CONTENTS. Vll 



PAGB 



Parallax of a Centauri, 163 



Parallax of a Lyrae and other stars, . . .164 



SECTION II. 



OBSERVATIONS OP NEW AND VARIABLE STABS, . . . . 170 



The star Eta Argils, 170 



Hind's star of 1848, 172 



Kepler's star of 1604, , . .173 



SECTION HI. 



DISTRIBUTION OP THE STARS IN SPACE, 175 



Herschel's view of the Milky Way, , . .175 



Abandoned by its author in 1817, , . 179 



Struve's researches on the Milky Way, 180 



Sir J. Herschel's observations in the Southern hemisphere, . . 182 



SECTION IV. 



MOTION OP THE SUN AND FIXED STARS, 189 



Point of space toward which the Sun is moving, . . . , 190 

 Madler's speculations respecting the Central Sun, . 191 



SECTION V. 



RESOLUTION OF REMARKABLE NEBULJS, 196 



Lord Rosse's telescope, 197 



Various nebulae resolved, 198 



Nebulae resolved by the Cambridge telescope, 200 



CHAPTER IV. 



PROGRESS OF ASTRONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

 SECTION I. 



HISTORY OP AMERICAN OBSERVATORIES, 202 



Transit of Venus in 1769, 202 



Yale College observatory, 206 



Williams College observatory, 208 



Western Reserve College observatory, 210 



Philadelphia High School observatory, 213 



West Point observatory, 219 



National observatory at Washington, 223 



Georgetown observatory, D. C., . . . . . . 237 



Cincinnati observatory, 241 



Cambridge observatory, 244 



Sharon observatory, near Philadelphia, 256 



