Part 8

Libra is the next zodiacal constellation, and it is a small one. The sun passes through it in about twenty-three days. It may be known by four fairly bright stars which form a more or less imperfect square. The ecliptic passes along the southern edge of this figure.

During the summer and early autumn, Libra is best seen. It is then passing across the southern sky, drawing nearer the west each evening. A planet passing across this constellation would always be easy to identify, since it would always be so much brighter than any star in this region. The sun enters Libra about October 29th, and it is not visible in the evening during the rest of the year.

SCORPIO

It is a joy to know Scorpio, quite aside from its connection with the path of the planets. It is a brilliant constellation, best seen during the summer and autumn, as it passes across the southern sky. It is the most southerly of any of the constellations of the zodiac; but the ecliptic passes through only a very small portion of the northern part of it, so the sun does not reach the most southerly point in its path while it is in this constellation.

Scorpio may be best identified by its brilliant deep-red star Antares, which is supposed to lie in the heart of the Scorpion. The whole figure makes a splendid serpent-like sweep toward the southern horizon, and is one of the most conspicuous objects just west of the Milky Way in the south in summer.

See “Antares” in The Friendly Stars.

The line of the ecliptic runs about three degrees north of Antares; hence the planets in their course sometimes pass very near it. Jupiter has been in that region all this year (1912), and will not be far from there the early part of 1913. Mercury and Mars both have something the color of Antares; but this is not likely to result in any confusion. The star is always there, and in the same relative situation with reference to the other stars. When Mars is there, it will always be above the star. Mercury can seldom be seen when he is in Scorpio. If he is in greatest elongation while there, he will still be near the sun, and the sun, as seen from the middle latitudes, is so far south and so near the horizon when in that part of the ecliptic that the situation will not be favorable for seeing the planet. Farther south, and particularly in high altitudes, Mercury could be well seen in Scorpio, but if the position of Antares is kept in mind, Mercury will easily be recognized as a stranger in the constellation.

The sun enters Scorpio about November 21st, and the constellation then ceases to be visible in the evening sky until the following May. It is in its greatest glory during the summer and early autumn.

SAGITTARIUS

When the sun leaves Scorpio it crosses the Milky Way into Sagittarius, and there reaches the lowest point in its path, twenty-three and one-half degrees south of the equator. This constellation is best distinguished by the little “milk dipper,” which is easily seen turned upside down just at the eastern edge of the Milky Way. The line of the ecliptic runs a little north of it. The constellation may be best seen during about the same months that Scorpio is visible. The sun enters it, and it passes out of view about the middle of December.

CAPRICORNUS AND AQUARIUS

From Sagittarius the ecliptic runs in a northeasterly direction through a region in which there are no very bright stars, nor any very distinct outlines of figures. The two constellations through which it passes are Capricornus and Aquarius. It then runs a few degrees into Pisces, and there reaches the vernal equinox, where we began to trace its course.

Although one cannot trace the line of the ecliptic with the same definiteness in this region as in one where there are bright stars to mark the way, yet when a planet is in this part of its path it is perhaps more conspicuous and more easily recognized than when it appears in any other part of the sky, because of the very absence of other bright bodies. These constellations comprise all that region running from the Milky Way east to the vernal equinox. It is a part of the heavens easily seen during the pleasant evenings of summer and autumn, and if a planet is crossing it during those seasons it is particularly well placed for observation.

The two brightest stars in Capricornus are of the third magnitude, and lie about twenty degrees northeast of the “milk dipper.” The ecliptic runs just under them. Through Aquarius it runs six or seven degrees above a waving line of faint stars, which are supposed to represent the water that Aquarius is pouring from his urn.

If one will take the trouble to trace the line of the ecliptic through the sky, and remember that it lies exactly in the center of the zodiac, and that the planets are, therefore, within a very few degrees of it, one will have no trouble in keeping track of them. The mere knowing of these constellations is in most cases sufficient, since the planets will disclose their identity in other ways than by position merely.

