Garrett Putman Serviss
Curiosities of the Sky
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Table of contents
Preface
The Windows of Absolute Night
Star-Clouds, Star-Clusters, and Star-Streams
Stellar Migrations
The Passing of the Constellations
Conflagrations in the Heavens
Explosive and Whirling Nebulæ
The Banners of the Sun
The Zodiacal Light Mystery
Marvels of the Aurora
Strange Adventures of Comets
Meteors, Fire-Balls, and Meteorites
The Wrecking of the Moon
The Great Mars Problem
The Riddle of the Asteroids
Preface
What
Froude says of history is true also of astronomy: it is the most
impressive where it transcends explanation. It is not the mathematics
of astronomy, but the wonder and the mystery that seize upon the
imagination. The calculation of an eclipse owes all its prestige to
the sublimity of its data; the operation, in itself, requires no more
mental effort than the preparation of a railway time-table.The
dominion which astronomy has always held over the minds of men is
akin to that of poetry; when the former becomes merely instructive
and the latter purely didactic, both lose their power over the
imagination. Astronomy is known as the oldest of the sciences, and it
will be the longest-lived because it will always have arcana that
have not been penetrated.Some
of the things described in this book are little known to the average
reader, while others are well known; but all possess the fascination
of whatever is strange, marvelous, obscure, or mysterious --
magnified, in this case, by the portentous scale of the phenomena.The
idea of the author is to tell about these things in plain language,
but with as much scientific accuracy as plain language will permit,
showing the wonder that is in them without getting away from the
facts. Most of them have hitherto been discussed only in technical
form, and in treatises that the general public seldom sees and never
reads.Among
the topics touched upon are:The
strange unfixedness of the ``fixed stars,'' the vast migrations of
the suns and worlds constituting the universe.The
slow passing out of existence of those collocations of stars which
for thousands of years have formed famous ``constellations,''
preserving the memory of mythological heroes and heroines, and
perhaps of otherwise unrecorded history.The
tendency of stars to assemble in immense clouds, swarms, and
clusters.The
existence in some of the richest regions of the universe of
absolutely black, starless gaps, deeps, or holes, as if one were
looking out of a window into the murkiest night.The
marvelous phenomena of new, or temporary, stars, which appear as
suddenly as conflagrations, and often turn into something else as
eccentric as themselves.The
amazing forms of the ``whirlpool,'' ``spiral,'' ``pinwheel,'' and
``lace,'' or ``tress,'' nebulæ.The
strange surroundings of the sun, only seen in particular
circumstances, but evidently playing a constant part in the daily
phenomena of the solar system.The
mystery of the Zodiacal Light and the Gegenschein.The
extraordinary transformations undergone by comets and their tails.The
prodigies of meteorites and masses of stone and metal fallen from
the sky.The
cataclysms that have wrecked the moon.The
problem of life and intelligence on the planet Mars.The
problematical origin and fate of the asteroids.The
strange phenomena of the auroral lights.An
attempt has been made to develop these topics in an orderly way,
showing their connection, so that the reader may obtain a broad
general view of the chief mysteries and problems of astronomy, and an
idea of the immense field of discovery which still lies, almost
unexplored, before it.
The Windows of Absolute Night
To
most minds mystery is more fascinating than science. But when science
itself leads straight up to the borders of mystery and there comes to
a dead stop, saying, ``At present I can no longer see my way,'' the
force of the charm is redoubled. On the other hand, the illimitable
is no less potent in mystery than the invisible, whence the dramatic
effect of Keats' ``stout Cortez'' staring at the boundless Pacific
while all his men look at each other with a wild surmise, ``silent
upon a peak in Darien.'' It is with similar feelings that the
astronomer regards certain places where from the peaks of the
universe his vision seems to range out into endless empty space. He
sees there the shore of his little isthmus, and, beyond, unexplored
immensity.The
name, ``coal-sacks,'' given to these strange voids is hardly
descriptive. Rather they produce upon the mind the effect of blank
windows in a lonely house on a pitch-dark night, which, when looked
at from the brilliant interior, become appalling in their rayless
murk. Infinity seems to acquire a new meaning in the presence of
these black openings in the sky, for as one continues to gaze it
loses its purely metaphysical quality and becomes a kind of entity,
like the ocean. The observer is conscious that he can actually
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