star and this being the case we can use the pointer stars for the hour hand of a big star clock.

You must always bear in mind, though, that while the hands of a clock turn from right to left, the Big Dipper swings round from left to right; and there is another thing to be kept in mind and that is while the hour hand of a clock goes twice round in 24 hours, the Big Dipper revolves only once in 24 hours, and for this reason the hand formed by the pointer stars of the Big Dipper moves only half as fast as the hour hand of a watch or clock.

Each quarter of the circle, then, is equal to 6 hours and by dividing the quarter circles into 6 equal parts you can mark off the hours. The best way to do this at first is to make a large drawing of [Fig. 12] on your starboard and compare it with the Big Dipper; then draw an imaginary circle round the North Star in the sky so that it will just clear the last star in the handle of the Big Dipper. With some practice you will be able to tell the time within half an hour or less.

In telling the time by the Big Dipper you must remember that the stars in turning round the north pole run fast an hour every 15 days, and this makes them gain 6 hours in 3 months and so they gain a complete revolution in a year. But every time the Big Dipper makes one complete turn round the North Star, one complete day, as measured by star time, will have passed.

The Pointers of the Big Dipper are in the four positions, shown in the figure, on the following dates at 8 P.M.: May 1, 24th hour; Aug. 1, 6th hour; Nov. 1, 12th hour; Feb. 1, 18th hour. In the same way, on Sept. 1 at 8 P.M. the pointers will be at 8 and they will also be there at 7 P.M. on Sept. 16.

CHAPTER II
HOW TO KNOW THE STARS

One of the tests a Boy Scout must pass in order to obtain his badge of merit for starcraft is to be able to name and point out twelve principal constellations, and every boy, whether he is a scout or not, should be able to do the same thing for his own good.

The word constellation is formed from two Latin words, the first being con which means together, and the last being stella which means star, or in plain English, constellation means stars together.

In your efforts to find the North Star you have already learned one of the principal constellations—that of the Big Dipper—and to learn more of them will be even easier and much more fun, for now you have learned the game.

The Constellation of Cassiopeia.—To find the constellation of Cassiopeia (pronounced Cas´-i-o-pe´-ah) again make use of your star finder. Remove all the stars from the blackened cardboard and rearrange them so that the North Star is in the center of the board and the Big Dipper is on the left hand side with the two pointer stars in a line with the North Star. On this chart the Big Dipper must be made much smaller than the one described in the first chapter.

Cut out five more stars from white cardboard and place them on the opposite side of the board from the Big Dipper in such a manner that they will form the letter W being careful to fasten the stars to the cardboard so that the letter W stands in the exact position shown in [Fig. 13].

A line drawn through the pointers of the Big Dipper and produced will, as before, pass through the North Star, and if it is extended an equal distance beyond it, will pass very closely to the constellation of Cassiopeia; this line will aid you in placing the stars on your chart in the right positions.

Having thus prepared the star finder, take it out into the open when night comes on and begin by locating the North Star and the Big Dipper. Now set the Big Dipper and the North Star of your star chart in a position which to your eye corresponds to the Big Dipper and the North Star in the sky. Follow the line from the pointer stars to the North Star and beyond when the great letter W which is the constellation of Cassiopeia, will stand out so clear and bright that you will wonder why you have never seen it before.

Fig. 13.—Constellation of Cassiopeia.

[Fig. 14] shows this group of stars and the outline of the unhappy Cassiopeia who is as often standing on her head as on her feet, but it requires the imagination of an Arabian star-gazer to see the likeness.

The Little Dipper.—Although some of the stars which form the Little Dipper are very faint it is included in our list of 12 principal constellations for two reasons: first, because it contains the very important North Star, and second, because it is easy to find.

Fig. 14.—Cassiopeia as the Arabs Saw Her.

Fig. 15.—The Little Dipper or Little Bear.

The North Star is the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper. The two outer stars which form the bowl of the Little Dipper, and which are called the Guardians of the Pole, are quite bright, and after a few trials you can easily put in the other stars that are much fainter, and so complete in your mind’s eye the outline of the Little Dipper as you have it on your chart. [Fig. 15] shows the arrangement of the stars in the Little Dipper and the relative position of the Little Dipper to the Big Dipper.

