744 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



dred knows the chief stars by name, or can even recognize the princi- 

 pal constellations, much less distinguish the planets from the fixed 

 stars. And of course they know nothing of the intellectual pleasure 

 that accompanies a knowledge of the stars. Modern astronomy is so 

 rapidly and wonderfully linking the earth and the sun together, with 

 all the orbs of space, in the bonds of close physical relationship, that a 

 person of education and general intelligence can offer no valid excuse 

 for not knowing where to look for Sirius or Aldebaran, or the Orion 

 nebula, or the planet Jupiter. As Australia and New Zealand and 

 the islands of the sea are made a part of the civilized world through 

 the expanding influence of commerce and cultivation, so the suns and 

 planets around us are, in a certain sense, falling under the dominion of 

 the restless and resistless mind of man. We have come to possess 

 vested intellectual interests in Mars and Saturn, and in the sun and all 

 his multitude of fellows, which nobody can afford to ignore. 



Perhaps one reason why the average educated man or woman 

 knows so little of the starry heavens is because it is popularly supposed 

 that only the most powerful telescopes and costly instruments of the 

 observatory are capable of dealing with them. No greater mistake 

 could be made. It does not require an optical instrument of any kind, 

 nor much labor, as compared with that expended in the acquirement 

 of some polished accomplishments regarded as indispensable, to give 

 one an acquaintance with the stars and planets which will be not only 

 pleasurable but useful. And with the aid of an opera-glass most 

 interesting, gratifying, and, in some instances, scientifically valuable 

 observations may be made in the heavens. I have more than once 

 heard persons who knew nothing about the stars, and probably cared 

 less, utter exclamations of surprise and delight when persuaded to 

 look at certain parts of the sky with a good glass, and thereafter mani- 

 fest an interest in astronomy of which they would formerly have be- 

 lieved themselves incapable. 



Being convinced that whoever will survey the heavens with a good 

 opera-glass will feel repaid many fold for his time and labor, the pres- 

 ent writer has undertaken to point out some of the objects most wor- 

 thy of attention, and some of the means of making acquaintance with 

 the stars. 



First, a word about the instrument to be used. Galileo made his 

 famous discoveries with what was, in principle of construction, simply 

 an opera-glass. This form of telescope was afterward abandoned be- 

 cause very high magnifying powers could not be employed with it, and 

 the field of view was restricted. But, on account of the brilliant illu- 

 mination of objects looked at, and its convenience of form, the opera- 

 glass is still a valuable and, in some respects, unrivaled instrument of 

 observation. 



In choosing an opera-glass, see first that the object-glasses are 

 achromatic, although this caution is hardly necessary, for all modern 



