ERRATA
| Page | 133, line 27, for “200 stars” read “200 stars per hour.” |
| " | 145, See note on page 220. |
| " | 146, bottom of page. This nebulosity was first discovered by Dr. Max Wolf of Heidelberg. See Astr. Nachr. 3736. |
| " | 181, line 17, for “observation” read “aberration.” |
ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERY
CHAPTER I
URANUS AND EROS
Popular view of discovery.
Discovery is expected from an astronomer. The lay mind scarcely thinks of a naturalist nowadays discovering new animals, or of a chemist as finding new elements save on rare occasions; but it does think of the astronomer as making discoveries. The popular imagination pictures him spending the whole night in watching the skies from a high tower through a long telescope, occasionally rewarded by the finding of something new, without much mental effort. I propose to compare with this romantic picture some of the actual facts, some of the ways in which discoveries are really made; and if we find that the image and the reality differ, I hope that the romance will nevertheless not be thereby destroyed, but may adapt itself to conditions more closely resembling the facts.