The Little Dipper is also called the Little Bear and this latter name when done into Latin becomes Ursa Minor, which is its scientific name. How the Little Dipper was made into a Little Bear by the ancients is shown in [Fig. 16].

The Great Square of Pegasus.—Unlike the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper and Cassiopeia, which are so close to the North Star that they never set and hence can be seen at any hour of the night and at any season of the year, we now come to some constellations which are quite distant from the North Star and are for this reason to be seen only at certain times of the year. The Great Square of Pegasus can always be seen on clear, crisp nights during the autumn months.

Fig. 16.—The Little Dipper
Made into a Little Bear.

To find a constellation that is as far away from the North Star as Pegasus (pronounced Peg’-a-sus) is not an easy thing to do, at least the first time you try it, for while our chart is marked with a straight line the sky is like a great bowl and a line produced from the North Star to Pegasus will, in consequence, not be a straight line, but a curved line. However, with your star finder charted like the diagram shown in [Fig. 17] you will be able to locate Pegasus with very little effort.

After taking off all the stars from the cardboard surface, pin or paste the North Star to the lower left hand corner of the black surface of the cardboard and place the five stars of Cassiopeia in their proper positions. Now draw a line from the North Star through Cassiopeia just below the star marked β which is the Greek letter beta ([see Appendix C]) and produce, or extend that line until the edge of the cardboard is reached. On the extreme right hand end of this line set two stars, which we will also call pointer stars, and place two more stars above them so that a nearly perfect square will be formed as shown in [Fig. 17].

Fig. 17.—The Great Square of Pegasus.

To find Pegasus take the star chart out-of-doors, say some evening in November about 9 o’clock, for the Great Square will then be on the meridian, that is, on a line passing over your head and which runs north and south across the sky. This time, instead of looking down on the chart, as you did in finding the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, turn the board bottom side up, as shown in [Fig. 18], but still keeping the cardboard North Star pointing north and the four stars of Pegasus pointing toward the south.

By looking over your chart into the sky and following an imaginary line with your eye from the North Star through Cassiopeia past the star β (beta) and lengthening this line toward the equator in the southern sky you will come upon four bright, white stars which form the Great Square of Pegasus and you have added another and fourth constellation to your list.

The practical value of knowing the mighty constellation of Pegasus is that you can always find the north, by means of its friendly stars, though the North Star, the Big and Little Dippers and Cassiopeia are hidden by clouds. To find the north you only have to wait until Pegasus gets very high in the sky and run an imaginary line through the pointer stars of Pegasus and produce it until it reaches the northern horizon.

Fig. 18.—Holding the Chart of Pegasus Overhead.

The Great Square of Pegasus was fancifully pictured by the ancients as a Flying Horse and, curiously enough, with only half a body at that, as shown in [Fig. 19]. To those who do not know the lore of the stars it is not so easy to see in the Great Square the fabled winged steed who still continues his flight through the sky just as he did when he was invented over four thousand years ago.

Fig. 19.—The Flying Horse
of Pegasus.

Fig. 20.—Figure of a
Trapezium.

The Mighty Orion.—The brightest constellation in the whole sky is Orion (pronounced O-ri´-on), the Great Hunter, as the ancients liked to imagine this group of stars.

With the exception of the Big Dipper, Orion is the easiest of all the constellations to find provided you look for it at the right time of the year, which is during the winter months.

To locate Orion cut out of cardboard seven large stars and three small stars. Near the lower edge of the blackened cardboard pin two large and two small stars to form what is called a trapezium, that is, four straight lines forming a figure, none of which are parallel, as shown in [Fig. 20]. About halfway across the figure pin three large stars in a row, at equal distances apart and tilted a little, as shown in [Fig. 21].

Fig. 21.—Constellation of Orion.

Fig. 22.—Orion the Mighty Hunter.

These three stars form the Belt of Orion, for a mighty hunter must needs have a belt, and this belt of bright stars is one of the best known groups in the whole sky. Across the belt and nearly at right angles to it pin three small stars; these small stars form the sword or dagger of the fanciful hunter but they are of more use to us than to him, as will be seen presently.

