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CANCER (" THE CRAB ")

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 175 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CANCER (" THE CRAB ") , in See also:astronomy, the See also:fourth sign of the See also:zodiac, denoted by the See also:symbol . Its name may be possibly derived from the fact that when the See also:sun arrives at this See also:part of the See also:ecliptic it apparently retraces its path, resembling in some manner the sidelong See also:motion of a crab. It is also a See also:constellation, mentioned by See also:Eudoxus (4th See also:century B.C.) and See also:Aratus (3rd century B.C.); See also:Ptolemy catalogued 13 stars in it, Tycho See also:Brahe 15 and See also:Hevelius 29. Its most interesting See also:objects are: a large loose cluster of stars, known as Praesepe or the Beehive, visible as a nebulous patch to the naked See also:eye, and Cancri, a remarkable multiple See also:star, composed of two stars, of magnitudes 5 and 5•7, revolving about each other in 6o years, and a third star of magnitude 5.5 which revolves about these two in an opposite direction in a See also:period of 171 years; from irregularities in the motion of this star, it is supposed to be a See also:satellite of an invisible See also:body which itself revolves about the two stars previously mentioned, in a period of boo to 700 years.

End of Article: CANCER (" THE CRAB ")

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CANCER, LUIS (d. 1549)

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