The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1851-03-14

nI'ldihells, glorious as ours, float ihfougl
immensely; doubtless forming one stu
pendous system, bound together by fine
relationships More than 5000 sucI
firmamen,s have already been discovered
10 the naked eye, or 10 inferior teles.
copes, these clusters appear "like faint
sireaks or spots Of milky light upon the
blue Of the sky;' but when examined
with instruments ofsuperior power. many
Of them are seen to consist Of myriads Of
s'trs fhe gorgeousaess of such multi
iudes ofsParkling points, often condensed d
into a perfect blaze of light, surpasses all
conception. .l ,.
| These clusters Shave very various ap-
pearances to the telescope. In many Of
them, individual stars are distinctly de-
fined. As they become more remote,
the distances or intervals between the
stars diminish, the light also growing
fainter; in their faintest stellar aspect,
they may be compared TO handful o:
fine sparkling sand; or, as it is aptly
termed, stardust; and beyond this we
see no stars, but only streak or patch of
milky light, like the unresolved portion
of ouf own surrounding zone. This is
the state in which they are more properly
called NcbuIe." The following cut ex-
hibits The shape and appearance Of few
Of these nebu,e. Tie resemblance Of
one Of them to the shape Of our own fir
mament, or Via Laciea, is too remarkable
to be overlooked. The most irregular
figure represents the diifused nebulosi,y
in the constellation Orion: the figure
above il, 10 the left, the neSnla in Andre
media, which, though visible TO The naked
eye, was moi resolved int stars by the
most powerful instruments until the erec
ton of Lord Rosse's mammoth telescope,
and tho new instrument in the Cam.
bridge University, both Of which. we are
informed, have accomplished the task.
With respect 10 those nebule which the
telescope could moi resolve into stars, La
Place conjectured hat they might consist
Of ga selhuminous, phosphorescent, ma
terial substance, in highly diluted or
gaseous state, but gradually subsiding by
the mutual gravitation ofits particles, into
stars and siderial systems" Our solar
system he conceived "to be formed by
the successive condensations of nebul',
whose primeval rotation is still maln-
tanned in the rotation and revolution of
the sun and all the bodies of the solar
system in the same direction" The
adherents of this theory. which has recei-
we'd the name of the nebular hypothesis,
suppose that there is presumpiive evil
dcnce Of its truth from "tbe struc ture and
internal heat of the earih." This theory
is certainly august and beautiful, yet we
cannot bur think that its bewildering
grandeur has been Of dIsservice 10 true
science. We treat not now of its ten
dency to represent the Diety as far re-
moved from the superintendence Of his
works, for no well-informed mind can dis
connect the idea of Law from a Law
aivER-of ORDER fem an AgRANeER;
the main objection 10 this theory we con-
ceive to, be, that is not properly an induc-
tion from undoub,ed facs The principal
fact upon this subject is, that as the
perfection of our telescopes increases.
those nebule which before were irresol-
vable, are resolved INTO their constituent
stars. The greater space penetrating
power of modern instruments has resol.
we'd the nebula in Andromeda, and per-
haps 1--WE quote from memory the nebu-
losity in Orion, always before deemed
irresolvable; and is not too much to ex-
pect that similar results will be Witnessed
in regard to others. Nor is the idea OF
perfection in respect TO these s;derial
systems, whit less grand and beautiful
TO our n,irds,t than that ofgradual develop
ment and progress which is claimed by
the theory in question. Yet we need
not separate the idea Of progress from
the consideration that these far. off nebule
contain within their deep recesses the
habitalions of myriads of in,ellgences,
whose pure minds increase in wisdom
from the contemplation Of the wonderful
works of the wonderful Creator.
With the bold spirit Of investigation
which always mafks an original mind,
HerscheI applied the principle by which
he arrived at an approximation of the
farthest visible star, to the calculation of
the distances OF The ncbule. As the
naked eye can distinguish stars of the
twelfth order Of disiances,-i. e. twelve
times farther Than the nearest fixed star,
TO find the distance of cluster, we
must "nole the space penetrating power
Of the instrument which first succeeds in |
revealing its distinct stars, and twelve
lines that power will be an approxima-
lion TO tho required distance. HerSche!
thus fixes the remotencss of forty seven
resolvable clusters, tel of which were
upwards of niue hundred times more dis
tant than SINUS" Now, in order that
we may have "a faint idea Of the remote.
ness ofthose clusters or nebule which
are not resolvable, ''suppose that clus
ter, tascertained as above to be of the
90Oth order,of distances, we're first seen
as whi,ish speck by telescope, whose
ce-nenetratinU novp r is TO- il is easy