At the top of the star chart pin the North Star so that it will be in a direct line with the three small stars forming the Sword of Orion. Your star chart of Orion is now ready to be compared with the one in the sky. The best time to find Orion is in January about 9 o’clock, when the constellation is high in the southern sky, though he may be seen shining in all his glory all winter long.

On taking your star chart out-of-doors hold it overhead just as you did in finding the Great Square of Pegasus; now look toward the south until your eyes rest on the equator running across the southern sky from east to west and you will see the mighty Orion, though you may not recognize the lion skin he holds.

Having found Orion draw an imaginary line through the three small stars called his sword and produce this line until it meets the North Star. Once you have found Orion you will never again require the help of a star chart to locate him, but it is a good plan to look him up as often as you can, and to draw the imaginary line through his sword and on to the North Star, for should you ever lose your way or want to find the north and the North Star should be hidden by clouds a line through the Sword of Orion when Orion is in the south will direct you as certainly as the needle of a compass. [Fig. 22] shows the fabulous Orion as a giant hunter holding the skin of a lion which he killed, according to Arabian star-lore.

Fig. 23.—Constellation of Auriga.

Fig. 24.—Auriga the Shepherd.

Auriga, the Charioteer or Shepherd.—After finding Orion the constellation of Auriga (pronounced Aw-re´-ga) will get right in your way so that you cannot by any chance miss it. This is because the chief star in Auriga and whose name is Capella (pronounced Ca-pel´-la) lies nearly on the line drawn through the Sword of Orion and produced to the North Star as shown in [Figs. 21], [23] and [27].

Auriga was pictured by the Assyrians as a charioteer, but the early Greeks saw in this constellation a good shepherd, who carried a goat on his back and two kids in his arms. The brilliant star Capella is supposed to be the goat and the three small stars which form a triangle close to Capella are the kids as shown in [Fig. 24].

When the North Star cannot be seen the star Capella will prove a useful aid with Orion in finding the north; and since it is just about half way between Orion and the North Star it may again be useful in judging the distance of the North Star from Orion when the former star is obscured.

The Constellation of Taurus.—The last constellation which need concern us here is Taurus (pronounced To´-rus) the Bull. Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac of which we will have something to say in [Chapter XI]. By the time you have learned the foregoing constellations you will be able to locate Taurus without using your star chart, for it lies to the north of Orion, to the south of Auriga and a little to the west of both of these constellations as you will see in [Figs. 25] and [27].

Fig. 25.—Constellation of Taurus.

Fig. 26.—Taurus the Bull.

The little group of stars nearby is the Pleiades (pronounced plē-ya-dez), and is a part of the constellation of Taurus. There are six small but bright stars grouped closely together when seen by the ordinary person, but if you have very sharp eyes you may be able to make out one or two more.

It is believed that the stars of Taurus were the first to be woven into a group or constellation by the ancients, and it is thought that the Bull of Light, as Taurus was called, was known long before the time of Abraham, or over four thousand years ago. [Fig. 26] shows Taurus as the Egyptians saw him. The bright red star which sets in the right eye of Taurus is called Aldebaran (pronounced Al-deb´-a-ran) and is one of the brightest stars in the sky. In the star chart shown in [Fig. 27] the different constellations you have learned are grouped together in the same positions in which they are placed in the sky.

Fig. 27.—Star Map Showing Six Chief Constellations.

Six stars of the first magnitude, that is 6 of the 20 stars which shine the brightest (see Appendices F and G), are also shown on the chart, [Fig. 27]. By following the equator from west to east across the bowl of the sky, and which runs right through the middle of Orion, you will find to the west and south of it the brightest star in the heavens—Sirius, the Dog Star, so named because it is in the constellation of Canis Major, which is Latin for Big Dog.

Of the other stars on the chart, Capella in Auriga is the next brightest star, and Arcturus (pronounced Arc-tu´-rus) which can be found by following the handle of the Big Dipper, is third in brilliancy. The fourth place is held by Rigel (pronounced Rai´-gel) in Orion; Betelgeux (pronounced Bet-el-gerz´) in Taurus is fifth in order, and Aldebaran in Orion comes last.

