499 
of 500 new Nebula , and Clusters of Stars. 
this object must already have had an existence in the sidereal 
heavens, in order to send out those rays by which we now 
perceive it. 
VIII. Of Stars with Burs, or Stellar Nebula . 
Situated as we are, at an immense distance from the remote 
parts of the heavens, it is not in the power of telescopes to 
resolve many phenomena we can but just perceive, which, could 
we have a nearer view of them, might probably shew them- 
selves as objects that have long been known to us. A stellar 
nebula, perhaps, may be a real cluster of stars, the whole light of 
which is gathered so nearly into one point, as to leave but just 
enough of the light of the cluster visible to produce the appear- 
ance of burs. This, however, admits of a doubt. 
IX. Of milky Nebulosity. 
The phenomenon of milky nebulosity is certainly of a most 
interesting nature : it is probably of two different kinds ; one of 
them being deceptive, namely, such as arises from widely ex- 
tended regions of closely connected clustering stars, contiguous 
to each other, like the collections that construct our milky-way. 
The other, on the contrary, being real, and possibly at no very 
great distance from us. The changes I have observed in the 
great milky nebulosity of Orion, 23 years ago, and which have 
also been noticed by other astronomers, cannot permit us to 
look upon this phenomenon as arising from immensely distant 
regions of fixed stars. Even Huygens, the discoverer of it, 
was already of opinion that, in viewing it, we saw, as it were, 
through an opening into a region of light.* Much more would 
* See Sijstema Saturnium, page 8 and 9. 
