the naked eye in the northern hemisphere. He is several times as
big as our sun, and his diameter is supposed to be several million
miles. He is called a "runaway sun," because he is rushing through space
at the rate of between two hundred and three hundred miles a second.
That means between seventeen and thirty-four million miles a day!

He is coming toward us, too! At such a rate you might think that
Arcturus would have smashed the earth to pieces long ago. But he is
still very far away, and there is no danger. Some people say that if Job
were to come to life, the sky would seem just the same to him as it did
3,400 years ago. The only difference he might notice would be in
Arcturus. That would seem to him out of place by a distance about three
times the apparent diameter of the moon.

Some people believe this because Job said, "Canst thou guide Arcturus
with his sons?" and therefore they imagine that he meant this red star.
But I believe he meant the Big Dipper. For in King James's time, when
the Bible was translated into English, the word "Arcturus" meant the Big
Dipper or rather the Great Bear. And for centuries before it meant the
Great Bear. One proof of it is that "Arcturus" comes from an old Greek
word meaning "bear"--the same word from which we get arctic. It is only
within a few hundred years that astronomers have agreed to call the
Great Bear "Ursa Major," and this red star Arcturus. So I think all the
books which say Job mentioned this red star are mistaken. I believe
Webster's Dictionary is correct in this matter, and I believe the
Revised Version translates Job's Hebrew phrase more correctly when it
says, "Canst thou guide the Bear with her train?"

Anyhow, Arcturus is a splendid star--the brightest in the constellation
called the "Herdsman" or Booetes. It is not worth while to trace the
Herdsman, but here is an interesting question. Is Arcturus really red?
The books mostly say he is yellow. They say he looks red when he is low
in the sky, and yellow when he is high. How does he look to you? More
yellow than red?

Well, there's no doubt about Antares being red. To find him, draw a long
line from Regulus through Arcturus to Antares, Arcturus being more than
half way between the other two. But if Regulus and the Sickle are not
visible, draw a line from Altair, at right angles to the Eagle, until
you come to a bright star about sixty degrees away. You can't miss
Antares, for he is the only red star in tha