66 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of stars flesigiiatod Lamlxla (A), Ka|)])a (k), and Iota (t), mark the ex- 

 tended right hand c-liaincd to the rock, and Zeta (^) and some smaller 

 stars southwest of it show the left arm and hand, also stretched forth 

 and shackled. 



In searching for })icturesque objects in Andromeda, begin with 

 Alpheratz and the grou])s forming the hands. Below the girdle will 

 be .seen a rather remarkable arrangement of small stars in the mouth 

 of the Northern Fish. Now follow up the line of the girdle to the 

 star Nu (r). If your glass has a pretty wide field, your eye will imme- 

 diately catch the glimmer of the Great Nebula of Andromeda in the 

 same field with the star. This is the oldest or earliest discovered of 

 the nebulte, and, with the exception of that in Orion, is the grandest 

 visible in this hemisphere. Of course, not much can be expected of 

 an opera-glass in viewing such an object ; and yet a good glass, in 

 clear weather and the absence of the moon, makes a very attractive 

 spectacle of it. 



By turning the eyes aside, the nebula can be seen, extended as a 

 faint, wispy light, much elongated on either side of the brighter nu- 

 cleus. The cut here given shows, approximately, the appearance of 



the nebula, together with 

 some of the small stars in 

 its neighborhood, as seen 

 with a field-glass. With 

 large telescopes it appears 

 both larger and broader, 

 expanding to a truly enor- 

 mous extent, and in Bond's 

 celebrated picture of it we 

 behold gigantic rifts j*un- 

 ning through it, while the 

 whole field of sky in which 

 it is contained appears 

 sj)rinkled over with minute 

 stars apparently between 

 us and the nebula. It was 

 in, or probably more prop- 



Map 5.— The Gheat Andromeda Nebula. i i • • i- -.i 



erly speaking, in line with, 

 this nebula that a new star suddenly shone out in 1885, and, after flick- 

 ering and fading for a few months, disappeared. That the outburst of 

 light in this star had any real connection with the nebula is exceedingly 

 improbable. Although it appeared to be close beside the bright nu- 

 cleus of the nebula, it is likely that it was really hundreds or thou- 

 sands of millions of miles either this side or the other side of it. 

 Why it shouhl suddenly have blazed into visibility, and then in so 

 short a time have disappeared, is a question as difficult as it is interest- 

 ing. The easiest way to account for it, if not the most satisfactory. 



