Transcriber’s Notes:
Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_
in the original text. Equal signs “=” before and after a word or
phrase indicate =bold= in the original text. Small capitals have been
converted to SOLID capitals. Illustrations have been moved so they do
not break up paragraphs. Typographical and punctuation errors have been
silently corrected.
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.
[Illustration]
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
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HOW TO FIND THE NORTH STAR 1
II. HOW TO KNOW THE STARS 14
III. THE SUN, THE BRIGHTEST OF ALL STARS 29
IV. THE PLANETS, THE SUN’S KIDDIES 46
V. MOTHER EARTH, OLD ADAM’S PLANET 66
VI. THE MOON, THE EARTH’S DAUGHTER 89
VII. OTHER THINGS IN THE SKY 107
VIII. SEEING THE STARS 121
IX. THE SPYGLASS OR TELESCOPE 136
X. THE TIME O’ DAY 151
XI. THE STARS OF THE ZODIAC 166
XII. VALUABLE INFORMATION 185
APPENDICES 193
DEFINITIONS OF SOME WORDS AND TERMS 213
INDEX 221
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1.—Starboard showing cleats 2
2.—Cardboard star 2
3.—The North Star and Big Dipper on starboard 3
4.—Finding the North Star and the Big Dipper 4
5.—Line for sighting the North Star 5
6.—The Big Dipper as we see it 6
7.—The Great Bear as the ancients saw it 6
8.—The Earth, Pole Star and Dog Star 7
9.—The North Star and Big Dipper in winter 9
10.—The North Star and Big Dipper in spring 10
11.—The North Star and Big Dipper in summer 11
12.—Telling time by the Big Dipper 12
13.—Constellation of Cassiopeia 15
14.—Cassiopeia as the Arabs saw her 16
15.—The Little Dipper or Little Bear 16
16.—The Little Dipper made into a Little Bear 17
17.—The Great Square of Pegasus 18
18.—Holding the chart of Pegasus overhead 19
19.—The Flying Horse of Pegasus 20
20.—Figure of a trapezium 20
21.—Constellation of Orion 21
22.—Orion the Mighty Hunter 22
23.—Constellation of Auriga 23
24.—Auriga the Shepherd 24
25.—Constellation of Taurus 25
26.—Taurus the Bull 26
27.—Star map showing a part of the sky 27
28.—Smoking glasses over candle flame 29
29.—Seeing the sun through smoked glasses 30
30.—A candle flame showing layers of flame 31
31.—The sun as seen with a field glass 32
32.—Prominences of the sun compared with the size of the earth 33
33.—Cross section of the sun 34
34.—Sun spot in Photosphere 35
35.—Barometer tube 36
36.—Barometer complete 36
37.—Boy focussing burning glass on leaves to make fire 38
38.—Boy sending flash signal with mirror 39
39.—Continental Morse Code 39
40.—Base for heliograph 40
41.—Back view of heliograph 40
42.—Top view of heliograph 41
43.—Side view of heliograph 41
44.—Heliograph complete 42
45.—Numbered strip for sundial 43
46.—Tin ring for sundial 43
47.—Brass semi-circle with shadow wire 44
48.—Sundial complete 44
49.—To find the North by a watch 45
50.—A star and a planet in a telescope 46
51.—Sizes of planets compared 48
52.—Three views of Mercury 49
53.—Mars as seen through a telescope 49
54.—Three views of Venus 50
55.—The earth 51
56.—Jupiter 51
57.—Saturn 52
58.—Uranus 53
59.—Neptune 53
60.—Marbles on top of table 54
61.—Top view of solar system 55
62.—Solar system in perspective 56
63.—Egg shell on plate 57
64.—Boy throwing stone to illustrate centrifugal force 58
65.—Iron ball pendulum swinging in a plane 59
66.—Iron ball pendulum swinging in curved line 60
67.—Map of stars on sun’s path 62
68.—Diagram of position of constellations 63
69.—Plotting position of planet 64
70.—Cross section of the earth 67
71.—Sails of ship can be seen after hull has disappeared 67
72.—Sailing round the earth 68
73.—The earth moves under the swinging pendulum 69
74.—If the earth’s equator were in a line with the sun 70
75.—The earth tilted on its axis 70
76.—Light in room to represent sun 71
77.—Top spinning on plate 72
78.—Circle around candle marked with seasons 73
79.—Apple to represent earth suspended in air 74
80.—Position of the earth and sun in autumn 74
81.—Position of the earth and sun in winter 74
82.—Position of the earth and sun in spring 74
83.—Position of the earth and sun in summer 75
84.—Cycle of seasons 75
85.—Lines of force through and around a magnet 76
