Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings

STANMORE OBSERVATORY. INSIDE VIEW.
BY WILLIAM F. DENNING, F.R.A.S. (FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF THE LIVERPOOL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY).
“To ask or search I blame thee not, for heaven
Is as the book of God before thee set,
Wherein to read his wondrous works.”
Milton.
LONDON: TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. 1891.
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
It having been suggested by some kind friends that a series of articles on “Telescopes and Telescopic Work,” which I wrote for the ‘Journal of the Liverpool Astronomical Society’ in 1887-8, should be reprinted, I have undertaken the revision and rearrangement of the papers alluded to. Certain other contributions on “Large and Small Telescopes,” “Planetary Observations,” and kindred subjects, which I furnished to ‘The Observatory’ and other scientific serials from time to time, have also been included, and the material so much altered and extended that it may be regarded as virtually new matter. The work has outgrown my original intention, but it proved so engrossing that it was found difficult to ensure greater brevity.
The combination of different papers has possibly had the effect of rendering the book more popular in some parts than in others. This is not altogether unintentional, for the aim has been to make the work intelligible to general readers, while also containing facts and figures useful to amateur astronomers. It is merely intended as a contribution to popular astronomy, and asserts no rivalry with existing works, many of which are essentially different in plan. If any excuse were, however, needed for the issue of this volume it might be found in the rapid progress of astronomy, which requires that new or revised works should be published at short intervals in order to represent existing knowledge.
The methods explained are approximate, and technical points have been avoided with the view to engage the interest of beginners who may find it the stepping-stone to more advanced works and to more precise methods. The object will be realized if observers derive any encouragement from its descriptions or value from its references, and the author sincerely hopes that not a few of his readers will experience the same degree of pleasure in observation as he has done during many years.