There are many other constellations and a large number of other stars but when you are able to name and point out those described in this chapter you will have made a very good running start.

CHAPTER III
THE SUN, THE BRIGHTEST OF ALL STARS

In naming over the stars of the first magnitude—that is, the stars that shine the brightest—there is one star I did not mention and yet as we see it it is brighter than all the other stars put together.

This great star is our Sun and since we owe everything we possess on Earth to him—light, heat, power and even life itself—he should and does stand in a class by himself, though after all he is just as much of a fixed star as the North Star, the Dog Star, or any of the thousands of other stars which we see as mere points of light in the sky.

How to See the Sun.—You must never look directly at the Sun with the naked eye, for he is so powerful that his light will injure your sight for all time.

Fig. 28.—Smoking Glasses
over Candle Flame.

Fig. 29.—Seeing the Sun
through Smoked Glasses.

There are several ways, though, to observe the Sun without danger to your eyes and as all of these are simple and cost nothing you can easily try them. The most common way is to take a bit of window glass, say an inch square, and smoke one side of it over the flame of a candle, as shown in [Fig. 28].

When this blackened glass is held closely to the eye, as shown in [Fig. 29], and the latter is directed toward the Sun, a little circle of light will appear on the film of smoke and the surface of the Sun may be examined at length and without the least danger.

A decided improvement over the smoked glass idea is to use a piece of red, or a piece of yellow glass, as an eyepiece, or, better, place the red and yellow glasses together and bind the edges with paper. Another plan to see the Sun without injury to the eyes is to make a hole with the point of a needle in a visiting card and look through the hole directly at the Sun.

A still better view of the Sun can be obtained if a pinhole telescope is used. A telescope of this kind can be easily made without tools, metals or lenses. It is described and pictured in [Chapter IX].

To observe the Sun hold the pinhole end of the tube closely to your eye, to cut off all the outside light, and sight the tube so that the Sun shines directly into your eye through the pinhole, and you will get a very brilliant view of the great yellow star which we call the Sun.

What the Sun is Made of.—When a candle is lit the wax of which it is made begins to melt and this is drawn up the wick where it is changed into gas and the burning gas forms the flame.

The flame of a candle is made up of four parts, which are really layers of heated gas surrounding the wick, as shown in [Fig. 30]. In the center of the flame is the wick; the first layer of gas is at the bottom of the flame and this gives a greenish-blue light; the second layer is the dark and cool part of the flame; the third layer is a cone of heated gas which gives out the bright light, and surrounding this cone is a faint blue light which can just be seen.

We know, of course, what the candle is made of and we also know why it burns and in a way how it gives off light and heat because we have examined it closely, but if we could get no nearer a candle flame than a quarter of a mile it is very doubtful if we could ever be able to learn anything about the real source of the flame—that is its greasy wick.

Fig. 30.—A Candle Flame
Showing Layers of Flame.

It is much the same with the Sun, for we can only examine it at a great distance and know it by its action on our senses, for the flaming layers of the Sun are so bright that no one ever saw through them, so the real source of its light and heat—the core of the Sun—remains unknown. [Fig. 31] shows the Sun as seen with a field glass.

Since the Sun gives out light and heat it is easy to believe that it is a great ball of very hot gases and from what astronomers have learned of him with their wonderful instruments this idea seems to be pretty well founded.

The Sun must be a tremendously hot body—for the iron and other metals in it are not only melted but they boil away like water and are changed into gases. Under certain conditions gigantic flames, called prominences, shown in [Fig. 32], can be seen to leap from the edge, or limb, as it is called, of the Sun, and finally, great spots, called sun spots, are formed on the Sun that are so large a dozen worlds the size of our Earth could be dropped into any one of them and rattled around like marbles in a cigar box. These are a few of the reasons we are led to believe that the Sun is a seething ball of fire.

The Sun’s Layers of Flame.—Just as the wick of a candle is surrounded with several kinds of flame, so the Sun has three layers of flame around a central core.

