Astronomy with an Opera-glass: A Popular Introduction to the Study of the Starry Heavens with the Simplest of Optical Instruments, with Maps and Directions to Facilitate the Recognition of the Constellations and the Principal Stars Visible to the Naked EyeD. Appleton, 1888 - 154 pages |
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Astronomy With An Opera-Glass: A Popular Introduction To The Study Of The ... Garrett Putman Serviss No preview available - 2020 |
Common terms and phrases
Aldebaran Algol Alpha Andromeda Antares appearance Arcturus astronomers Auriga beautiful behold Beta Betelgeuse Boötes bright star brilliant called Canis Major Capella Cassiopeia celebrated celestial Cepheus Cetus chief stars Clavius cluster color comet companion constella constellation craters curious dark Denebola detected distance double star earth east Epsilon Eridanus faint stars field-glass full moon Gamma Gemini glass group of stars head heavens Hercules horizon Hyades illuminated interesting Jupiter light little stars look lunar Lyra magnitude Mars miles Milky-Way mountains naked eye nebula night o'clock object observer opera-glass Ophiuchus Orion pair PEGASUS perceive Perseus planet Pleiades powerful telescope pretty Procyon reader region remarkable represented Rigel Sagittarius Scorpio Sea of Serenity seen shining sight Sirius small stars speck Spica star marked star-cluster starry stellation stream supposed surface sweep Taurus turn Tycho Uranus Ursa Major Venus Virgo visible wonderful Zeta
Popular passages
Page 105 - Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West. Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.
Page 77 - ... on the beach. His great sides were fringed with clustering shells and sea-wee^ds, and the water gurgled in and out of his wide jaws, as he rolled along, dripping and glistening, in the beams of the morning sun. At last he saw Andromeda, and shot forward to take his prey, while the waves foamed white behind him, and before him the fish fled leaping. Then down from the height of the air fell Perseus, like a shooting star; down to the crests of the waves, while Andromeda hid her face as he shouted;...
Page 24 - Arcturus, and somewhat nearer to the former, you will perceive a curious twinkling, as if gossamers spangled with dew-drops were entangled there. One might think the old woman of the nursery rhyme who went to sweep the cobwebs out of the sky had skipped this corner, or else that its delicate beauty had preserved it even from her housewifely instincts.
Page 106 - Eastward beyond the region of the Bull Stands great Orion ; whoso kens not him in cloudless night Gleaming aloft, shall cast his eyes in vain To find a brighter sign in all the heaven." To the naked eye, to the opera-glass, and to the telescope, Orion is alike a mine of wonders. This great constellation embraces almost every variety of interesting phenomena that the heavens contain. Here we have the grandest of the nebulae, some of the largest and most beautifully colored stars, star-streams, star-clusters,...
Page 147 - ... atmosphere of Saturn, but yet possessed of an extensive range of sensations and endowed with extraordinary power and intelligence. I could transport you to the different planets and show you in each, peculiar intellectual beings bearing analogies to each other, but yet all different in power and essence. In Jupiter you would see creatures similar to those in Saturn, but with different powers of locomotion; in Mars and Venus you would find races of created forms more analogous to those belonging...
Page 42 - It seems, then,' said I aloud, 'that if pewter dishes, leaves of lettuce, grains of salt, drops of vinegar and oil, and slices of eggs, had been floating about in the air from all eternity, it might at last happen by chance that there would come a salad.
Page 53 - In counterpoise, now ponders all events, Battles and realms. In these he put two weights, The sequel each of parting and of fight: The latter quick up flew, and kicked the beam...
Page 57 - I have indicated the place of the celebrated star 61 Cygni in the map, because of the interest attaching to it as the nearest to us, so far as we know, of all the stars in the northern hemisphere, and with one exception the nearest star in all the heavens. Yet it is very faint, and the fact that so inconspicuous a star should be nearer than such brilliants as Vega and Arcturus shows how wide is the range of magnitude among the suns that light the universe. The actual distance of 61 Cygni is something...
Page 20 - And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.