Astronomical Curiosities: Facts and Fallacies
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313
Burnham’s General Catalogue of Double Stars, p. 494.
314
Journal, B.A.A., November 18, 1896.
315
Ibid., B.A.A., January, 1907.
316
Studies in Astronomy, p. 185.
317
Knowledge, June, 1891.
318
Seen by Drs. Ludendorff and Eberhard, The Observatory, April, 1906, p. 166, quoted from Ast. Nach., No. 4067.
319
The Observatory, January, 1907, p. 61.
320
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1894.
321
Smyth’s Celestial Cycle, p. 223.
322
Nature, February 7, 1907.
323
Ibid., March 19, 1908.
324
Popular Astronomy, vol. 15 (1907), p. 9.
325
Astrophysical Journal, June, 1907, p. 330.
326
Ibid., vol. 22, p. 172.
327
Nature, November 18, 1886.
328
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 17 (1903), p. 282.
329
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 12 (1900), p. 54.
330
Nature, March 21, 1878.
331
Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France, June, 1904.
332
Journal, B.A.A., vol. 17 (1903), p. 282.
333
Nature, June 20, 1909.
334
The Observatory, vol. 7 (1884), p. 17.
335
The Observatory, vol. 14 (1891), p. 69.
336
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1896, p. 54
337
Nature, August 28, 1902.
338
Astrophysical Journal, October, 1903.
339
Nature, May 30, 1907.
340
Popular Astronomy, February, 1909, p. 125.
341
The Observatory, May, 1907, p. 216.
342
Astrophysical Journal, May, 1907.
343
Histoire de l’Astronomie Moderne, vol. i. pp. 185-6.
344
Humboldt’s Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 210 (Otté’s translation).
345
Ibid., vol. iii. pp. 213-14.
346
J. C. Duncan, Lick Observatory Bulletin, No. 151.
347
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 17, p. 283.
348
The Origin of the Stars, p. 143.
349
Ibid., p. 135.
350
Quoted by Ennis in The Origin of the Stars, p. 133.
351
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 20 (1904), p. 357.
352
Nature, March 8, 1906.
353
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, August, 1908.
354
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1894, p. 812.
355
The Observatory, May, 1905.
356
This is a misquotation. See my Astronomical Essays, p. 135.
357
Nature, February 3, 1870.
358
Bedford Catalogue, p. 14.
359
Ibid., p. 307.
360
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 14, p. 37.
361
Ibid., vol. 9, p. 149.
362
Nature, July 20, 1899.
363
Ast. Nach., No. 3476.
364
Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 4213.
365
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 9, p. 149.
366
Cape Observations, p. 61.
367
Ibid., p. 85.
368
Cape Observations, p. 98.
369
Transactions, Royal Dublin Society, vol. 2.
370
Ast. Nach., 3628, quoted in The Observatory, April, 1900.
371
Nature, April 8, 1909.
372
Problems in Astrophysics, p. 477.
373
Ibid., p. 499.
374
Copernicus, vol. iii. p. 55.
375
Lick Observatory Bulletin, No. 149.
376
Ibid.
377
Ibid.
378
Monthly Notices, R.A.S., April, 1908, pp. 465-481.
379
Lick Observatory Bulletin, No. 155 (February, 1909).
380
Outlines of Astronomy, par. 870 (Edition of 1875).
381
Georgics, i. II. 217-18.
382
See paper by Mr. and Mrs. Maunder in Monthly Notices, R.A.S., March, 1904, p. 506.
383
Primitive Constellations, vol. ii. p. 143.
384
Recherches sur l’Histoire de l’Astronomie Ancienne, by Paul Tannery (1893), p. 298.
385
Primitive Constellations, vol. ii. p. 225.
386
Nature, October 2, 1890.
387
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i. pp. 243-4.
388
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i. pp. 242-3.
