Astronomy for amateurs . vens are full of surprises, on which we canbestow but a fleeting glance within these limits. Theypresent a field of infinite variety. Who has not noticed the Milky Way, the pale beltthat traverses the entire firmament and is so luminouson clear evenings in the Constellations of the Swan andthe Lyre ? It is indeed a swarm of stars. Each is in-dividually too small to excite our retina, but as a whole,curiously enough, they are perfectly visible. Withopera-glasses we divine the starry constitution: a smalltelescope shows us marvels. Eighteen millions of starswere counted
Astronomy for amateurs . vens are full of surprises, on which we canbestow but a fleeting glance within these limits. Theypresent a field of infinite variety. Who has not noticed the Milky Way, the pale beltthat traverses the entire firmament and is so luminouson clear evenings in the Constellations of the Swan andthe Lyre ? It is indeed a swarm of stars. Each is in-dividually too small to excite our retina, but as a whole,curiously enough, they are perfectly visible. Withopera-glasses we divine the starry constitution: a smalltelescope shows us marvels. Eighteen millions of starswere counted there with the gauges of William Herschel. Now this Milky Way is a symbol, not of the Universe, 78 THE STARS, SUNS OF THE INFINITE but of the Universes that succeed each other throughthe vast spaces to Infinity. Our Sun is a star of the Milky Way. It surroundsus Hke a great circle, and if the Earth were transparent^we should see it pass beneath our feet as well as overour heads. It consists of a very considerable mass of. Fig. 21.—The Star-Cluster in Hercules. star-clusters, varying greatly in extent and number,some projected in front of others, while the whole formsan agglomeration. Among this mass of star-groups, several thousandsof which are already known to us, we will select one ofthe most curious, the Cluster in Hercules, which can be 79 ASTRONOMY FOR AMATEURS distinguished with the unaided eye, between the stars77 and ^ of that constellation. Many photographs ofit have been taken in the authors observatory at Juvisy,showing some thousands of stars; and one of these isreproduced in the accompanying figure (Fig. 21). Isit not a veritable universe?
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectastronomy, bookyear19
