r any of the
constellations to appear at all different from what they are now, even
though the stars that compose them are moving in different directions
with a great velocity, for a space of many millions of miles, at the
distance of most of the stars, would be but as the breadth of a fine
hair as seen by us on earth. So thousands of years ago men looked up at
the Great Bear, and saw it apparently the same as we see it now; yet for
all that length of time the stars composing it have been rushing in this
direction and that at an enormous speed, but do not appear to us on the
earth to alter their positions in regard to each other. I know of
nothing that gives one a more overwhelming sense of the mightiness of
the universe and the smallness of ourselves than this fact. From age to
age men look on changeless heavens, yet this apparently stable universe
is fuller of flux and reflux than is the restless ocean itself, and the
very wavelets on the sea are not more numerous nor more restless than
the stars that bestrew the sky.

CHAPTER XIV

THE COLOURS OF THE STARS

Has it ever occurred to you that the stars are not all of the same
colour? It is true that, just glancing at them casually, you might say
they are all white; but if you examine them more carefully you cannot
help seeing that some shine with a steely blue light, while others are
reddish or yellowish. These colours are not easy to distinguish with the
naked eye, and might not attract any attention at all unless they were
pointed out; yet when attention is drawn to the fact, it is impossible
to deny the redness of some, such as Aldebaran. But though we may admit
this, we might add that the colours are so very faint and inconspicuous,
that they might be, after all, only the result of imagination.

To prove that the colours are constant and real we must use a telescope,
and then we need have no further doubt of their reality, for instead of
disappearing, the colours of some stars stand out quite vividly beyond
the possibility of mistake. Red stars are a bright red, and they are the
most easily seen of all, though the other colours, blue and yellow and
green, are seen very decidedly by some people. The red stars have been
described by various observers as resembling 'a drop of blood on a black
field,' 'most magnificent copper-red,' 'most intense blood-red,' and
'glowing like a live coal out of the darkness of space.' Some people see
them as a shining red, lik