ale, the Southern Fish, the Ship, and the Centaur. This last
constellation, while invisible to our latitudes, contains the star that
is nearest to the Earth, [alpha], of first magnitude, the distance of
which is 40 trillion kilometers (25 trillion miles).

[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Spring Constellations.]

The feet of the Centaur touch the Southern Cross, which is always
invisible to us, and a little farther down the Southern Pole reigns
over the icy desert of the antarctic regions.

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Summer Constellations.]

[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Autumn Constellations.]

In order to complete the preceding descriptions, we subjoin four charts
representing the aspect of the starry heavens during the evenings of
winter, spring, summer, and autumn. To make use of these, we must
suppose them to be placed above our heads, the center marking the
zenith, and the sky descending all round to the horizon. The horizon,
therefore, bounds these panoramas. Turning the chart in any direction,
and looking at it from north, south, east, or west, we find all the
principal stars. The first map (Fig. 13) represents the sky in winter
(January) at 8 P.M.; the second, in spring (April) at 9 P.M.; the third,
in summer (July) at the same hour; the fourth, the sky in autumn
(October) at the same time.

And so, at little cost, we have made one of the grandest and most
beautiful journeys conceivable. We now have a new country, or, better,
have learned to see and know our own country, for since the Earth is a
planet we must all be citizens of the Heavens before we can belong to
such or such a nation of our lilliputian world.

We must now study this sublime spectacle of the Heavens in detail.

CHAPTER III

THE STARS, SUNS OF THE INFINITE

A JOURNEY THROUGH SPACE

We have seen from the foregoing summary of the principal Constellations
that there is great diversity in the brightness of the stars, and that
while our eyes are dazzled with the brilliancy of certain orbs, others,
on the contrary, sparkle modestly in the azure depths of the night, and
are hardly perceptible to the eye that seeks to plumb the abysses of
Immensity.

We have appended the word "magnitude" to the names of certain stars, and
the reader might imagine this to bear some relation to the volume of the
orb. But this is not the case.

To facilitate the observation of stars of varying brilliancy, they have
been classified in order of magnitude, according