Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) ASTRONOMICAL CURIOSITIES FACTS AND FALLACIES ASTRONOMICAL CURIOSITIES FACTS AND FALLACIES BY J. ELLARD GORE MEMBER OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA ETC. AUTHOR OF "ASTRONOMICAL ESSAYS," "STUDIES IN ASTRONOMY," "THE VISIBLE UNIVERSE," ETC. LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1909 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED LONDON AND BECCLES _All rights reserved_ PREFACE The curious facts, fallacies, and paradoxes contained in the following pages have been collected from various sources. Most of the information given will not, I think, be found in popular works on astronomy, and will, it is hoped, prove of interest to the general reader. J. E. G. _September, 1909._ CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. THE SUN 1 II. MERCURY 10 III. VENUS 17 IV. THE EARTH 32 V. THE MOON 48 VI. MARS 59 VII. THE MINOR PLANETS 68 VIII. JUPITER 74 IX. SATURN 84 X. URANUS AND NEPTUNE 91 XI. COMETS 97 XII. METEORS 117 XIII. THE ZODIACAL LIGHT AND GEGENSCHEIN 127 XIV. THE STARS 135 XV. DOUBLE AND BINARY STARS 160 XVI. VARIABLE STARS 170 XVII. NEBULÆ AND CLUSTERS 191 XVIII. HISTORICAL 217 XIX. THE CONSTELLATIONS 239 XX. THE VISIBLE UNIVERSE 313 XXI. GENERAL 329 INDEX 359 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE AL-SUFI'S "EARTHEN JAR" 247 AL-SUFI'S "FISHES" IN ANDROMEDA 249 ASTRONOMICAL CURIOSITIES CHAPTER I The Sun