A Century's Progress in Astronomy

One result of Herschel’s discoveries among the stars and nebulæ is that his studies of the Sun and planets, with the exception of the discovery of Uranus, have been completely t...

“That a science of stellar chemistry should not only have become possible, but should already have made material advances, is assuredly one of the most amazing features in the s...

In the second chapter we outlined the nebular hypothesis as propounded by Herschel. Some time earlier the French mathematician, Laplace, had put forward his theory of the evolut...

Much progress has been made during the last hundred years in our knowledge of the planets. In fact, the study of Mercury only dates from the commencement of the nineteenth centu...

Four years after the death of Herschel, an apothecary in the little German town of Dessau procured a small telescope, with which he began to observe the Sun. The name of this ap...

Jupiter, the greatest planet of the Solar System, has perhaps been more persistently studied by astronomers than any other. In the early nineteenth century the prevalent idea wa...

The most remarkable progress in astronomy during the past century has been in the department of sidereal science, or the study of the Suns of space, observed for their own sakes...

The study of double stars, commenced by Herschel, was taken up after his death by several of the foremost astronomers, and has since been pursued by quite a number of observers...

At the time of Herschel the ancient superstitions in regard to comets had to a great extent vanished, thanks mainly to the return of Halley’s comet in 1758. Yet, although comets...

It is somewhat remarkable that the one celestial body which Herschel neglected was our satellite, the Moon; and it is also remarkable that the Moon was for many years the chief...

In astronomy, as in other sciences, the past hundred years has been a period of unparalleled progress. New methods have been devised, fresh discoveries have been made, new theor...

After the death of Herschel there was little done in the direction of furthering our knowledge of stellar distribution, or the construction of the heavens. Here, as elsewhere, H...

There is no more interesting chapter in the history of astronomy than that relating to meteors. A hundred years ago shooting-stars were not considered to be astronomical phenome...

THE LIGHT OF THE STARS. Work of Fraunhofer and Donati—Life and work of Secchi—His types of spectra—Life and work of Huggins—Photography of spectra—Life and work of Vogel—His cla...

THE STARS. Distance of the stars—Life and work of Bessel—Studies of Struve—Life and work of Henderson—Work of Peters, Otto Struve, Brünnow, and Ball—Measures of Gill—Parallax of...

THE INNER PLANETS. The problem of Vulcan—Mercury—Work of Schröter—Schiaparelli, his life and work—Work of Lowell—Spectrum of Mercury—Venus—Rotation period: work of Schröter, Di...

THE SUN. Schwabe and the sun-spot period—Researches of Wolf, Lamont, Sabine, Gautier—Observations of Carrington and Spörer—Career and work of Fraunhofer—Spectrum analysis—Work o...

STELLAR SYSTEMS AND NEBULÆ. Life and work of John Herschel—Binary stars—Computation of orbits—Work of Wilhelm Struve—Of Otto Struve—Of Burnham—Satellites of Sirius and Procyon—A...

STELLAR DISTRIBUTION AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE. Work of John Herschel—Researches of Wilhelm Struve—Extinction of light—Mädler’s “central sun”—Distribution of nebulæ—Work...

METEORS. Meteoric shower of 1833—Work of Olmsted—Work of Erman and Kirkwood—Of H. A. Newton—Adams and the meteoric orbit—Shower of 1866—Connection of comets and meteors—Work of...

CELESTIAL EVOLUTION. Laplace’s nebular hypothesis—Helmholtz and solar contraction—Theories of solar heat—Objections to Laplace’s theory—Faye’s hypothesis—Ball’s exposition—The m...

HERSCHEL THE DISCOVERER. Solar researches—Study of Venus—Of Mars—The Asteroids—Jupiter—Saturn—Discovery of satellites—Uranian satellites—Cometary researches—Motion of the Solar...

THE OUTER PLANETS. Physical condition of Jupiter—Work of Zöllner and Proctor—The red spot—Satellites—Discovery of fifth satellite—Sixth and seventh satellites—Rings of Saturn: B...

COMETS. Life and work of Olbers—His repulsion theory—Life and work of Encke—His comet—Biela’s comet—Faye’s comet—Return of Halley’s comet—Donati’s comet—Comet of 1861—Spectrosco...

THE MOON. Life and work of Schröter—Of Mädler—Of Schmidt—Changes on the Moon—Selenography in England—Lunar atmosphere—Lunar photography—Work of W. H. Pickering—The new Selenogra...

HERSCHEL THE PIONEER. Influence of Herschel’s work—His characteristics—Birth and early years—Emigration to England—Caroline Herschel—Discovery of Uranus—King’s Astronomer—Latter...