the solar system removed to Arcturus and set revolving around it in
orbits of the same forms and sizes as those in which they circle about
the sun. Poor Mercury! For that little planet it would indeed be a jump
from the frying pan into the fire, because, as it rushed to perihelion,
Mercury would plunge more than 2,500,000 miles beneath the surface of
the giant star. Venus and the earth would melt like snowflakes at the
mouth of a furnace. Even far-away Neptune, the remotest member of the
system, would swelter in torrid heat.

But stop! Look at the sky. Observe how small and motionless the disks of
the stars have become. Back to the telescopes at once, for this is a
token that the atmosphere is steady, and that "good seeing" may be
expected. It is fortunate, for we have some delicate work before us. The
very first double star we try in Booetes, Sigma 1772, requires the use of
the four-inch, and the five-inch shows it more satisfactorily. The
magnitudes are sixth and ninth, distance 5", p. 140 deg.. On the other side
of Arcturus we find zeta, a star that we should have had no great
difficulty in separating thirty years ago, but which has now closed up
beyond the reach even of our five-inch. The magnitudes are both fourth,
and the distance less than a quarter of a second; position angle
changing. It is apparently a binary, and if so will some time widen
again, but its period is unknown. The star 279, also known as Sigma
1910, near the southeastern edge of the constellation, is a pretty
double, each component being of the seventh magnitude, distance 4", p.
212 deg.. Just above zeta we come upon pi, an easy double for the
three-inch, magnitudes four and six, distance 6" p. 99 deg.. Next is xi, a
yellow and purple pair, whose magnitudes are respectively five and
seven, distance less than 3", p. 200 deg.. This is undoubtedly a binary with
a period of revolution of about a hundred and thirty years. Its distance
decreased about 1" between 1881 and 1891. It was still decreasing in
1899, when it had become 2.5". The orbital swing is also very apparent
in the change of the position angle.

The telescopic gem of Booetes, and one of "the flowers of the sky," is
epsilon, also known as Mirac. When well seen, as we shall see it
to-night, epsilon Booetis is superb. The magnitudes of its two component
stars are two and a half (according to Hall, three) and six. The
distance is about 2.8", p. 326 deg.. The contrast of colors--bright oran