Description of the Nebula about the Star 6 Orionis. 

 By W. C. bond, 



DIRECTOR OF THE CAMBRIDGE OBSERVATORY. 



[Read before the Academy, April 3, 1848.) 



The nebula surrounding the star 6 Orionis was first seen, 

 figured, and described by Huygens in 1659. During nearly two 

 liundred years it has continued to excite the interest of astrono- 

 mers, while every successive improvement in the telescope has 

 developed some new and remarkable feature. 



It was the first object to which Sir William Herschel directed 

 his noble forty-foot reflector, in 1787, and it subsequently en- 

 gaged much of his attention. To his distinguished son we are 

 indebted for the first delineation which could be called even an 

 approximation to its true figure. 



The drawings and the description of this nebula, which Sir 

 John Herschel has given to the public in the second volume of 

 the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, were 

 founded principally upon observations made with his twenty-foot 

 reflectors during the years 1824-26. Every one joined with 

 him, at that time, in the opinion that he had given a sufficiently 

 accurate representation to serve as a standard of comparison for 

 subsequent observers in regard to change of form or condition. 



