116 Clusters and Nebulce. 



is not only reckoned to the Glypeus Sobieslcii by the Star Map 

 .of the S. D. U. K., but belongs to it as matter of natural 

 arrangement : for popular purposes, we may disregard in such 

 an instance the entangled boundaries which here, as in other 

 places, tend to so much confusion. The Glypeus, or Scutum, 

 Sobieskii, is one of the constellations formed by Hevelius out 

 of the stars which were strewed about, in unappropriated dis- 

 order, amongst the ancient asterisms, and named by him in 

 honour of the glorious deliverance of Vienna from the Turkish 

 siege in 1683 by the chivalry of Poland, headed by their heroic 

 sovereign John III., of the house of Sobieski ; and, in general, 

 though not strictly accurate terms, it may be described as the 

 mass of nebulous light between Al Tair and the S.W. horizon, 

 where the galaxy seems to approach especially near to our 

 system. At the upper following termination (if such a word 

 may be applied) of this luminous area, we shall perceive three 

 stars near together, in a gentle curve bending downwards to the 

 right, A, Antinoi, 3 mag., and 12 and 19 Aquilce, 5 mag. — the 

 continuation of this curve points out our object at a short dis- 

 tance, or it may be found 2° s, a little /, from 6 Aquilce, a 

 5 mag. star, at the upper preceding termination of the nebulous 

 mass. It is 11 M., and is described by Smyth as a splendid 

 cluster, somewhat like a flight of wild ducks. H. speaks of it 

 as <f a beautiful irregularly round cluster, 10' or 12' diameter; 

 the stars are all 11 m. except one = 9 mag. — examined with 

 high magnifiers (I have often viewed it with 800 and even 

 1200) it is broken into five or six distinct groups, with rifts 

 or cracks between them." It may be gratifying to the posses- 

 sors of far smaller instruments than H/s 18-inch reflector to 

 know that this curious structure is quite within their reach, as I 

 perceived it with powers of 65 and 111 upon my 5|-inch aperture, 

 though not in the least aware that it had been noticed pre- 

 viously. The bright star a little sf from the centre is rated 

 8 mag. by Smyth, as well as an open pair lying clear of the 

 cluster in that direction. This fine object was discovered as 

 a small obscure spot by Kirch in 1681, and first resolved into 

 stars by Derhara with an 8 feet reflector. The galaxy in the 

 vicinity is fairly resolvable with my achromatic, the field being 

 all " stippled " over with points of light. As Smyth says of 

 this region, "the wonderful quantity of suns profusely 

 scattered about here would be confounding, but for their in- 

 creasing our reverence of the Omnipotent Creator, by revealing 

 to us the immensity of the creation. * * * So great is the . 

 number of stars in some parts of this Via Lactea, that H ob- 

 served 588 of them in his telescope at the same time; and 

 they continued equally numerous for a quarter of an hour. In 

 a space about 10" long and 2£° wide, he computed that there 



