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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
Distinction.—These objects, though classed together in catalogues, offer some great distinctions which the observer will not be long in recognizing. It was thought at one period that all nebulæ were resolvable into stars, and that their nebulous aspect was merely due to the confused light of remote star-clusters. But modern telescopes, backed up by the unequivocal testimony of the spectroscope, have shown that purely nebulous matter really exists in space. The largest instruments cannot resolve it into stars, and it yields a gaseous spectrum. The conjecture has been thrown out that it may be considered as the unformed material of which suns and planets are made.
Large Number visible.—D'Arrest once said that nebulæ are so numerous as to be infinite, and his opinion is supported by the rapid increase in the number known. Let us make a comparison. Messier inserted in the Connaissances des Temps for 1783 and 1784 (published in 1781) a catalogue containing 103 nebulæ and star-clusters. Of these 68 were new. In 1888 a new edition of Sir J. Herschel's catalogue of 1864 (revised and extended by Dreyer) was printed by the Royal Astronomical Society, and this includes 7840 objects! The labours of the Herschels, of Lord Rosse, D'Arrest, Marth, Tempel, Stephan, and Swift have vastly augmented our knowledge in this branch since the time of Messier.
Varieties of Form and Grouping.—A telescope reveals all grades of condensation in stellar groups.
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