258 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of them known), and certainly we in America, who have Peters and 

 Watson among us, have no cause to wonder at such discoveries. 



Neptune was discovered tirst by two theoretical astronomers in 

 their studies, and the delight witli which the news of the actual dis- 

 covery was received was a tribute to the power of pure analysis, and 

 in nowise contributed to the glory of telescopic research. 



The startling discoveries, as we have seen, were reserved for the 

 early astronomers, who first found the new country, leaving their suc- 

 cessors to accurately map it out. The lesson of patience which can be 

 learned from the labors of these successors is no mean one. To this 

 patience, supplemented by a skill which usually must be of a high 

 order, we owe the later discoveries of the telescope, such as the find- 

 ing of the eighth satellite of Saturn (by Bond and Lassell), and of 

 the two interior moons of Uranus (Lassell, 1847 and 1851), and of 

 the satellite of Neptune. 



There is hardly an object in the whole heavens — planets, of course, 

 excepted — which has been so thoroughly and faithfully studied as the 

 Great Nebula in Orion. And this nebula has a history which will 

 well repay a study somewhat in detail. We shall, in comparing the 

 different work already done upon it, arrive at a very good idea of the 

 progress of telescopic astronomy itself, since, for over 200 years, the 

 details of this nebula have been a subject of solicitude to a great 

 number of eminently skillful astronomers, aided by the best telescopes 

 of their time. 



The nebula was discovered by Huyghens in 1656, and in our own 

 century it has been studied by the great reflectors of Herschel and 

 Rosse, and by the refractors of Cambridge, Pulkova, and Rome, in 

 the hands of Bond, Struve, and Secchi. 



The place of this nebula in the heavens is easily to be found by 

 any one tolerably familiar with the aspect of our winter sky. 



The constellation of Orion is a well-known and brilliant asterism, 

 and very conspicuous among the other stars of the group are the 

 three stars which constitute the " belt." Below these are three others, 

 in nearly a straight line^ and these are known as " the sword : " the 

 northern star of these is C Orionis ; the middle one is 6 (Theta) 

 Orionis ; and the southern is l (Iota) Orionis ; it is of the nebula sur- 

 rounding d Orionis that we wish to speak. 



Flamsteed, astronomer - royal of England, marked 6 Orionis in 

 his catalogue of stars, as of the fourth magnitude, and to the naked 

 eye it so appears. 



But, on examination with a telescope, this star is seen to be not 

 single, but multiple. When Huyghens, in 1656, turned his newly- 

 constructed telescope to it, he saw three stars, and these were sur- 

 rounded by a cloud-like mass — the nebula. 



The figure which he printed in his " Systema Saturnium " is given 

 {^^g- Ij P- 259), together with the figure of the French astronomer. 