The core of the Sun is believed to be formed of liquid gases which are about as thick as New Orleans molasses.

Around this core, which is the real source of the Sun’s light and heat—and which has never been seen—is a dark layer of flame usually called the Sun’s surface; this layer, which is covered with numerous dark spots like freckles on the face of a red-headed boy, is called the photosphere, and it is this part of the Sun which gives out the most light.

Fig. 31.—The Sun as We See It.

The second layer, which is called the chromosphere, is about 5,000 miles thick, and if you could imagine the whole world afire you would then have but a faint idea of what a mighty seething sea of flame this layer is. It is in this layer of luminous gases that terrific explosions take place and red tongues of flame, or prominences, are shot out for upwards of 300,000 miles.

Around the chromosphere is another layer of flame which extends for hundreds of thousands of miles in all directions. This last layer is called the corona, and it is as thin as the stuff of which dreams are made. It is formed of the gas coronium and since it is so thin it can never be seen except when there is a total eclipse, that is, when the Moon passes between us and the Sun, which will be explained in [Chapter VII], and so shuts out the intense light of the other two layers. A cross section of the Sun is shown in [Fig. 33].

Fig. 32.—Prominences of the Sun Compared with the Size of the Earth.

Sun Spots and Their Effect on the Earth.—Very often great spots are seen on the Sun’s surface. These purplish black spots appear to be holes, like the craters of volcanoes, in the photosphere, or layer of flame next to the core of the Sun. The sun spots are caused by great eruptions which take place in the core of the Sun, and these sun spots are sometimes over 100,000 miles in diameter, when they can be easily seen with the naked eye; indeed if a sun spot has a diameter only as large as that of our Earth, it can be seen with the naked eye, protected, of course, with either a smoked or a colored glass, or better, with a pinhole telescope; in any case it will look like a black speck about the size of a pinhead. [Fig. 34] shows a view of a sun spot made through a large telescope.

Fig. 33.—Cross Section of the Sun.

Whenever the sun changes his spots magnetic storms take place on the Earth, when compass needles, telegraph and telephone apparatus and wireless systems are disturbed. When a large number of spots appear at the same time on the Sun the Northern Lights are often very bright. Sun spots have something to do with our weather, but the effects are not yet well understood.

The Sun and the Weather.—Of course the Sun has everything to do with the weather, but to be able to predict the kind of weather we shall have even the next day is a very hard thing to do.

The changes in the weather are caused by the heat of the Sun alone. The heat of the Sun produces clouds by vaporizing the water of rivers, lakes and oceans. He causes hot and cold weather by heating some parts of the air more than other parts, and this sets the air in motion and we call this movement of the air the wind.

Fig. 34.—Sun Spot in Photosphere.

Changes of heat, moisture and wind are the cause of all the kinds of weather we have, and we have a good many kinds, be it hot or cold, dry or wet, calm or windy, clear or stormy, good, bad and indifferent.

To Forecast the Weather by a Barometer.—The best way to tell what the coming weather will be in the next few hours is by the rise and the fall of the pressure of the air, or barometric pressure, as it is called.

A simple barometer for showing the changes in the pressure of the air can be made of a glass tube about 3 feet long, ½ inch in diameter, and closed at one end as shown in [Fig. 35]. Fill the tube with mercury and, placing your finger over the mouth of the tube, turn it upside down and put the open end into a cup, or other vessel, which is half full of mercury; in placing it into the cup be careful that no air gets into the tube.

Only a small part of the mercury in the tube will run into the cup and this will leave a space in the top of the tube. Now fasten a yardstick, the purpose of which is to show the changes in the height of the mercury in the tube, with a string or wire to the tube, and your barometer will be complete, as shown in [Fig. 36].

Since the air presses on the mercury in the cup but not in the tube, the pressure of the air on the mercury in the cup just balances the weight of the mercury in the tube and, hence, any increase or decrease in the pressure of the air, which ordinarily is about 15 pounds to the square inch, is shown by the rising or the falling of the mercury in the tube.

