258 



• KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Oct. 2G, 1883. 



NIGHTS WITH A THREE-INCH 

 TELESCOPE. 



By a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. 



CAPRICORNUS is the next constellation which will 

 claim our attention. It will not, however, detain u? 

 long here, as the objects in it identifiable upon the Map on 

 p. 214, Vol. II., are not numerous. The first of them is that 

 beautiful star, p Capricorni, represented in Fig. 59. The 

 contrast of colour is fine. (/- is a pretty little pair, sufliciently 

 wide apart to be resolvable with the lowest eye-piece. 30 

 Messier, with a power of 70 or so, will be seen as a rather 

 dim-looking nebula with an 8th magnitude star just pre- 

 ceding it (i.e., with an inverting eye-piece, to the left of it). 

 It may be fished for to the left and below ; Capricorni, 

 just above a line joining ; with Fomalhaut and (roughly) 

 at a sixth of the distance. 



Aquarius, a large constellation extending from the south- 

 east corner of Aquila over the north and to the east of 

 Capricornus, is replete with objects of interest suitable to 

 the instrument we are employing. Numerous others too 

 small for inclusion in the Knowledge maps may be picked 

 up by a systematic search. Proceeding, as is our wont, in 

 the order of Right Ascension, the first object we arrive at 

 is Herschel lY., 1, a very tine specimen of a planetary 

 nebula. Somewhat resembling Uranus, but without his 

 sharp outline, it is rather less than li" to the west of 

 V Aquarii. Our next object, as it happens, is a nebula 

 too, but of a totally different character. This is 2 Messier, 



Fi>. 50. Fit-. Ci'. Fig. 61. 



fj Capricorni. il Aquarii. Z Aquarii, 



a large, bright (and for a nebula), conspicuous object. It is 

 about 5^ north and only jitsf to the east of /3 Aquarii. 

 About -i^ to the east by south of c Capricorni w ill be found 

 that delicate little pair 29 Aquarii, its components lying 

 diagonally across the field. If we draw an imaginary line 

 from c Capricorni to Fomalhaut, at rather more than one- 

 third of the distance from the former star, we shall come 

 upon even a prettier star still, 41 Aquarii, shown in fig. 60. 

 a Aquarii is another beautiful object, closer than either of 

 the last described, but perfectly easy with three inches of 

 aperture and a power of 160. It is shown in fig. 61. 

 r' (just below and to the right of r" in the Map on p. 294, 

 Vol. II.) is wide, but very difficult, from the smallness 

 of its companion, which will be glimpsed to the right and 

 a little above the larger star, u^ is another wide pair, 

 but interesting from the colour of its components, which 

 are orange and blue. It will be found over the letter A 

 in the middle of the word " Aquarius " in the Map on 

 p. 294, Vol. II. Below the three stars lettered \l, and 

 at the right-angle of a rudely right-angled triangle which 

 it forms with them and t, lies 94 Aquarii, with its grace- 

 fully-contrasted colours. Lastly, reference to the Map 

 will show a little group of stars to the right of 2 Ceti. 

 The left hand of the three contiguous ones is 107 Aquarii, 

 which is represented in Fig. 62. Here again varied 

 colours come in as an adjunct to, or element in, the beauty 

 of the object. 



Over the western part of Aquarius we shall find 

 Equuleus in the Map. The second star to the right of the 

 one marked 1 there is No. 376 of Piazzi's Hour XX., 

 which we have represented in fig 63, and which will well 

 repay examination. Here again in this pretty close pair 

 we have to note beautifully-contrasted colours. t Equulei 



Fin-. (52. Fig. G3. 



107 Aijuari 



P XX 370 Eiiuulei. 



(the star marked 1 in the map), which we shall see as a 

 double star, is really a triple system ; but the extreme 

 closeness of the companion of the larger star places it 

 hopelessly beyond the reach of our aperture. \ Equulei, 

 represented in fig. 64, is a charming and delicate pair, but 

 quite easy to divide with our instrumental means. Both 

 components are white. 



Adjoining Equuleus to the east, is the large constellation 

 Pegasus. 1 Pegasi, bordering on Vulpecula, is a very wide 

 pair. It is inserted here for the tinelj'-contrastwl colours 

 of its components. If we join e Pegasi and c Equulei by 

 an imaginary line and consider this as the base of a very 

 squat triangle having its apex to the north, then at this 

 apex will be found 1.^ Messier Pegasi, a fine object, pre- 

 senting the appearance of a bright nelmla, with marked 

 central condensation. It is really a brilliant cluster of 

 stars, but a three-inch telescope is quite impotent to resolve 

 it. £ Pegasi is a very wide triple, but the colours render it 

 interesting, k Pegasi will ta.x both the eye and the in- 

 strument of the student severely. In fact, to see the 

 minute comes at all he must remain in the dark for some 

 little time, and even then he will only glimpse it " out of 

 the corner of his eye." It is some 12" from its primary, 

 below and to the left of it. We cannot give a diagram of 

 it to scale, inasmuch as the minute star would not print at 

 all. 



Fiff. 04. Fiir. 05. Fis-. 06. 



Bounded by Pegasus, Aquarius, Cetus. Aries, and 

 Andromeda, is the straggling and not very intelligible 

 constellation Pisces. If we draw an imaginary line from 

 -/ Pegasi to j; Ceti, about one-third of the w-ay from the 

 first-named star we shall come upon ."il Piscium, a wide but 

 very pretty pair represented in fig. 6.5. Note the lilac tint 

 of the small companion. 5.3 Piscium, our next object, will 

 be found some 7° along a line through o and e Andromeda-. 

 The components of this charming object are very much 

 closer than those of the previous one, being, in fact, some- 

 thing like one-fifth of the distance. The comes, though 

 minute, will be detected without difliculty. About half- 

 way between tt and j; Andromeda; we come upon G-i 



