The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1847-08-21

moon set. Notwithstanding the brevity Of
the opportunity and the obscurily Of the
moon, satified myself of the. existence Of
the gray light spoken Of by Schroter, indi-
eating twilight only compatible with the
existence of lunar atmosphere; lar
more favorable opportunity is probably near
at hand, and this mooted question will be
set at rest.
Ata later period Of the evening our at
tention was directed to test objects. On
previous evening the double star, Gamma
Corona, had been well separated with a
power Of 100. The mere separation OF
this star is thought to have been the high
est attainment Of Professor Strive with the
Imperial instrument, but it was dividedby
the Cambridge instrument without effort.
This star was examined in 1892 by Sir J.
Herschel, with his twenty feet reflector,
when he only saw round disc without a
companion.
The point Of faint light also, near Alpha
Capricorn, which President Smyth says
long baffled his researches, was boldly eX-
hibited by the Cambridge instrument. Sir
John Hersche was led to suppose that this
object was seen by reflected light, a field OF
investigation which will not be likely to
escape the attention Of the Cambridge OBJ
servers.
The campanion Of Antares, though OBJ
scured by haze and smoke, was very con-
spicuous. Sir ]. Herschel, while at the
Cape Of Good Hope, could not have missed
it for moment if he had turned his tela-
scope upon it, nasmuch as it may be detect
ed under favorable circumstances in this
latitude by FIVE feet equatorial.
The telescope was now directed to the
close double star Eta Corona. Close in
deed it has been Of late years, having sci
at defiance most Of the telescopes in the
world. 1t was at one time test object for
telescopes, but it has recently been closed
II nevertheless yielded to our power at
once, and the dark thread which separated
it could not have measured more than one
third of a second.
The instrument was next adjusted 10 the
annuar nebula between Beta and Gamma.
in The constellation of the Tyre, and the
the clock-work being applied, an opportu-
nifty was afforded me, which had often
craved, for deliberate survey of an object
which with smaller and less powerful nstru-
ments had deeply interested me. With or
binary instruments it appears 10 be ring or
wreath, being entirely vacant in the centre,
not unlike what wemight suppose 10 be the
appearance of the Milky way viewed as a
whole at an immense distance. Seen through
the Cambridge telescope, It is no longer q
ring. its centre is no longer dark, but filed
L Ia. a.. 6. ,to I
Rosse's powerful reflected represented the
interior as nehulous, a circumstance of which
was not aware when at Cambridge, and
hence did not speak of its revolvablity, but
am quite sure the individual stars though
faint, were distinctly seen.
The double star 81 Cygni now engaged
our attention; thus honored only on account
of The rank it holds in the history of science
being memorable for The researches of Bes-
sci, to whom il revealed its parallex. | was
struck, however, with he small neat round
disc Of the individual stars, giving addition
al evidence to that already obtained from
their annual motion, that distant d they may
be by our means and modes OF measure
ment, these bodies are comparatively near.
Search was now made for the double
headed shot, or dumb-bell nebula, as il is
called, situated in the Fox's breast. The
instrument was sci 10 its position, and it
appeared iu the field. The director had
scarcely applied his eye to the telescope
before he expressed the opinion that the ne
bula was resolved. The assistant sbserver
was then called upon to examine it, and re-
peatedly said sit is resolved"
then applied my own eye and found IT
to consist of closely packed but ofindividual
stars. am thus minute because this had
been uniformly numbered among the irres-
olvable nebula 1t was first discovered by
Messer many years since, and described by
him as an oval nebula withouta star. The
! Earl of Rose, as we are informed by the
President of the Astronomical Society, OF
London applied his powerful reflector to
this object, and went so far to say that cit
exhibited symptoms of resol vability;" but
he did not resolve it, nor am aware that it
has ever before yielded to the power ofthe
telescope
The next object of scrutiny was the de-
lightful cluster in Hercules. This was a
sort of dessert 10 the entertainment--the
sweetmeat of the feast. Well might Pro-
fessor Nichol say that "no plate of it gives
fitting representation of it," and well
might he add that " no one ever saw II for
the first time through telescope without
uttering shout of wonder" but am sure
that if the professor were once 10 see it
himself, through The Cambridge instrument,
his establishment would be unntterable. No
new feature was exhibited; but it's beauty
and brlliancy were greatly magnihed.
The beautiful star, Alpha Lyre, had now
reached the meridian, and from its high
northern declination was much above the
mist of the atmosphere. With these we
were to take our leave of g these life nfu-
sion suns of other words" When the tel
escope was adjusted to this star, such was
its dazzling brightness and SO thickly was
il surrounded by telescope companions
| tha, the assistant astronomer shouted when
B. v>loxy m.