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SCENERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



Among these are objects so surprising, that I shall earnestly desire to see my observations 

 verified by the powerful instruments (if sufficiently so) which are now become common in 

 the hands of observers." More than 4000 have now been observed and catalogued. 



Taking a favourable night in spring or autumn, a practised eye may discern a feeble 

 speck between and ? Herculis, two stars of the third magnitude north and south of each 

 other, in that constellation, being about 22 nearly due west of Vega. This speck 

 is the thirteenth nebula of Messier's list, described by him as nebuleuse sans etoiles. It 

 was observed by Halley in 1714, who remarks, " This is but a little patch, but it shows 

 itself to the naked eye when the sky is serene, and the moon absent." Employing a 

 common telescope, it assumes the appearance of a small and faint cometary body, of a 

 globular shape ; but using an instrument of first-rate power, it resolves into a mass of stars, 

 whose number must be enormous, but apparently so closely wedged together, owing to their 

 remoteness, as to present the little indivisible streak of light which is scarcely perceptible 



Nebula in Hercules. 



without optical aid. The cut represents this object as seen in a reflector of 18 inches 

 aperture, and 20 feet focal length. It is impossible, says an assiduous observer, to give 

 a fitting representation of this magnificent cluster. Perhaps no one ever saw it for the first 

 time through a large telescope, without uttering a shout of wonder. The heavens, as seen 

 from a sun of this astral system, near its centre, must present a most gorgeous appearance. 

 In all directions, innumerable stars of all magnitudes will be seen, forming a spectacle such 

 as would be presented by our heavens, in case the Milky Way were expanded to cover the 

 entire celestial sphere. Such spherical stellar clusters are common, the individuals of each 

 being no doubt separated from one another by as wide a gulf as that which exists between 

 our sun and the nearest star, their apparent contiguity and compression to us arising from 

 their immeasurable distance. 



It is inferred from the appearance presented by many clusters, that the components of 

 each are bound together by mutual relationships, and constitute a particular assemblage 

 of stars governed by internal laws peculiar to itself, though corresponding generally 

 with those which prevail in other sidereal systems. The common occurrence of the 

 globular shape, and of great central condensation, the light there running up into an 

 unbroken blaze, may perhaps be accepted as evidence of the attraction of gravitation. It 

 is striking to catch a glimpse of a law with which we are so familiar the law that 



