72 



OUR COLUMNS. 



April, 1892. 



" Eudosias," — a book wMcli, as it passed through several editions in a few years, must 

 have been widely read and appreciated by the young of both sexes. 



To return, however, — assuming that some acquaintance with the principal 

 constellations and the most brilliant gems w^hich distinguish them has been acquired, 

 how may the possessor of the opera glass best proceed in a preliminary optical survey 

 of the starry sphere ? The first essay will, of course, be mainly tentative. The 

 untutored eye requires some training, and, humble as it is, the instrument demands 

 some little skill, in holding and adjusting before it \vill yield its best results. Let 

 a clear moonless night be chosen for the scrutiny of some of those glorious aggregations 

 of stars, termed " clusters," many of which, though barely visible to the naked eye, are 

 transformed in the binocular into objects of wondrous beauty. Among the best 

 known and most conspicuous are the Pleiades which, on autumn evenings, 



— rising through the mellow shade, 

 Glitter hke a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid, 



A simile as true to nature as it is beautiful. If the j^roup is well above the mists of the 

 horizon, nine or ten stars can sometimes be made out by an abnormally keen eye, 

 though very, few people can see more than six. A good opera-glass, if the sky be free 

 from haze, reveals ninety or more, interspersed among the brighter stars. Some fifty 

 years ago, Madler, the famous astronomer of Dorpat, announced the very speculative 

 hypothesis of a central sun, about which he supposed the universe revolved, and 

 came to the conclusion that Alcyone, the principal star of the Pleiades, occupied 

 this position. This sublime idea, ho\vever, w^as at no time strongly supported, 

 and is now generally abandoned. The double cluster in the Sword-hand of Perseus, 

 in the midst of the Galaxy, or Milky-way, a constellation which may be well 

 observed during the dark nights of autumn, is one of the most gorgeous asterisms, 

 and being situated in a field surpassingly rich in stars, is a beautiful opera-glass 

 object. The Prassepe, or " Beehive " cluster, in Cancer, is another group on 

 which the instrument may be brought to bear. Then there is the great Nebula in 

 Andromeda, the naked eye appearance of which has been likened to a candle 

 shining through a horn lantern, — an apt comparison, as will be noted. Here the 

 observer is only able to make out a few, if any, distinct stars, and will recall 

 the Laureate's 



Regions of lucid matter taking forms, 

 Brushes of fire, hazy gleams. 



When a few nights have been devoted to the examination of these and other objects, 

 to which a good star atlas will be a sufficient guide, the observer will probably have 

 arrived at a settled determination as to whether he will make further use or not 

 of his portable observatory. Mere star gazing with no more definite aim than curiosity, 

 like every kind of desultory scientific work, soon becomes wearisome. We will assume, 

 how^ever, that his enthusiasm is aroused, and that the initiatory survey of a few 

 celestial wonders makes him impatient to follow up some branch of sidereal astronomy 

 in other than a merely dilettante way. 



The number of stars visible to the naked eye in the whole celestial sphere has been 

 estimated to be about 6000. An opera-glass with an object-glass of 1^ inches aperture 

 reveals at least 100,000, and this is only a small fraction of the number which may be 

 recorded under the best conditions with the help of a telescope of what would now 

 be regarded as of moderate size. Many star catalogues have been prepared which 



