When the winter months begin, the sun is in the constellation of Sagittarius, in the beginning of spring in the constellation of Pisces, in the beginning of summer, in Gemini, and at the commencement of autumn, in the constellation of Virgo. The zodiacal constellations are very important, and to the people in the olden days, the sun's position in front of them was a way to tell the season of the year. The words of Chaucer
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne"
meant to any ploughboy in old England that it was April because during the first half of April the sun traverses the last half of Aries, the constellation of the Ram. Chaucer, by the way, wrote a book to teach "litel Lewis" his son, "to knowe every time of the day by the light of the sonne, and every time of the night by the starres fixed."
To locate a planet in modern days one has only to look up its position in the almanac or on a monthly sky map and then find it similarly located in the same constellation in the sky. The Monthly Evening Sky Map, an eight page journal for the amateur published by Leon Barritt, 150 Nassau St., New York, contains not only a map of the sky for every month, but also current astronomical news. With such aid, after becoming familiar with the belt of zodiacal constellations—which are easily learned by the following verse, it is not difficult to find the nearest planets.
And next the Crab, the Lion shines
The Virgin and the Scales.
The Scorpion, the Archer and He-goat,
The Man that holds the Watering-pot,
The Fish with glittering tails."
Both Venus and Jupiter are brighter than first magnitude stars and will be recognized with but little difficulty. Mars and Saturn
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