Astronomical Curiosities: Facts and Fallacies

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.