Clusters and Nebulae. 347 



least I do not recollect having remarked it with my 5 1 -inch 

 achromatic, though it is sufficiently visible when looked for, 

 till it forced itself upon my notice with an 8-inch silver-on- 

 glass speculum, which exhibited the nebula in great beauty, 

 and seemed to show faintly the wisp-like appendages at its 

 outer edge. 



This nebula, from its superior brilliancy and distinctness, 

 may be taken as the representative of its class, of which but 

 few are known to exist. The Earl of Eosse had only been able 

 to identify seven in 1850. If future investigations should ever 

 demonstrate their stellar composition, they would have a most 

 important addition to their number in the starry ring which 

 surrounds, though a little excentrically, our own system. The 

 Gralaxy would then be held the chief of the annular nebulas. 

 The analogy, however, would not be a close one, and there 

 would be a great difference, if not in kind, yet in degree. 

 The Galaxy, though undoubtedly it would appear as an annular 

 nebula if viewed from a distant point lying far out of its 

 plane, would evidently be extremely faint in proportion to its 

 diameter, and could scarcely be a recognizable object if re- 

 moved so far as to subtend an angle of only one or two minutes. 

 If the nebula in Lyra is an aggregation of stars, they must be 

 much larger, or more brilliant, in proportion to the whole 

 dimensions of the annulus, than the extremely minute points 

 of the Milky Way. 



In the Catalogue of Nebulas, published by Sir J. Herschel 

 in 1833, this object stands No. 2023. In the more extensive 

 General Catalogue, which we recently owe to the same great 

 observer, and of which more hereafter, it is numbered 4447. 



By way of contrast with this marvellous ring, we may try 

 to find 



25. The Second Nebula in Ltjra. 56 M. To get hold of 

 this, we must revert to our old acquaintances <y Lyras and 

 /3 Cygni. In mid- distance between these, or somewhat nearer 

 to the latter, and a trifle perhaps above the line, we must 

 sweep with our lowest power, as a common finder will hardly 

 have light enough, till we come upon a faint cloud, whose hazy 

 aspect is so curiously dissimilar to the sharp clear outline of 

 its annular neighbour, that on that account it deserves a little 

 trouble in the search ; and it must strike us as singular that, 

 whilst the nature of the other is still equivocal, this feebler 

 object readily reveals its composition. Smyth calls it a globular 

 cluster. Herschel II., in his catalogue of 1833 (where it is 

 No. 2036), calls it a " fine compressed cluster ; round, inclining 

 to a triangular form ; brightest in the middle ; stars 12 ... 14 

 mag. A fine object, diameter 3'.^ I found it "faintish, but 

 probably resolvable/' with Sfe inches; with 29 of 5| inches it 



