206 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



resolve into separate stars to its very center a scene of marvel- 

 ous beauty and impressiveness. But smaller instruments reveal 

 only the in-running star streams and the sprinkling of stellar 

 points over the main aggregation, which cause it to sparkle like a 

 cloud of diamond dust transfused with sunbeams. The appear- 

 ance of flocking together that those uncountable thousands of 

 stars present calls up at once a picture of our lone sun separated 

 from its nearest stellar neighbor by a distance "probably a hun- 

 dred times as great as the entire diameter of the spherical space 

 within which that multitude is congregated. It is true that un- 

 less we assume what would seem an unreasonable remoteness for 

 the Hercules cluster, its component stars must be much smaller 

 bodies than the sun ; yet even that fact does not diminish the 

 wonder of their swarming. Here the imagination must bear sci- 

 ence on its wings, else science can make no progress whatever. 



It is an easy step from Hercules to Draco. In the conspicuous 

 diamond-shaped figure that serves as a guideboard to the head of 

 the latter, the southernmost star belongs not to Draco but to 

 Hercules. The brightest star in this figure is y, of magnitude two 

 and a half, with an eleventh-magnitude companion, distant 125", 

 p. 116. Two stars of magnitude five compose v, their distance 

 apart being 62", p. 312. A more interesting double is /*, magni- 

 tudes five and five, distance 2'4", p. 158. Both stars are white, 

 and they present a pretty appearance when the air is steady. 

 They form a binary system of unknown period. 2 2078 (also 

 called 17 Draconis) is a triple, magnitudes six, six and a half, and 

 six, distances 3-8", p. 116, and 90", p. 195. 2 1984 is an easy 

 double, magnitudes six and a half and eight and a half, distance 

 6*4", p. 270. The star 17 is a very difficult double for even our 

 largest aperture, on account of the faintness of one of its com- 

 ponents. The magnitudes are two and a half and ten, distance 

 4*7", p. 140. Its near neighbor, 2 2054, may be a binary. Its 

 magnitudes are six and seven, distance 1", p. 0. In 2 2323 we 

 have another triple, magnitudes five, eight and a half, and seven, 

 distances 3'6", p. 360, and 90", p. 22, colors white, blue, and red- 

 dish. A fine double is e, magnitudes five and eight, distance 3", 

 p. 5. 



The nebula No. 4373 is of a planetary character, and interest- 

 ing as occupying the pole of the ecliptic. A few years ago Dr. 

 Holden, with the Lick telescope, discovered that it is unique in 

 its form. It consists of a double spiral, drawn out nearly in the 

 line of sight, like the thread of a screw whose axis lies approxi- 

 mately endwise with respect to the observer. There is a central 

 star, and another fainter star is involved in the outer spiral. The 

 form of this object suggests strange ideas as to its origin. But 

 the details mentioned are far beyond the reach of our instruments. 



