Weekly national intelligencer., 1847-06-05
"LEssoN.-sTELLAR ASTRONOMY.

the naked eye And for the purpose of counting pro-
coed in this way through slit, corresponding with
the meridian Of the place of observation, look attentvey
and the gradually they appear The following
approximate calculation will give inferior limit the
ber OF sa visible with the powerful instruments of which
have the ....
Observation has demonstrated that the number of the
of the second magnitude triple that Of those Of the rs
magnitude; that those of the third magnitude is triple that
of those Of the second magnitude In wod that in general
obtain the number of stars OF any given magnitude, we
multiply by three the number of of preceding
magnitude
Let us, then, admit this law the 18th magnitude-o
which the powerful instruments render visible as
the number of stars of the first magnitude eteen then
the number Of visible by the naked eye and with ee
scopes far the 18th magnitude will be about fmentnine
millions; and if TO these tweny-nna millions we add those
of the 9Th and 18th magnitudes &c. obtain the number
Of J0yty-three millions Of stars.
Hersche that part OF the occupied by the knee
of Orion, in band of fifteen degrees long by two degrees
wide, has distinctly counted Ehy thousand stars And
that band only the three hundred and seventy part
the celestial vault the entire surface OF the heavens
g. 755, 900 visible with the telescope And
remark great many regions of the heavens the
much closer together, and that with telescopes only
reach the least distant celestial spaces and the least
mote, recognise the fact that the first OF
their numbers is infinitely far from the truth and that admit
ting visible in each square minute have
number Of distinct amounting hundred and forty
eight millions five hundred and thousand two hundred
stars, and yet remain much below the truth There then
l4s millions OF stars and Of them only. The
of earth is but the 355 monh part of that
sun that but atom in relation earth that
the place occupy then infinitely small and ,ce more
than infinitely Hhb
. Comparative Mtensities Of the light of stars Of
different magnitudes.
There science great and muchto- regretted blank
phoomey, the art of measuring the various ntenses Of
light, is still in its infancy have hardly taken the first
step.
The division the by the order of their magnitude
made by the of antiquity in an arbitrary
manner and without any preenson to exactness thi-
Vagueness is continued in modern charts. Those which
are accredited present total table of eighteen
OF the first magnitude for the hemispheres. Why
eighteen, and not nineteen twenty The Of the first
magnitude far from having all the intensity The
sixth order composed among the visible 10 the
naked eye and in day those of the seventh mag
ntude constitute the demarcaon between the visible
the naked eye and the telescope stars.
We may affirm that there certainly stars in the 6rma-
men, whose distance from the earth 344, and 900
times greater than that of the visible the naked eye
light with the velocity 900 leagues second takes three
years to reach from the And are stars
3i4 and even 900 times Then there are star
whose light does reach until after years-an in
fnity in distance as it is in numbers
Stars Of cariable intensity Of flight.
Eratosthenes in the year 275 before Christ says of thu
stars in the constellation Of the Scorpion 'They are pre-
eeded by the most beautiful OF all the brilliant of the northern
gems AT this time this is less brilliant than the southern
and above ALL than Arctuus Then there have been change
since the time of Eratosthenes.
When Newton pronounced the sublime words uaipersa
attraction, there outcry novelty it was neoo
glsm; 1t had occult qualities &C. Now the words fiji III,
world, OF which they are its greatest reality.
Diameters ofthe Stars.
Great diversity of opinion this point If we should
lake for their discs such they appear to the naked
certain would be 900 millions of leagues in diameter
equal TO 27O0o times greater diameter than the sun-H
Meigs) and the most moderate calculations would be 700
millions Herschels last calculation that Arctr,s had
diameter of nearly four millions of leagues twelve millions
OF miles, If the apparent diameter of two seconds and
half assigned by Herschel the oa was real the mass
that star must be than fourteen million times greater
'han mat ol our sun But hse is certainty in this nor
any thing TO question that our sun is a star.
he sublime idea in the Holy Scriptures that the Creator
hath made all with number weight and measure followed
by Pao who called the geometry Of the heavens HALEY
the friend OF Newton believed that all the stars were of the
same magntude-that of our sun-and that difference Of
distance only caused the apparent difference of size
Number Of Stars.
lhe number visible by means of telescope twenty feet
focal distance may be more than five hundred millions
Distance ofMe Stars Of some nebuia.
have supposed that the nebua Of which we form par
Is not the largest of the three thousand nebua known to as
tronomers Is IL not very natural Is not as million 4
one that 1t is 50 When therefore, this hypothesis an,
the facts stated by Hersche that there are at medium
The direction OF nebua five hundred stars that many ne
bula subend an angle Of minutes and the very natua
hypothesis that the distance between two consecutive star
among the five hundred is the distance of the earth from thu
nearest star we must arrive the conclusion that there arr
heouia so distant IRON US that light moving at the velocity
more ihan ",OoO leagues in a second of time would tak
more than million Of years to reach us
These lew words are enough prove AZ seems 10 me-
that we must admit magnaons friaheJ at the n6nt,
number and distances in question"
II. MElGs, Recording Secretary
SHocKING CALAMITY,-The house Of f. X o,ay;l;on
Of ST. Lin Lower Canada, burnt ground on Thur