Recreations in Astronomy: With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic WorkWarren, Henry White
Religion
Recreations in Astronomy: With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic Work
Warren, Henry White
Astronomy
We find about five thousand stars visible to the naked eye in the
whole heavens, both north and south. Of these twenty are of the
first magnitude, sixty-five of the second, two hundred of the third,
four hundred of the fourth, eleven hundred of the fifth, and three
thousand two hundred of the sixth. We think we can easily number
the stars; but train a six-inch telescope on a little section of the
Twins, where six faint stars are visible, and over three thousand
luminous points appear. The seventh magnitude has 13,000 stars;
the eighth, 40,000; the ninth, 142,000. There are 18,000,000 stars
in the zone called the Milky Way. When our eyes are not sensitive
enough to be affected by the light of far-off stars the tastimetre
feels their heat, and tells us the word of their Maker is true--"they
are innumerable."[*]
[Footnote *: _Telescopic Work._--Look at the Hyades and Pleiades
in Taurus. Notice the different colors of stars in them both. Find
the cluster Præsepe in Fig. 70, just a trifle above a point midway
between Procyon and Regulus. It is equally distant from Procyon and
a point a little below Pollux. Sweep along the Milky Way almost
anywhere, and observe the distribution of stars; in some places
perfect crowds, in others more sparsely scattered. Find with the
naked eye the rich cluster in Perseus. Draw a line from Algol to
a of Perseus (Fig. 67); turn at right angles to the right, at a
distance of once and four-tenths the first line a brightness will
be seen. The telescope reveals a gorgeous cluster.]
_Double and Multiple Stars._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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