390 



THE STELLAR UNIVERSE. 



greater is a congeries of clusters of irregular form, globular clusters, and 

 nebulae of various magnitudes and degrees of condensation, among which is 

 interspersed a large portion of irresolvable nebulae, which may be, and prob- 

 ably is star-dust, but which the power of the twenty-feet telescope shows 

 only as a general illumination of the field of view, forming a bright ground on 

 which other objects are scattered. Some of the objects in it are of very sin- 

 gular and incomprehensible forms ; the chief one, especially (30 Doradus), 

 which consists of a number of loops united in a kind of unclear centre or knot, 

 like a bunch of ribands, disposed in what is called a true-lover's knot ! There 

 is no part of the heavens where so many nebulae and clusters are crowded into 

 so small a space as this ' cloud.' The nubecula junior is a much less striking 

 object. It abounds more in irresolvable nebulous light ; but the nebulae and 

 clusters in it are fewer and fainter, though immediately joining to it is one of 

 the richest and most magnificent clusters in the hemisphere." 



Fig. 15. 



