Curiosities of the Sky by Garrett P. (Garrett Putman) Serviss
page 46 of 165 (27%)
page 46 of 165 (27%)
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aspect one would have expected to find a community of movement
governing the brilliants of the ``Crown,'' but instead of that we find evidence that they will inevitably drift apart and the beautiful figure will dissolve. A similar fate awaits such asterisms as the ``Northern Cross'' in Cygnus; the ``Crow'' (Corvus), which stands on the back of the great ``Sea Serpent,'' Hydra, and pecks at his scales; ``Job's Coffin'' (Delphinus); the ``Great Square of Pegasus''; the ``Twins'' (Gemini); the beautiful ``Sickle'' in Leo; and the exquisite group of the Hyades in Taurus. In the case of the Hyades, two controlling movements are manifest: one, affecting five of the stars which form the well-known figure of a letter ``V,'' is directed northerly; the other, which controls the direction of two stars, has an easterly trend. The chief star of the group, Aldebaran, one of the finest of all stars both for its brilliance and its color, is the most affected by the easterly motion. In time it will drift entirely out of connection with its present neighbors. Although the Hyades do not form so compact a group as the Pleiades in the same constellation, yet their appearance of relationship is sufficient to awaken a feeling of surprise over the fact that, as with the stars of the ``Dipper,'' their association is only temporary or apparent. The great figure of Orion appears to be more lasting, not because its stars are physically connected, but because of their great distance, which renders their movements too deliberate to be exactly ascertained. Two of the greatest of its stars, Betelgeuse and Rigel, possess, as far as has been ascertained, no perceptible motion across the line of sight, but there is a little movement perceptible in the ``Belt.'' At the present time this consists of an almost perfect |
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