minates in Sagittarius about 10[deg]
east of its distinguishing characteristic, the Milk Dipper.
Sagittarius is one of the signs of the zodiac, and lies between
Capricornus, on the east, and Scorpius, on the west.

The bow is easily traced out. [g] marks the arrow's tip.

Note the star [m], which serves to point out the Winter Solstice,
where the solstitial colure intersects the ecliptic.

On a clear night, the pretty cluster known as Corona Australis, the
Southern Crown, can be seen about 10[deg] below the bowl of the Milk
Dipper. Its lucida, the fourth-magnitude star Alfecca Meridiana
culminates at 9 P.M., August 13th.

Sagittarius is about due south, in a splendid position for
observation, during the month of July, between the hours of
nine-thirty and eleven o'clock P.M.

Observe with an opera-glass the fine clusters 20 M. and 8 M., also an
almost circular black void near the stars [g] and [d], and to the east
of this spot another of narrow crescent form.

The stars [ph] and [z] in the Milk Dipper are moving in opposite
directions. Future generations therefore will not have this
time-honored figure to guide them in locating the Archer in their
summer night skies.

[Illustration: SAGITTARIUS]

OPHIUCHUS (of-i-[=u]-kus)--THE SERPENT BEARER, AND SERPENS. (Face
Southwest.)

LOCATION.--A line drawn from [e] Delphini to [g] Aquilae, prolonged
about 30[deg], strikes the star Ras Alhague, the brightest star in the
constellation and the head of Ophiuchus. It is at one angle of an
isosceles triangle, of which Altair is at the apex, and Vega the third
angle.

Two constellations are here combined. Ophiuchus is represented as an
old man, holding in his hands a writhing serpent.

Ras Algethi, marking the head of Hercules, lies just west of Ras
Alhague.

Equally distant southeast and southwest of Ras Alhague are to be seen
two stars close together, representing the shoulders of Ophiuchus. His
foot rests on the Scorpion just above Antares.

The head of Serpens is the star group in the form of an "X" just below
the Crown.

1604 indicates the spot where in that year a famous temporary star
appeared, called Kepler's star.

Note the asterism the "Bull of Poniatowski" just east of [g]. The star
marked 70 is one of the most distant stars for which a parallax has
been obtained. Its distance from the earth = 1,300,000 radii of the
earth's orbit, or 120 quadrillion miles.

There is something remarkable in the c