A Tale of Two Stars

Abstract

Arcturns and Vega make a nearly ideal pair of stars to illustrate the differences in the physical properties of the stars in general. As we have seen, these two brightest stars of summer appear at a magnitude of just zero, and both are at about the same distance from us (Vega is actually a little closer). That means that intrinsically they are also almost equally bright.

It is therefore a truism, almost a tautology, to say that all magic is necessarily false and barren; for were it ever to become true and fruitful, it would no longer be magic but science.

J. G. Frazer

The Golden Bough