389
There are three copies of Al-Sufi’s work in the Imperial Library at Paris, but these are inaccurate. There is also one in the British Museum Library, and another in the India Office Library; but these are imperfect, considerable portions of the original work being missing.
390
Harvard Annals, vol. ix. p. 51.
391
The science of the risings and settings of the stars was called ilm el-anwa (Caussin, Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque due Roi, tome xii. p. 237).
392
See Mr. E. B. Knobel’s papers on this subject in the Monthly Notices, R.A.S., for 1879 and 1884.
393
In reading this chapter the reader is recommended to have a Star Atlas beside him for reference; Proctor’s smaller Star Atlas will be found very convenient for this purpose. On the title-page of this useful work the author quotes Carlyle’s words, “Why did not somebody teach me the constellations and make me at home in the starry heavens which are always overhead, and which I don’t half know to this day?”
394
Bedford Catalogue, p. 29.
395
Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 87.
396
Heavenly Display, 579-85.
397
Bedford Catalogue, p. 385.
398
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 529.
399
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i. pp. 268-9.
400
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 48.
401
Bedford Catalogue, pp. 27, 28.
402
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 492.
403
Bedford Catalogue, p. 120.
404
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 143.
405
Perseus.
406
Heavenly Display, 254-8, 261-5, quoted by Brown in Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 274.
407
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 493.
408
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 292.
409
Paradiso, xxii. 111.
410
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 493.
411
Bedford Catalogue, p. 225.
412
Nature, April 6, 1882.
413
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 68.
414
Ibid., vol. i. p. 71.
415
Bibliographie Gènèrale de l’Astronomie, vol. i. Introduction, pp. 131, 132.
416
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i. p. 296.
417
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 74.
418
Cape Observations, p. 116.
419
Metamorphoses, xv. 371.
420
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 487.
421
Monthly Notices, R.A.S., April 14, 1848.
422
Prim. Const., vol. ii. p. 45.
423
Lalande’s Astronomie, pp. 472-3.
424
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 485.
425
This star is not shown in Proctor’s small Atlas, but it lies between μ and ν, nearer to μ.
426
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i. p. 247.
427
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 489.
428
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 91.
429
Memoirs, R.A.S., vol. xiii. 61.
430
Monthly Notices, R.A.S., June, 1895.
431
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i. p. 274.
432
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 143.
433
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 278.
434
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv. p. 468.
435
Quæst. Nat., Lib. 1, Cap. I. § 6; quoted by Dr. See. “Canicula” is Sirius, and “Nartis,” Mars.
436
Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 11, 1892.
437
The Observatory, April, 1906, p. 175.
438
Houzeau, Bibliographie Gènèrale de l’Astronomie, vol. i., Introduction, p. 129.
439
English Mechanic, March 25, 1904, p. 145.
440
Humboldt’s Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 185, footnote (Otté’s translation).
441
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol, i. p. 277.
442
This was pointed out by Flammarion in his work Les Étoiles, page 532; but his identifications do not agree exactly with mine.
443
See Proctor’s Map 7, now x.
444
Primitive Constellations, vol. i. p. 106.
445
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i. p. 278.
446
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. iv.
447
Ibid., vol. i. p. 113.
448
Lalande’s Astronomie, vol. i.
449
W. T. Lynn in The Observatory, vol. 22, p. 236.
450
Knowledge, May 1, 1889. Sir John Herschel, however, gives 3970 B.C.
451
The Observatory, November 1907, p. 412.
452
This is not, however, invariably the case, as pointed out by Mr. Denning in The Observatory, 1885, p. 340.
453
The Observatory, vol. 8 (1885), pp. 246-7.
454
Harvard College Observatory Annals, vol. xlviii. No. 5.
455
Popular Astronomy, vol. 15 (1907), p. 529.
456
Cape Observations, p. 77.
457
Monthly Notices, R.A.S., March, 1899.
458
Nature, February 13, 1890.