The barometer in helping to forecast the weather shows that: (1) when the mercury rises in the tube, that is when it is high, the weather will be fair; (2) when the mercury falls in the tube, that is when it is low, bad weather may be looked for; (3) when the mercury suddenly falls in the tube a storm is coming, and (4) when the mercury continues at a high point the weather will remain fair.

Fig. 35.—Barometer Tube.

Fig. 36.—Barometer Complete.

To remember these forecasts easily they may be briefly stated thus:

• (1) A high barometer shows fair weather.
• (2) A low barometer shows bad weather.
• (3) A sudden fall of the barometer shows a coming storm.
• (4) A constant high barometer shows continued fair weather.

To Forecast the Weather by Signs.—It will seldom happen that a boy who goes camping, or one who otherwise wants to know what the weather is likely to be on the morrow, will have a barometer to consult, so the next best thing is to know how to read the weather signs:

(1) “Red at night is the sailor’s delight” is an old forecast, and means that the morrow will be a fine day.

(2) “Red in the morning is the sailor’s warning,” which means that rain is coming.

(3) A golden sunset is a sign that a high wind is coming.

(4) A yellow sunset is a sign that rain is coming.

(5) When the Sun sets clear it is a sign of a fine day on the morrow.

(6) When the Sun sets behind a cloud it is a sign that the next day will be cloudy or rainy.

(7) A misty dawn shows the coming of a fine day.

(8) A low dawn, that is when the Sun shines clear on rising, shows the coming of a fine day.

(9) A high dawn, that is when the Sun rises over a haze, or clouds, shows wind.

To Light a Fire with the Heat of the Sun.—A small magnifying glass, or burning glass, is simply a convex lens. It is a little piece of apparatus that every boy should always carry with him just as he does his pocket knife and compass. A lens 1½ inches in diameter and having a 4-inch focus may be bought for 25 or 30 cents.

A lens of this kind will be found very useful in many ways, for it will greatly magnify any object such as cloth, leaves, insects, finger-prints, in fact anything you may wish to see better than you could with your naked eye, though you cannot use a single lens for a spyglass. A magnifying glass will also frequently come in handy for lighting fires, by using the Sun’s rays when matches are scarce.

While a Boy Scout would disdain to use paper to kindle a fire, yet if a scrap of paper is at hand it will prove a good medium on which to direct the rays of the Sun with a burning glass. If you have no paper focus your glass on some punk or very dry leaves, as shown in [Fig. 37].

To focus the glass means to hold it away from the paper or leaves so that the rays of the Sun are brought to a point like the sharpened end of a lead pencil; when all the rays of sunlight, each of which carries a little heat, are brought to a point, they will make enough heat to light a piece of paper or a dry leaf.

Fig. 37.—Boy Focusing Burning Glass
on Leaves to Make Fire.

Signaling with the Sun’s Rays.—There are many ways of sending a signal or a message across space by day, as, for instance, by means of smoke, by flags and flashes of sunlight; by bonfires, pine-knot flames and burning arrows by night, and by wireless, which can be used either by day or by night.

A simple and effective way to signal in the daytime when the Sun is shining is by using a mirror, that is, a looking-glass, as it is commonly called. Every boy knows how to make flashes with a mirror, so it will be enough to say here that the glass is held in the hand in such a position that the sunlight falling upon it will be reflected in the direction you wish to send the signals. [Fig. 38] shows how it is done.

Fig. 38.—Boy Sending Flash Signal with Mirror.

Fig. 39.—Continental Morse Code.

Any sort of a code can be used, but it is far more interesting and will prove very useful if you are able to send and receive messages in the dot and dash alphabet, or Morse telegraph code, which is given in [Fig. 39]. A short flash represents a dot, a long flash a dash and short and long flashes represent letters. This is the same code that is used for wireless telegraphy.

How to Make a Simple Heliograph.—A heliograph is merely a mirror mounted on a baseboard, but this is a big improvement over holding the mirror in the hand, for to send and receive flashes over long distances the mirror must be carefully aimed and kept in position.