86.—Lines of force around the earth 77
87.—Watch spring needle for compass 77
88.—Compass complete 77
89.—Pocket watch-case compass 78
90.—Dial of mariners’ compass 78
91.—Needle for dipping needle 80
92.—Dipping needle complete 80
93.—Protractor showing degrees 81
94.—Earth surface divided into degrees 81
95.—Protractor set by dipping needle showing latitude 82
96.—Two sticks screwed together 83
97.—Two sticks across bucket of water 83
98.—Protractor and sticks on drawing paper 84
99.—Sextant in use. Shooting the sun 85
100.—Shadows at the North Pole 87
101.—Moon and earth joined together like a dumbbell 89
102.—Balls connected with an elastic 90
103.—Map showing Pacific Ocean 90
104.—Imitating the volcanoes in the moon 91
105.—Real volcanoes 92
106.—Naked eye drawing of full moon 93
107.—Experiment showing how one revolution of the moon
round the earth makes it turn once round its axis 94
108.—Apple cut to show crescent 95
109.—Diagram showing how the moon’s phases are made 96
110.—Diagram of the moon’s phases as we see them 97
111.—Boy, lamp and orange showing phases of moon 99
112.—Attraction of the moon causes the tides 100
113.—How spring tides are formed 101
114.—How spring tides are formed 101
115.—How neap tides are formed 102
116.—How neap tides are formed 103
117.—View of the earth from the moon 104
118.—Telling time by the moon 105
119.—Eclipse of the moon by the earth (experiment) 107
120.—Moon eclipsed by the earth (diagram) 108
121.—The moon as seen when in partial eclipse 108
122.—Eclipse of the sun by the moon (experiment) 109
123.—The sun eclipsed by the moon (diagram) 109
124.—Total eclipse of the sun, showing path of the sun 110
125.—Total eclipse of the sun, from photo 111
126.—Annular eclipse of the sun 111
127.—Partial eclipse of the sun 111
128.—Comet showing Nucleus, Coma and tail 113
129.—An ellipse, parabola and hyperbola 113
130.—Head and tail of comet do not obey the same laws 114
131.—Halley’s comet, from photo 115
132.—Meteorite of iron etched with acid 116
133.—The Milky Way 117
134.—Different forms of nebulæ 119
135.—Ripples or waves on water 124
136.—Vibration of a bell 125
137.—Sound waves in the air set up by bell 126
138.—Waves in the ether 127
139.—Forming an image with a lens 128
140.—The human eye 128
141.—Light reflected by an apple 132
142.—Light reflected. Spoon in glass of water 132
143.—How light is reflected 133
144.—Prism 133
145.—Prism forming a spectrum 134
146.—Convex lens 134
147.—Concave lens 135
148.—Lipperhey’s boy discovers telescope 137
149.—Disk of cardboard for pinhole telescope 138
150.—Cross section of pinhole telescope 138
151.—The telescope (Galileo) 139
152.—Opera glasses 140
153.—Pasteboard mounting of lens 140
154.—Pasteboard lens mounting 141
155.—Opera glass telescope. Cross section 141
156.—Telescope. Cross section view 142
157.—Magnifying power of telescope 143
158.—Full view of moon 145
159.—Glass globe cracked 146
160.—Map of the moon 147
161.—The moon girl 147
162.—Diagram showing how to find solar noon 153
163.—Circle divided into 360 degrees and 24 hours 157
164.—The earth divided into 24 standard meridians 158
165.—Standard time meridians in U. S. 159
166.—Standard time at different cities 161
167.—Ruled glass in transit instrument 162
168.—The time ball 164
169.—Receiving time signals by wireless 165
170.—The zodiac as invented by the ancients 167
171.—The zodiac as we know it today 167
172.—Constellations and signs of the zodiac 170
173.—Cardboard zodiac 171
174.—Constellations of zodiac in circle 172
175.—Constellations of Aries the Ram 174
176.—Constellations of the Lion and Big Dipper 177
177.—Constellations of Virgo the Virgin 179
178.—Libra, Lion, Scorpio, Virgo 179
179.—Lyra, Aquila, Capricornus 181
180.—Camera pointing to North Star 186
181.—Star trails 187
182.—Boy looking through prism at slit in cardboard 189
183.—Fraunhofer’s lines 190
184.—The spectroscope 191
185.—Geometrical figures 195
186.—Kullmer star finder 209
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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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).
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.