459
Popular Astronomy, vol. 15 (1907), p. 530.
460
Photographs of Star-Clusters and Nebulæ, vol. ii. p. 17.
461
Monthly Notices, R.A.S., May 9, 1856.
462
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 25 (1907), p. 219.
463
Popular Astronomy, vol. 11 (1903), p. 293.
464
Translated by W. H. Mallock, Nature, February 8, 1900, p. 352.
465
Howard Payn, Nature, May 16, 1901, p. 56.
466
Howard Payn, Nature, May 16, 1901, p. 56.
467
Contributions from the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory, No. 31.
468
Quoted by Denning in Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings, p. 297.
469
Astrophysical Journal, March, 1895.
470
Outlines of Astronomy, Tenth Edition, p. 571.
471
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 12, p. 136.
472
De Placitis. Quoted by Carl Snyder in The World Machine p. 354.
473
Popular Astronomy, vol. 14 (1906), p. 638.
474
Article on “The Greek Anthology,” Nineteenth Century, April, 1907, quoted in The Observatory, May, 1907.
475
Popular Astronomy, vol. 13 (1905), p. 346.
476
Bulletin de la Soc. Ast. de France, April, 1908.
477
The Observatory, vol. 11, p. 375.
478
Grant, History of Physical Astronomy, p. 364.
479
Ibid., p. 377.
480
Ibid., p. 366.
481
Ibid., p. 367.
482
Grant, History of Physical Astronomy, p. 370.
483
Nature, July 25, 1889.
484
Cosmos, vol. iv. p. 381.
485
Cosmos, vol. iv. pp. 381-6.
486
Ibid., vol. i. p. 121.
487
The Observatory, vol. 6 (1883), pp. 327-8.
488
Nature, June 25, 1874.
489
Popular Astronomy, May, 1895, “Reflectors or Refractors.”
490
Denning, Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings, p. 225.
491
Nature, November 2, 1893.
492
Telescopic Work, p. 226.
493
Copernicus, vol. i. p. 229.
494
Grant, History of Physical Astronomy, p. 433.
495
Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 699.
496
Grant, History of Physical Astronomy, p. 536, footnote.
497
Bedford Catalogue, p. 179.
498
The Observatory, July, 1891.
499
Nature, September 3, 1903.
500
Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 669.
501
The World Machine, p. 80.
502
Ibid., p. 89.
503
Grant, History of Physical Astronomy, p. 107.
504
Grant, History of Physical Astronomy, p. 113.
505
Nature, August 11, 1898.
506
Ibid., August 18, 1898.
507
Ibid., October 20, 1898.
508
The Observatory, vol. iv. (1881), p. 234.
509
W. T. Lynn, The Observatory, July, 1909, p. 291.
510
Quoted in The Observatory, July, 1902, p. 281.
511
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 6, 1897, p. 304.
512
Celestial Cycle, p. 367.
513
The Observatory, vol. 5 (1882), p. 251.
514
Quoted by Humboldt in Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 696, footnote.
515
Quoted by Denning in Telescopic Work, p. 347.
516
Knowledge, February 20, 1885, p. 149.
517
Humboldt’s Cosmos, vol. i. p. 123.
518
Outlines of Astronomy, par. 319; edition of 1875.
519
Bulletin de la Soc. Ast. de France, March, 1908, p. 146.
520
An “astronomical unit” is the sun’s mean distance from the earth.
521
This is on the American and French system of notation, but on the English system, 1066 = 1060 × 106 would be a million decillion.
522
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, April, 1909 (No. 125), and Popular Astronomy, May, 1909.
523
Nature, July 22, 1909.
524
Ibid.
525
The Observatory, vol. 9 (December, 1886), p. 389.
526
De Nat. Deorum, quoted in Smyth’s Cycle, p. 19.
527
The Observatory, May, 1907.
528
More Worlds than Ours, p. 17.
529
Man’s Place in Nature.