Popular Astronomy: A General Description of the Heavens |
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ancient aphelion appears Arcturus aspect astronomers atmosphere attraction body bolide brightness brilliant calculation celestial centimetres centre century clouds colour comet constellation curious diameter direction disc distance diurnal motion double stars earth epoch equator exist fact fall feet globe gravity heat heavens height hemisphere horizon illuminated immense inhabitants Jupiter kilometres less light luminous lunar magnitude Mars mass measures Mercury meridian metres millimetre millions of miles minutes moon naked eye nature nebula Neptune night Observatory observed orbit parallax Paris Paris Observatory pass perihelion period photosphere planet planetary Pleiades pole present produced proper motion rays regions represents revolution revolve round ring rotation round the sun satellite Saturn seen shines shooting stars shows Sirius solar system space spectrum sphere spots suppose surface tail telescope terrestrial thousand tion universe uranoliths Uranus variation velocity Venus visible zodiac
Popular passages
Page 106 - If the orbit of the earth and that of the moon were both in the same plane, there would be an eclipse of the sun at every new moon, and an eclipse of the moon at every full moon. But the...
Page 473 - Wherefore that here we may briefly end : of Law there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world; all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least 175 as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power...
Page 396 - They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars ; whereof the innermost is distant from the centre of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, and the outermost, five ; the former revolves in the space of ten hours, and the latter in twenty-one and a half; so that the squares of their periodical times are very near in the same proportion with the cubes of their distance, from the centre of Mars ; which evidently shows them to be governed by the same...
Page 327 - Governor" of the world, in his inscrutable wisdom, to baffle our inquiries into the nature and proximate cause of that wonderful faculty of intellect — that image of his own essence which he has conferred upon us ; nay, the springs and wheelwork of animal and vegetable vitality are concealed from our view by an impenetrable veil, and the pride of philosophy is humbled by the spectacle of the physiologist bending in fruitless ardour over the dissection of the human brain, and peering in equally...
Page 78 - Here lies the entire humanity of a world which has lived ! Here lie all the dreams of ambition, all the conquests of military glory, all the resounding affairs of finance, all the systems of an imperfect science, and also all the oaths of mortals...
Page 143 - Because of the converging of the streamlines as they approach the orifice, the cross section of the stream continues to diminish for a short distance outside the tank.
Page 313 - Created simply as a difference of position of attracting masses, the potential energy of gravitation was the original form of all the energy in the universe. As surely as the weights of a clock run down to their lowest position, from which they can never rise again unless fresh energy is communicated to them from some source not yet exhausted, so surely must planet after planet creep in, age by age, towards the sun. When each comes within a few hundred thousand miles of his surface, if he...
Page 43 - Sunt Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer. Leo, Virgo, Libraque, Scorpius, Arcitenens, Caper, Amphora, Pisces.
Page 5 - ... astrologers). Thus, according to the book of Genesis, the world was created in 6 days, and God rested on the 7th. In the Western world, the use of the week dates only from the 3d century AD In most languages the names of the days of the week are associated with the 7 moving celestial objects that were known to the ancients: the sun, the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. See also WEEK. 2. Kinds of Calendars Three basic kinds of calendars have been developed by man. These are the...
Page 618 - March, equal to stars of the 1st order ; in April and May, of the brightness of stars of the 2nd order. The passage from the 5th to the 6th magnitude took place between December 1573 and February 1574. The following month the new star disappeared without leaving a trace visible to the naked eye, having shone for seventeen months.