A large plate, showing the appearance of the heavens at a designated time on the first night of the quarter, is inserted before each season's work. This should be consulted by the student before he makes an observation, in order that he may obtain a comprehensive idea of the relative position of the constellations, and also know in what part of the heavens to locate the constellation which he wishes to identify.
A knowledge of one constellation enables the student to determine the position of the next in order. In this work, the identification of each constellation depends on a knowledge of what precedes, always bearing in mind the fact that each season starts as a new and distinct part to be taken by itself, and has no bearing on that which comes before.
2. URSA MINOR 6 Located by the pointer stars in Ursa Major.
3. GEMINI 8 Located by a line drawn through designated stars in Ursa Major.
4. AURIGA 10 Located in the same manner as Gemini.
5. CANCER 12 Located by a line drawn from Auriga to Gemini and prolonged.
6. HYDRA 14 The head of Hydra is to be seen just below Cancer.
7. LEO 16 Located by a line drawn from Gemini to Cancer and prolonged.
8. COMA BERENICES 18 Position indicated by drawing a line through designated stars in Leo.
9. CANIS MINOR 20 Located by a line drawn from Auriga to Gemini and prolonged.
10. CORVUS 22 Located by a line drawn from Ursa Minor through Ursa Major and prolonged.
11. CRATER 24 Located south of Leo and just west of Corvus.
12. DRACO 32 Lies between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, coiling about the latter.
13. LYRA 34 Vega, its brightest star, is 12° S.W. of the Dragon's head.
14. CYGNUS 36 Deneb, its brightest star, is about 20° east of Vega.
15. AQUILA 38 Located by a line drawn from the Dragon's head through Vega and prolonged.
16. DELPHINUS 40 Located about 10° northeast of Altair in Aquila.
17. SAGITTARIUS 42 Located by a line drawn from Cygnus to Aquila and prolonged.
18. OPHIUCHUS AND SERPENS 44 Located by a line drawn from Delphinus to Aquila and prolonged.
19. SCORPIUS 46 Located just under Ophiuchus, and west of Sagittarius.
20. LIBRA 48 Located about 15° west of the head of Scorpius.
21. CORONA BOREALIS 50 Located just above the head of Serpens.
22. HERCULES 52 Located by lines drawn from either Vega or Altair to Corona.