An introduction to astronomy: designed as a text-book for the use of students in college. By Denison Olmsted ...

:_919: VFIXICi') S'TAIRS,
found in thle const:elflation H11eicules, between Zeta and E]ta.
D)rtaw a lille from IyraL to (Gem1linma of the Crown, 11and 30 al)ove
tihe center of thlat linle will be the place of tlhis nebula. \\' Ien
viewvted witht a- snmall tolescope, it exhibits olly a circular cloud
(l)ate Ill., Fig. 3, (a), but to al moro l)o\erf'ull istrumentll it rerveals its real gtlories iln forl'l truly oxcitintl' to the bLeholder
(lig. 3 b), A.tbout 4000( nel)ul lhavce been detccted altd (dcscriled, of llichl about 1,700 Ilave recently been addlled by
Sir Jolhn Itclschel, friol his:Results of Oblservationls at tthe
(yapew of Good iHope.lAmolng the latter arct two remarkable
spots, well known to navigators, situated nelar tho south )pole,
called..llqtk n'llic cloi&ls bly sailors, 1but by astronomers,, the
Aj.ubecutla.Il.luor andl the.Vtebeeltda Il-i.to. They arre found
to consist of a wonderfull collection of nlebulel, the lreater tni)bracing'278 nebulhl, and the lesser 37. Beoth. togetlher collnpose a most magnificent assembllage. i:n thle sword (/' Oi'ioi,
is a celelbratcd nIlbula, long known, whicli, intil recently), had
resisted all atttempts to resolve it intto stars; but the great Reftcctor of _'Lord Rosse, antd more recently the great Refractor
of the C(lambridge Observatory, have succeeded( in a lpartial
resolutioln, at least, of thlis grand object, alldl lave authlorizc d
tite anticipation that, Nwith a small inilcease of tolescopit powerl
the whole wrill be shlownl to collsist of an i elllncnsoe collection of
exceedingly minute stars.
TIlhese3 reat tclcscopes, by the superior light they afford, dis1)lay their )peculiar l)powers ill this del)artmlemlt of astronoly,
al(t thosC astrolomners wl1o, for the first time, have gazed at
tlhese sidereal ietlures as seen in thet "1,eviat]tan" of:1 ord
Rosso, have Cexpressed, in glQw\\ iig termlls, their mingled deligltt
a11d astonishlnlt,. The perfect forms, alt stranglle but sy3fnneltrical contigoiurations, exhibited by tltseo instrutments, of
nebutl that were before semt of irregular oir fitntastic shalpes,
afford gromiunds for believing that sulcl irregularities tare oftten
if not always owing to the objects beinl but ) partly developed.
Thul-ls the (crab YtA/ndtla of Lord.Rossc (Plate HI[,,!Fig. 4t) h11ad
bccn long known as a faint, ill-deflined nebula of an elliptical
slhap)e; but the higher powers of thlat instlrument exllibit the
etnefolre-conccalelt al)lpendages which are essential to the c o1mnllcttellss of the figure. TIme 1Vr/l,12ool.Vct,:bu htz of Rlosso
(Lq1atst 1.1 I,.l'ig. 5), when seen in separate parts, exhibited no