To make a heliograph, get a board 12 inches long, 4 inches wide and 1 inch thick and cut a piece out of one end 4 inches long and 1 inch wide, as shown in [Fig. 40]. Bore a ¼inch hole through the slotted end and another ¼ inch hole 4½ inches from the slotted end, as shown in the cut.

Fig. 40.—Base for Heliograph.

Fig. 41.—Back View of Heliograph.

Make a block of wood 4 inches long, 1 inch wide and 1 inch thick and bore a ¼ inch hole through it near one end. To the other end of this stick fasten a mirror about 4 inches square. This mirror should be perfectly smooth—a plate glass mirror is the best—and have a hole ¹/₁₆ inch in diameter drilled through the center of the mirror for sighting the heliograph, as shown in [Fig. 41]. Any optician will drill the hole for you for a quarter or less. [Fig. 42] shows a top view of the heliograph and [Fig. 43] shows a side view of it.

Make a wood frame so that the mirror can be fastened in it and screw the frame to a stick of wood. Get a bolt 5 inches long and ¼ inch in diameter and have a thumb screw fitted to it. Set the end of the stick which has the mirror fastened to it into the slotted end of the baseboard, push the bolt through the holes and after slipping on the washer put on the thumb screw. The mirror can now be moved to and fro.

Fig. 42.—Top View of Heliograph.

Fig. 43.—Side View of Heliograph.

Into the hole in the front part of the base put a wire or a thin round stick to sight the mirror by. The heliograph is now ready for use.

After sighting the mirror at the place where the signals are to be received, set the mirror so that the reflected beam of sunlight shines directly on the place. To send signals in the Morse code all you need to do to make dots and dashes is to place a sheet of cardboard before the mirror and take it away; the length of time the mirror remains uncovered determines whether it is a dot or a dash. The heliograph complete is shown in [Fig. 44].

Fig. 44.—Heliograph Complete.

How to Make a Simple Sundial.—To make a sundial of the usual kind that will give the correct Sun time is not an easy matter, for the spaces marking the hours on the dial are not equal as they are on the face of the clock and this will make it hard to figure out.

A kind of sundial that will give the correct Sun time though, can be easily made and at little cost. Get a strip of tin 2 inches wide and 24 inches long; mark it off into 24 equal spaces like those on a two-foot rule, and beginning at one end with the number 1, number each space to 24, as shown in [Fig. 45]. This done, bend the strip of tin into a perfect ring with the numbers inside and solder the joint, as shown in [Fig. 46].

Fig. 45.—Numbered Strip for Sundial.

Fig. 46.—Tin Ring for Sundial.

Next get a strip of iron or brass ¼ inch wide, ¹/₁₆ inch thick and 13 inches long; drill a ¹/₁₆ inch hole through each end and a ⅛ inch hole 4 inches from one end; bend this strip into an exact semi-circle, as shown in [Fig. 47] and solder the tin ring, at the point where numbers 1 and 24 meet, to the middle of the brass semi-circle. Through the holes in the ends of the brass semi-circle fasten a wire, and this wire must run exactly through the center of the tin ring. Now screw the brass semi-circle to a baseboard ([see Fig. 48]), so that the angle made by the wire and the surface of the board will be equal to the latitude of the place where it is to be used; in other words, when the board is level the wire should point directly to the North Star and when this is done it will be adjusted to the proper angle. The board should be about 12 inches square and 1 inch thick.

Fig. 47.—Brass Semi-Circle with Shadow Wire.

Fig. 48.—Sundial Complete.

Since the shadow of the wire made by the sunlight will fall on XII at noon, it will be plain that the shadow of the wire falling on the numbers on one side or the other of the ring will mark the Sun time. To change Sun time to mean solar time, or ordinary time, see Equation of Time, Appendix M.

Fig. 49.—To Find the North by a Watch.

To Find the North by a Watch.—To use a watch as a compass, that is to find the north by means of a watch, is easy if the Sun is shining. The watch should be held face upward; then turn the watch around until the hour hand points in the direction of the Sun. Draw an imaginary line from the hour XII to the center of your watch.

If, now, in the middle between this line and the hour hand you draw another line from the center of the watch and produce, or extend it, the middle line will point just about north, all of which is clearly shown in [Fig. 49].

