Pleasures of the telescope: An Illustrated Guide for Amateur Astronomers and a Popular Description of the Chief Wonders of the Heavens for General ReadersServiss, Garrett Putman
Science
Pleasures of the telescope: An Illustrated Guide for Amateur Astronomers and a Popular Description of the Chief Wonders of the Heavens for General Readers
In that part of Scutum Sobieskii contained in map No. 12 we find an
interesting double, Sigma 2325, whose magnitudes are six and nine,
distance 12.3", p. 260 deg., colors white and orange. Sigma 2306 is a
triple, magnitudes seven, eight, and nine, distances 12", p. 220 deg., and
0.8", p. 68 deg.. The third star is, however, beyond our reach. The colors
of the two larger are respectively yellow and violet.
The star cluster 4400 is about one quarter as broad as the moon, and
easily seen with our smallest aperture.
[Illustration: MAP NO. 13.]
Passing near to the region covered by map No. 13, we find the remaining
portions of the constellations Sagittarius and Scutum Sobieskii. It will
be advisable to finish with the latter first. Glance at the clusters
4426 and 4437. Neither is large, but both are rich in stars. The nebula
4441 is a fine object of its kind. It brightens toward the center, and
Herschel thought he had resolved it into stars. The variable R is
remarkable for its eccentricities. Sometimes it attains nearly the
fourth magnitude, although usually at maximum it is below the fifth,
while at minimum it is occasionally of the sixth and at other times of
the seventh or eighth magnitude. Its period is irregular.
Turning back to Sagittarius, we resume our search for interesting
objects there, and the first that we discover is another star cluster,
for the stars are wonderfully gregarious in this quarter of the heavens.
The number our cluster bears on the map is 4424, corresponding with M 22
in Messier's catalogue. It is very bright, containing many stars of the
tenth and eleventh magnitudes, as well as a swarm of smaller ones. Sir
John Herschel regarded the larger stars in this cluster as possessing a
reddish tint. Possibly there was some peculiarity in his eye that gave
him this impression, for he has described a cluster in the constellation
Toucan in the southern hemisphere as containing a globular mass of
rose-colored stars inclosed in a spherical shell of white stars. Later
observers have confirmed his description of the shape and richness of
this cluster in Toucan, but have been unable to perceive the red hue of
the interior stars.
The eastern expanse of Sagittarius is a poor region compared with the
western end of the constellation, where the wide stream of the Milky Way
like a great river enriches its surroundings. The variables T and R are
of little interest to us, for they never become bright enough to be seen
without the aid of a telescope. In 54 we find, however, an interesting
double, which with larger telescopes than any of ours appears as a
triple. The two stars that we see are of magnitudes six and seven and a
half, distance 45", p. 42 deg., colors yellow and blue. The third star,
perhaps of thirteenth magnitude, is distant 36", p. 245 deg..
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