74. Q. In what portion of the constellation is Alderamin situated? A.
In the right shoulder.
75. Q. What is the position of the head of Cepheus? A. It is in the
milky way, and is indicated by a small triangle of three stars.
76. Q. What figure, easily distinguished, do a number of stars in
Cassiopeia form? A. An inverted chair.
77. Q. Give the names of two prominent stars in the constellation
Perseus. A. Algenib and Algol.
78. Q. Name four of the more brilliant equatorial constellations, only
a portion of whose paths is above our horizon. A. Andromeda, Orion,
Cygnus, and Canis Major.
79. Q. Give the names applied to some of the groups of stars in the
equatorial constellations. A. The Pleiades, the Great Square of
Pegasus, the Belt of Orion, and the Milk Dipper.
80. Q. Name eight stars of the first magnitude in the equatorial
constellations. A. Aldebaran, in Taurus; Capella, the Goat Star, in
Auriga; Castor, in Gemini; Betelgeuse, in Orion; Sirius, the Dog Star,
in Canis Major; Procyon, in Canis Minor; Spica, in Virgo; and Arcturus,
in Boötes.
81. Q. What are some of the more remarkable sights in the southern
circumpolar region of the sky? A. The constellations of the ship Argo
and the Southern Cross, the Dark Hole, and the two Magellanic Clouds.
82. Q. How many stars are visible in the whole heavens to the naked
eye? A. About five thousand.
83. Q. How many are there of each magnitude to the sixth? A. Twenty of
the first, sixty-five of the second, two hundred of the third, four
hundred of the fourth, eleven hundred of the fifth, and thirty-two
hundred of the sixth.
84. Q. How many stars are there in the zone called the Milky Way? A.
Eighty millions.
85. Q. How much of the light on a fine starlight night comes from stars
that cannot be discerned by the naked eye? A. Three-fourths.
86. Q. How does the whole amount of starlight compare with that of the
moon? A. It is about one-eightieth that of the moon.
87. Q. Give the names of five double or multiple stars. A. Polaris,
Sirius, Procyon, Castor, and sixty-one Cygni.
88. Q. What is said of the color of stars? A. They are of various
colors.
89. Q. Name five stars each having a different color. A. Sirius, white;
Capella, yellow; Castor, green; Aldebaran, red; and Lyra, blue.
90. Q. What are clusters of stars? A. In various parts of the heavens
there are small globular well-defined clusters, and clusters very
irregular in form marked with sprays of stars.
91. Q. How do these clusters appear to the eye, or through a small
telescope? A. As little cloudlets of hazy light.
92. Q. What is the new and better substantiated possibility of thought
concerning these clusters? A. That they belong to our system, and hence
that the stars must be small and young.
93. Q. What does the spectroscope show that some of these little
cloudlets of hazy light called nebulæ are? A. That they are not stars
in any sense, but masses of glowing gas.
94. Q. What are some of the shapes of nebulæ? A. Nebulæ are of all
conceivable shapes—circular, annular, oval, lenticular, conical,
spiral, snake-like, looped, and nameless.
95. Q. Of how many stars has a variation in magnitude been well
ascertained? A. One hundred and forty-three.
96. Q. What are temporary stars? A. Those that shine awhile and then
disappear.
97. Q. What are new stars? A. Stars that come to a definite brightness
and so remain.
98. Q. What are lost stars? A. Those whose first appearance was not
observed, but which have utterly disappeared.
99. Q. What movements have these stars? A. There is motion of the stars
in every conceivable direction.
100. Q. What is said of the appearance of the Great Dipper in
thirty-six thousand years? A. The end of the dipper will have fallen
out so that it will hold no water, and the handle will be broken square
off at Mizar.