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Title: Half-Hours with the Stars
A Plain and Easy Guide to the Knowledge of the Constellations

Author: Richard A. Proctor

Release Date: November 3, 2007 [EBook #23300]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALF-HOURS WITH THE STARS ***

Produced by Robert J. Hall

HALF-HOURS WITH THE STARS

A PLAIN AND EASY GUIDE TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONSTELLATIONS

SHOWING, IN TWELVE MAPS, THE POSITION FOR THE UNITED STATES OF
THE PRINCIPAL STAR GROUPS NIGHT AFTER NIGHT THROUGHOUT THE YEAR,
WITH INTRODUCTION AND A SEPARATE EXPLANATION OF EACH MAP.

TRUE FOR EVERY YEAR

MAPS AND TEXT SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR AMERICAN STUDENTS

BY

RICHARD A. PROCTOR, F.R.A.S.

AUTHOR OF "HALF HOURS WITH THE TELESCOPE," "EASY STAR LESSONS," "A
LARGER STAR ATLAS," AND THE ARTICLE ON ASTRONOMY IN THE "AMERICAN
CYCLOPAEDIA" AND THE "CYCLOPAEDIA BRITTANICA." ETC., ETC.

"Here I may sit and rightly spell
Of every star that Heav'n doth show."--MILTON.

The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the Firmament showeth
His handiwork.--PSALMS xix: 1.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

The Knickerbocker press

1911

INTRODUCTION ON THE USE OF THE MAPS.

It is very easy to gain a knowledge of the stars, if the learner
sets to work in the proper manner. But he commonly meets with a
difficulty at the outset of his task. He provides himself with a
set of the ordinary star-maps, and then finds himself at a loss
how to make use of them. Such maps tell him nothing of the position
of the constellations _on the sky_. If he happen to recognize a
constellation, then indeed his maps, if properly constructed, will
tell him the names of the stars forming the constellation, and also
he may be able to recognize a few of the neighboring constellations.
But when he has done this he may meet with a new difficulty, even
as respects this very constellation. For if he look for it again
some months later, he will neither find it in its former place nor
will it present the same aspect,--if indeed it happen to be above
the horizon at all.