STARS. 



A table of nebulse in the fouthern hcmifpherc, by La 

 Caille, may be feen in the " Connoiflance des Terns" for 

 1784, p. 270. 



Stars, The Number of, appears to be vaftly great, almoft 

 infinite ; yet have allronomers long ago afcertained the num- 

 ber of thofe vitible to the eye, which are found much fewer 

 than one might imagine. See Catalogue of the Stars. 



Of the 3000 contained in the Britannic Catalogue, there 

 are many only vifible through a telefcope ; nor docs a good 

 eye fcarcely ever fee more than a thoufand at the fame time 

 in the clearelt heaven ; the appearance of innumerable more, 

 frequent in clear winter nights, arifing from our fight's 

 being deceived by their twinkling, and from our viewing 

 them confufedly, and not reducing them to any order. Yet, 

 for all this, the llarn are really almoft infinite. See Halley 

 on the Number, Order, and Light of the fixed Stars, Phil. 

 Tranf. N°364, or Abr. vol. vi. p. 148. 



Riccioli makes no fcruple to afiirm, in his New Almageft, 

 that a man who fhould fay there are above twenty thoufand 

 times twenty thoufand, would fay nothing improbable. 



For a good telefcope, direfted to almoll any point of the 

 heavens, difcover.s numbcn. that arc loll to the naked fight ; 

 particularly in the Milky Way, which Dr. Herfchcl has 

 afcertained to be an aflemblage of fiars, too remote to be 

 fingly feen, but fo clofely difpofed as to give a luminous 

 appearance to that part of the heavens where they ar«. See 

 Galaxy. 



In the fingle conftellation of the Pleiades, inllead of 6, 7, 

 or 8 ftars feen by the beft eye, Dr. Hooke, with a telefcope 

 12 feet long, told 78, and with larger glad'eii many more 

 of different magnitudes. And F. de RlKita, a Capuchin, 



affirms, that he has obferved above 2000 flars in the fingle 

 conftellation of Orion. 



The fame author found above 188 in the Pleiades. And 

 Huygens, looking at the ftar in the middle of Orion's 

 fword, inllead of one found it to be twelve. Galileo found 

 80 in the fpace of the belt of Orion's fword, 21 in the 

 nebulous ftar of his head, and above 500 in another part of 

 hiiB, within the compafs of one or two degrees fpace, and 

 more than 40 in the nebulous ftar Prsefepe. See Magniludet 

 of the Stars, fufra. 



If aa ordinary telefcope, therefore, will, in feveral parts 

 of the heavens, difcover ten times as many ftars as are vifible 

 to the naked eye, what may not be expefted from the im- 

 proved magnifying powers of modern times ? 



Stars, The Changes that have happened in the, are very 

 confiderablc ; contrary to the opinion of the ancients, who 

 held, that the heavens and heavenly bodies were incapable 

 of any change, the matter of which being permanent and 

 eternal, infinitely exceeding the hardnefs of diamonds, and 

 not fufceptible of any different form. And, iu effefl, till 

 the time of Arillotle, and even two hundred years after- 

 wards, there had no change been obferved. The firft wai 

 above I 20 years before the incarnation ; when Hipparchus, 

 difcovering a new ftar to appear, was firft induced to make 

 a catalogue of the liars, that pofterity might perceive any 

 future changes of the like kind. (See Catalogue. ) The 

 number of ftars which are afcertained to be variable, 

 amoiu.ts only to 15 ; while thofe which arc fufpeftcd to be 

 variable, amount to 37. 



In the year 1572, Cornelius Gemma and Tycho Brahe 



obferved another new ftar in the conftellation CaOiopeia, 



5 D 2 which 



