No one can contemplate the firmament for long on a clear moonless night without noticing one or more of those luminous objects called shooting-stars. They are particularly numerous in the autumnal months, and will sometimes attract special attention either by their frequency of apparition or by their excessive brilliancy in individual cases. For many ages little was known of these bodies, though some of the ancient philosophers appear to have formed correct ideas as to their astronomical nature. Humboldt says that Diogenes of Apollonia, who probably belonged to the period intermediate between Anaxagoras and Democritus, expressed the opinion that, “together with the visible stars, there are invisible ones which are therefore without names. These sometimes fall upon the Earth and are extinguished, as took place with the star of stone which fell at Ægos Potamoi.” Plutarch, in the ‘Life of Lysander,’ remarks :— “Falling stars are not emanations or rejected portions thrown off from the ethereal fire, which when they come into our atmosphere are extinguished after being kindled: they are, rather, celestial bodies which, having once had an impetus of revolution, fall, or are cast down to the Earth, and are precipitated, not only on inhabited countries, but also, and in greater numbers, beyond these into the great sea, so that they remain concealed.”

This planet shines brighter than an ordinary first-magnitude star, and is a pretty conspicuous object, though less luminous than either Venus, Jupiter, or Mars. He emits a dull yellowish light, steadier than the sparkling lustre of Mercury or Venus.

The globe of Saturn is surrounded by a system of highly reflective rings, giving to the planet a character of form which finds no parallel among the other orbs of our system. His peculiar construction is well calculated to be attractive in the highest degree to all those who take delight in viewing the wonders of the heavens. Saturn is justly considered one of the most charming pictures which the telescope unfolds. A person who for the first time beholds the planet, encircled in his rings and surrounded by his moons, can hardly subdue an exclamation of surprise and wonder at a spectacle as unique as it is magnificent. Even old observers, who again and again return to the contemplation of this remarkable orb, confess they do so unwearyingly, because they find no parallel elsewhere; the beautifully curving outline of the symmetrical image always retains its interest, and refreshes them with thoughts of the Divine Architect who framed it!

The luminous system of rings attending this planet not only gratifies the eye but gives rise to entertaining speculations as to its origin, character, and purposes with regard to the globe of Saturn.

Supposed planet “Vulcan.”—Mercury is the nearest known planet to the Sun. It is true that a body, provisionally named Vulcan, has been presumed to exist in the space interior to the orbit of Mercury; but absolute proof is lacking, and every year the idea is losing strength in the absence of any confirmation of a reliable kind. Certain planetary spots, observed in motion on the solar disk, were reported to have been transits of this intra-Mercurial orb. Some eminent astronomers were thus drawn to take an affirmative view of the question, and went so far as to compute the orbital elements and predict a few ensuing transits of the suspected planet. But nothing was seen at the important times, and some of the earlier observations have been shown to possess no significance whatever, while grave doubts are attached to many of the others. Not one of the regular and best observers of the Sun has recently detected any such body during its transits (which would be likely to occur pretty frequently), and there is other evidence of a negative character; so that the ghost of Vulcan may be said to have been laid, and we may regard it as proven that no major planet revolves in the interval of 36,000,000 miles separating Mercury from the Sun.

Discovery.—While Sir W. Herschel was a musician at Bath he formed the design of making a telescopic survey of the heavens. When engaged in this he accidentally effected a discovery of great importance, for on the night of March 13, 1781, an object entered the field of his 6·3-inch reflector which ultimately proved to be a new major planet of our system. The acute eye of Herschel, directly it alighted upon the strange body, recognized it as one of unusual character, for it had a perceptible disk, and could be neither fixed star nor nebula. He afterwards found the object to be in motion, and its appearance being “hazy and ill-defined” with very high powers he was led to regard it as a comet, and communicated his discovery to the Royal Society at its meeting on April 26, 1781. His paper begins as follows :—

“On Tuesday, March 13, 1781, between 10 and 11 in the evening, while I was examining the small stars in the neighbourhood of H Geminorum, I perceived one that appeared visibly larger than the rest. Being struck with its uncommon magnitude, I compared it to H Geminorum and the small star in the quartile between Auriga and Gemini, and finding it so much larger than either of them suspected it to be a comet. … The power I had on when I first saw the comet was 227.”