Stars of the Southern Skies
9781465683984
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
This book is for those who have learned or are learning to recognise the southern constellations, but have not read much about astronomy, and have only an opera glass or small telescope, or no instrument but their own eyes, for examining the stars. I assume that they have studied some simple guide to the constellations like Proctor’s, or my Southern Stars, and that they would like to know something more about the stars they are looking at—how far off they are, how large, if they remain always the same, and if there is any connection between the different parts of this immense universe of stars and nebulae. I hope that the book will be useful to teachers and parents, helping them to answer some of the searching questions children put, and to teach some of the facts of astronomy in the most vivid and unforgettable way—viz. in connection with special stars and nebulae which are at the moment being admired. If an opera glass or field glass can be put into the children’s hands, so that they themselves can see a faint white spot turn into a lovely cluster of stars, it will give them a share in the thrill of discovery, and help them to understand what large telescopes can show. A map of the southern hemisphere is here given for ready reference, but it would be well to possess a good atlas which gives the letters and numbers assigned to all bright stars and shows the positions of the brightest star clusters and nebulae. Norton’s Star Atlas and Telescopic Handbook is an excellent one, small enough to be handy, yet complete as far as it goes, and up to date, clear, and convenient to use. My intention is to treat specially of stars and nebulae visible in southern countries, so I have confined myself almost entirely to those of the southern hemisphere, though of course many which are north of the celestial equator can be seen also. My readers will find that the southern hemisphere possesses the most beautiful part of the Milky Way, the two brightest stars in the sky, the finest coloured star cluster and the largest globular cluster, the brightest double star, the nearest of the stars, and the brightest of the large gaseous nebulae. Let us add that the southern hemisphere has been less studied than the north, and therefore there is an even wider field for amateur workers.
