124 SPECIAL RESULTS IN THE URANOLOGICAL PORTION 



We find the greatest accumulation of clusters of stars 

 (but by no means of nebulae) in the Milky Way ( 245 ) (the 

 Galaxy, the Celestial River ( 246 ) of the Arabians), which 

 forms almost a great circle of the sphere, and is inclined to 

 the equator at an angle of 63. The poles of the Milky 

 Way are situated in E. A. 14h. 47m., North Decl. 27 ; and 

 E. A. Oh. 47m., South Decl. 27: therefore that which may be 

 called the North pole is near Coma Berenices, and the South 

 pole between Phoenix and Cetus. If all planetary relations 

 of place are referred to the Ecliptic, i. e. to the great circle 

 in which the plane of the sun's path cuts the sphere, 

 we may with equal convenience refer many relations in 

 space of the fixed stars, (for example their accumulation or 

 grouping) to the approximate great circle of the Milky 

 Way. In this sense, the latter is to the sidereal universe 

 what the ecliptic is to the planetary world of our solar 

 system. The Milky Way cuts the equator in the constellation 

 of the Unicorn between Procyon and Sirius, E. A. 6h. 

 54ra. (for 1800), and in the left hand of Antinous, E. A. 

 19h. 15m. Tims the Milky Way divides the celestial sphere 

 into two rather unequal portions, whose areas are to each 

 other in the proportion of about 8 to 9. The vernal point 

 is situated in the smaller portion. The breadth of the 

 Milky Way varies very much in different parts of its 

 course. ( 247 ) Where it is narrowest, and at the same time 

 brightest (between the prow of the Ship and the Cross, and 

 nearest to the Southern Pole), its width is barely from 3 to 

 4: at other points it is 16, and in the divided part, 

 between Ophiuchus and Antinous, ( 248 ) it is as much as 22. 

 William Herschel has remarked, that, judging by his star- 

 gauging, the Milky Way is in many regions 6 or 7 



