THE NEW STAR WHICH FADED 

 INTO STAR-MIST. 



THE appearance of a new star in the constellation of the 

 Swan in the autumn of 1876 promises to throw even more 

 light than was expected on some of the most interesting 

 problems with which modem astronomy has to deal. It 

 was justly regarded as a circumstance of extreme interest 

 that so soon after the outburst of the star which formed 

 a new gem in the Northern Crown in May, 1866, another 

 should have shone forth under seemingly similar conditions. 

 And when, as time went on, it appeared that in several 

 respects the new star in the Swan differed from the new star 

 in the Crown, astronomers found fresh interest in studying, 

 as closely as possible, the changes presented by the former 

 as it gradually faded from view. But they were not prepared 

 to expect what has actually taken place, or to recognize so 

 great a difference of character between these two new stars, 

 that whereas one seemed throughout its visibility to ordinary 

 eyesight, and even until the present time, to be justly called 

 a star, the other should so change as to render it extremely 

 doubtful whether at any time it deserved to be regarded as a 

 star or sun. 



Few astronomical phenomena, even of those observed 

 during this century (so fruitful in great astronomical dis- 

 coveries), seem better worthy of thorough investigation and 

 study than those presented by the two stars which appeared 

 in the Crown and in the Swan, in 1866 and 1876 respec- 



