HOW TO OBSERVE THE HEAVENS. 



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HOW TO OBSERVE THE HEAVENS. 



To all persons in whose minds a taste for the study of the universe has 

 been awakened, there is no spectacle which affords an interest so intense as 

 that which the firmament offers on every clear night, and no occupation is 

 more delightful to those endowed with the slightest contemplative habits, than 

 from time to time through the year to observe the changes which take place 

 in the aspect of that glorious scene ; but to render such contemplations still 

 more agreeable, and to enable the spectator to turn his observations to profitable 

 account, it will be necessary that he should be familiar with the objects which 

 there present themselves in such countless numbers and endless variety. 



It is an error to suppose that astronomical observations must be confined to 

 observatories, or that no one can enjoy practical astronomy who is not sup- 

 plied with telescopes and other optical and astronomical apparatus. Our 

 Maker has given us, in the eye, an optical instrument of exquisite structure, 

 and has supplied us with an understanding by which its application may be 

 guided to the most sublime speculations. We shall on the present occasion 

 endeavor to give such plain and elementary rules as may enable every one by 

 the mere use of his eyes, without even resorting to a common telescope, to 

 occupy himself advantageously in the contemplation of the heavens. 



If a person, on a clear starlight night, turn his face directly to the north, 

 and contemplate the heavens for an hour or two, he will observe stars con- 

 tinually to rise from the horizon on his right, or in the east, and other stars to 

 disappear and set on his left, or in the west. The stars scattered over a por- 

 tion of the firmament which lies immediately above the northern horizon are 

 observed never to set, but alternately to rise on the eastern and to descend on 

 the western side of the northern point ; the extent of their descent, however, 

 being so limited, that they never descend so low as the horizon. Frequent 

 and attentive observation of these appearances will suggest strongly the idea 

 that these objects revolve in circles round some point as a centre, which is 

 situate in the northern region of the firmament. But this impression can not 



