The largest star, at the base of the ``Cross,'' is of the first
magnitude, two of the others are of the second magnitude, and the
fourth is of the third. Other stars, not represented in the figures,
increase the effect of a celestial blazonry, although they do not help
the resemblance to a cross.
But since the motion of the solar system itself will, in the course of
so long a period as fifty thousand years, produce a great change in
the perspective of the heavens as seen from the earth, by carrying us
nearly nineteen trillion miles from our present place, why, it may be
asked, seek to represent future appearances of the constellations
which we could not hope to see, even if we could survive so long? The
answer is: Because these things aid the mind to form a picture of the
effects of the mobility of the starry universe. Only by showing the
changes from some definite point of view can we arrive at a due
comprehension of them. The constellations are more or less familiar to
everybody, so that impending changes of their forms must at once
strike the eye and the imagination, and make clearer the significance
of the movements of the stars. If the future history of mankind is to
resemble its past and if our race is destined to survive yet a million
years, then our remote descendents will see a ``new heavens'' if not a
``new earth,'' and will have to invent novel constellations to
perpetuate their legends and mythologies.
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