Recent Discoveries
Improvements in the Telescope, 414
Rosse’s Leviathan Telescope, 415
Pulkova and Cambridge Telescopes, 415
Improvements in instrumental Measurements, 416
New Planets and Asteroids, 416
Great Comet of 1843, 417
Distances of the Stars, 418
Discovery of Neptune, 419
Recent telescopic discoveries, 420
Longitude by the Electric Telegraph, 422
Footnotes:
1 A small pair of globes, that will answer every purpose required by the readers of these Letters, may be had of the publishers of this Work, at a price not exceeding ten dollars; or half that sum for a celestial globe, which will serve alone for studying astronomy.
2 From two Greek words, τηλε, (tele,) far, and σκοπεω,(skopeo,) to see.
[3] Brewster’s Life of Newton
4 Bonnycastle’s Astronomy.
5 Library of Useful Knowledge: History of Astronomy, page 95.
6 Sir J. Herschel.
7A tangent is a straight line touching a circle, as A D, in Fig. 28
8 Dick’s ‘Celestial Scenery,’ Chapter IV
9 Dick’s ‘Celestial Scenery.’
10 “As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night,
O’er heaven’s clear azure sheds her sacred light,
When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
And not a cloud o’ercasts the solemn scene,
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole;
O’er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
And tip with silver every mountain’s head;
Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise,
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies;
The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight,
Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.”
Pope’s Homer.
11The exact longitude of the City Hall, in the city of New York, is 4h. 56m. 33.5s.
12 You will recollect that the sun is said to be at the node, when the places of the node and the sun are both projected, by a spectator on the earth, upon the same part of the heavens.
13 Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi. Or, as transposed, Smaismrmilme poeta leumi bvne nugttaviras.
14 In imitation of Galileo, Huyghens announced his discovery in this form: a a a a a a a c c c c c d e e e e e g h i i i i i i i l l l l m m n n n n n n n n n o o o o p p q r r s t t t t t u u u u u; which he afterwards recomposed into this sentence: Annulo cingitur, tenui, plano, nusquam cohærente, ad eclipticam inclinato.
15 Dick’s ‘Celestial Scenery.’
16 Dick’s ‘Celestial Scenery.’
17 The names of all the asteroids known at present are as follows:
| 1. Ceres. | 9. Metis. | 17. Psyche. |
| 2. Pallas. | 10. Hygeia. | 18. Melpomene. |
| 3. Juno. | 11. Parthenope. | 19. Fortuna. |
| 4. Vesta. | 12. Victoria. | 20. Massalia. |
| 5. Astræa. | 13. Egeria. | 21. Lutetia. |
| 6. Hebe. | 14. Irene. | 22. Calliope. |
| 7. Iris. | 15. Eunomia. | 23. Un-named. |
| 8. Flora. | 16. Thetis. |
18 Sir John Herschel, however, states its diameter at 41,500 miles