The signs of the zodiac are somewhat different from the constellations. They are simply twelve equal divisions of thirty degrees each, making in all three hundred and sixty degrees, which is the whole number of degrees in any circle. They are so divided for convenience in scientific observation and reckoning. About two thousand years ago the signs and the constellations in the main coincided, and they still bear the same names. The point of the vernal equinox was then at the beginning of the sign and the constellation Aries. But, owing to certain motions of the earth, this point shifts backward, or toward the west, about one degree every seventy-two years. In two thousand years it has shifted about twenty-eight degrees, until now the sign Aries, with the vernal equinox at its western boundary, lies almost wholly in the constellation Pisces, the sign Taurus corresponds approximately to the constellation Aries, and so on around the circle. It is important to know this in following the planets, because all almanacs and scientific publications deal mainly with the signs of the zodiac, and not with the constellations. When a planet’s place is said to be in Aries, Taurus, or Gemini, one will find it in Pisces, Aries, or Taurus, respectively. And so it is with all the other signs; they are each one constellation behind the one bearing the same name. And this is why, beginning with the vernal equinox, Pisces is the first constellation in the zodiac, while Aries is the first sign.

The following is a list of the signs of the zodiac, with the corresponding constellations. The symbols given in parenthesis are the ones used for these signs in all almanacs:

SIGN CONSTELLATION

{ Aries (♈) Pisces Spring { Taurus (♉) Aries signs { Gemini (♊) Taurus

{ Cancer (♋) Gemini Summer { Leo (♌) Cancer signs { Virgo (♍) Leo

{ Libra (♎) Virgo Autumn { Scorpio (♏) Libra signs { Sagittarius (♐) Scorpio

{ Capricornus (♑) Sagittarius Winter { Aquarius (♒) Capricornus signs { Pisces (♓) Aquarius

For those who find rhymes an aid to memory, the following list may prove useful:

This is the way the spring begins: First Aries, then Taurus, then the Heavenly Twins. The first summer sign is the one we call Cancer; The next two to Leo and Virgo will answer. Then autumn brings Libra and bright Scorpio, And next Sagittarius, with his strong bow. Capricornus then ushers the winter in, And near old Aquarius the year we begin. Pisces comes next, and then winter is done; And with Aries’s approach, a new spring is begun. These are the signs; but bear this well in mind: The sun lags in one constellation behind. When his place is Aries, we’ll find him in Pisces; When in Taurus he should be, in Aries he stays. If Gemini’s his place, and to find him our wish is, We must look back in Taurus to see his bright rays. And so through the year, whatever his place is, The bright group behind is the one that he graces.

MERCURY

While Mercury is one of the five planets that can be seen with the naked eye, it must be confessed that he does not play any important part in the great spectacle of nature as we see it in the skies. But in a certain way this only adds to our interest in him. The very rarity of his appearances and the difficulty of finding him give a zest to the search, and a sense of achievement, when it is successful, that one does not have with regard to the other planets. It is something akin to the feeling one has when, after a long tramp to some secluded recess in the woods in search of the shy pink lady’s slipper, a splendid specimen of that lovely flower suddenly comes into view hanging gaily on its stalk, ready for the use of whatever fairy foot may tread its shady groves.

Then, too, the spring o’ the year is the most likely time to see Mercury in the evening sky. He comes into his best position for this view of him just when the evenings are growing longer and milder and one begins to hunger for outdoor things, so that the quest of him at that time has the gladness that goes with our first excursions into the open after a winter’s housing, whether it be in search of flowers, or birds, or stars, or simply the general loveliness of everything that belongs to the beginning of the outdoor season.

The reason Mercury is so elusive is that he is always very near the sun, and in consequence his light is dimmed by the brighter light shed by that luminary until it is well below the horizon; and after the sun has set, the planet is so involved in the usual haziness of the atmosphere near the horizon that the conditions must be very favorable in order to see him. Though there are recorded observations of Mercury as far back as nearly three hundred years before Christ, yet some of the older of the modern astronomers, before the days of the perfected telescope, are said not to have seen him at all; and the most important observations of the planet nowadays are made in broad daylight, when it is higher up in the skies and free from the mists of the horizon. This can be done by means of a powerful telescope, because it is possible in this way to shut off the light of surrounding bodies; but, of course, the conditions are not as favorable as if midnight observations could be made. Still, if one knows just when and where to look, Mercury can be seen with the naked eye at least once or twice a year, and sometimes oftener than this, especially if one chances to live in one of the Western States, where the air is very clear and the situation in latitude and altitude more favorable than, say, in New England, or in the middle Atlantic States. In our Northern States, and in the whole of England, this planet is more difficult to see, because of the longer twilight in northern latitudes, and also because the line of the ecliptic, over which it passes, seems there lower down in the skies, while in the far South, say in Cuba or Porto Rico, the twilight is shorter, the ecliptic runs high in the sky, and the situation is favorable for a good view even though the atmosphere is no clearer than it is farther north.