close to the last star ([eta]) of the Great Bear's tail, through [beta],
a star in Bootes' head, near [beta] Herculis, between the two "Alphas"
which mark the heads of Hercules and Ophiuchus, and so past [beta]
Ophiuchi, a third-magnitude star near the horizon. And here we may turn
aside for a moment to notice the remarkable vertical row of six
conspicuous stars towards the east-south-east; these are, counting them
in order from the horizon, [zeta], [epsilon], and [delta] Ophiuchi,
[epsilon], [alpha], and [delta] Serpentis.

Let the telescope first be directed towards Vega. This orb presents a
brilliant appearance in the telescope. Its colour is a bluish-white. In
an ordinary telescope Vega appears as a single star, but with a large
object-glass two distant small companions are seen. A nine-inch glass
shows also two small companions within a few seconds of Vega. In the
great Harvard refractor Vega is seen with no less than thirty-five
companions. I imagine that all these stars, and others which can be seen
in neighbouring fields, indicate the association of Vega with the
neighbouring stream of the Milky Way.

Let our observer now direct his telescope to the star [epsilon] Lyræ. Or
rather, let him first closely examine this star with the naked eye. The
star is easily identified, since it lies to the left of Vega, forming
with [zeta] a small equilateral triangle. A careful scrutiny suffices to
indicate a peculiarity in this star. If our observer possesses very
good eye-sight, he will distinctly recognise it as a "naked-eye double";
but more probably he will only notice that it appears lengthened in a
north and south direction.[4] In the finder the star is easily divided.
Applying a low power to the telescope itself, we see [epsilon] Lyræ as a
wide double, the line joining the components lying nearly north and
south. The southernmost component (the upper in the figure) is called