CHAPTER IV
THE PLANETS, THE SUN’S KIDDIES

In the last chapter we said that all the stars in the sky, including our Sun, are fixed in their positions; by this we mean that if we were to look at the Big Dipper every night for a hundred years we could see no change in the positions of any of the stars forming this constellation.

But if we look at the sky along the line of the ecliptic—that is the path of the Sun—one night after another we are likely to see a bright point of light which looks exactly like a star and yet it is certain that this point of light really does move among the other stars. What kind of a heavenly object then is this?

The bright point of light which thus seems to us to be a star when we look at it with the naked eye is really another world, or planet as it is called, and very like our own Earth. To prove that this moving point of light is really a world, or planet, and not a distant star, all you need to do is to look at it through a pair of opera glasses, or a small telescope, when it will be seen to be a round body, whereas a star when viewed through the greatest telescope is never larger than a mere point of light. ([See Fig. 50].)

Fig. 50.—A Star and a Planet in a Telescope.

The reason the planets, some of which are smaller and some larger than our Earth, can be seen to move is because they are quite near our Earth; that is, they are near when compared with the fixed stars.

Again, the reason the planets shine like the stars is not because they are hot and flaming bodies like our Sun and the other stars, but because the light from the Sun which strikes them is reflected to the Earth in exactly the same way that the sunlight falling on a mirror is reflected away in another direction.

Names and Sizes of the Planets.—The names of all the planets, and there are eight chief ones, should be learned as well as the order in which they are arranged around the Sun. The names of the planets are given below in the order of their size.

Mercury—The smallest planet and the one nearest the Sun. Pale ash in color. Has no moon.

Mars—The Red Planet. Reddish in color. Has two moons.

Venus—Called the Evening Star. Brilliant straw in color. Has no moon.

Earth—Our own planet. Has one moon.

Uranus (pronounced Yew´-ra-nus)—Called Herschel’s planet. Pale green in color. Has five moons.

Neptune—The planet farthest away from the Sun. Has one moon.

Saturn—The planet with the rings. Its color is a dull yellow. Has ten moons.

Jupiter—The largest planet. He is marked with lines called belts. He has nine moons. Bright silver in color.

The Asteroids—A group of small planets, the largest of which is about 500 miles in diameter.

How to Know the Planets.—While it is not an easy thing to tell a planet from a star with the naked eye, still there are several ways of doing it.

First, always look for the planets along the path which the Sun and Moon travel. As all the planets are nearly in the same plane with the Sun and Moon they must all follow the same path across the sky.

Second, it is useful to remember that none of the planets, except Mercury, ever twinkle, unless they are very near the horizon.

Third, by watching a planet closely for a few hours it will be found to have moved a little. To note this change of position the planet and some fixed star near it must be closely watched and their distances compared from time to time.

Fourth, and last, the surest way of finding the different planets is by using an almanac which will tell you which planets can be seen at certain times of the year and in what part of the sky they are to be found.

Fig. 51.—Sizes of Planets Compared.

Seeing Mercury.—Mercury is so near the Sun that it can only be seen with the naked eye at certain times. Mercury should be looked for just above the eastern horizon for about an hour before the Sun rises in the spring; and above the western horizon for about an hour after the Sun sets in the autumn. You will have no trouble in knowing Mercury if you can only see him, for he is very bright and will be near the horizon. His pale ash color will also help you to single him out from the stars about him. Mercury goes through phases like our Moon, but these cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Mercury is a curious planet in that his day and his year are of exactly the same length, just like our Moon; this means that he turns on his axis once in exactly the same length of time it takes him to travel round the Sun. This causes one side of Mercury to be always turned toward the Sun, and of course this side is hot and light, while the other side is always turned away from the Sun and, consequently, it is dark and cold. Three views of Mercury in different phases as seen through a telescope are shown in [Fig. 52].

Mercury is 36 millions of miles from the Sun.

• His diameter is 3,000 miles.
• His day is 88 of our days long.
• His year is 88 of our days long.

Fig. 52.—Three Views of Mercury.