THE NEW STAR IN THE ANDROMEDA NEBULA. 

 Br H. MICHELL WHITLEY, Hon. Sec. 



The Great Nebula in Andromeda is one of tlie best known 

 of the many nebulae to which the student of astronomy directs 

 his telescope ; and is such a conspicuous object to the unarmed 

 eye, on a moonless night, as to be often mistaken for a comet by 

 those not conversant with the heavens : indeed, so brilliant is 

 it, that it is a matter of surprise that it was not included in 

 Ptolemy's list of "Nebulosse." 



It appears, however, to have been noticed in the tenth cen- 

 tury, and the invention of the telescope was soon followed by 

 particular attention being drawn to it. 



In 1612 Simon Marius wrote an account of it, in which he 

 describes it as resembling the light of a candle shining through 

 horn ; closely scanned as it has been by the gigantic and space 

 penetrating reflectors of the Herschels, Lassell, and Lord Eosse, 

 it has yet defied all attempts to resolve it into individual stars, 

 although the spectroscope yields a stellar spectrum, and minute 

 stars are discernable dotted here and there over the Nebula itself, 

 and around its borders ; but the mystery of its composition still 

 remains unsolved. 



Although the minute stars are beyond the grasp of any but 

 the most powerful telescopes, the Nebula itself is a most beauti- 

 ful object even with a small aperture. 



"With the appearance of the " Queen of the Nebulse," as it 

 has been called, I have been well acquainted since 1867, and have 

 always seen it as a long, ill-defined, somewhat oval mass of 

 nebulous matter, perfectly milky, and brightening very rapidly 

 towards the centre, where the nucleus presents the appearance 

 of a ball of milky light, obviously not a star, and the quaint 

 description of Simon Marius "the light of a candle shining 

 through horn" not inaptly describes it. 



On August 9th of this year, at 10 p.m., the nebula pre- 

 sented the appearance I have always seen, the entry in my note 



