A Table of several new Stars, Nebulæ, and double Stars, &c.

Nomina Stellarum.Observationum.
Septima Pleiadum{Lost after the burning of Troy, but now returned; see Ricciolus.
A new Star appeared in Cassiopea, nearly
in the same Place with that of 1572.		{Anno Dom. 945, bright as Jupiter; see Ricciolus.
The new Star in Cassiopea's Chair.Bright as Venus, from November 1572 to March 1574.
A new Star in Collo Ceti.{Of the 3d Magnitude, is said to have appear'd periodically, seven Times in six Years, i. e. every three hundred and thirteen Days: It was first observed in August 1596, for two Months, by D. Fabricius.
A new Star in the Swan's Neck.{Observed by Kepler in 1600, of the third Magnitude, till the Year 1659; then gradually decreasing; in 1661 it disappeared; in 1666 it became visible again, and is yet to be seen of the sixth Magnitude.
A new Star in the Right Foot of Serpentarius,{Bright as Venus from October 1604 to October 1605: see Kepler.
A new Star in Andromeda's Girdle,Seen by Simon Marius and Fabricius, Anno 1612.
A new Star in Antinous,Seen by Justus Byrgius.
A new Star seen in the Whale,{In 1638, by John Procyclides Holuarda, of the third Magnitude, which disappeared periodically, every three hundred and thirty Days.
A new Star in the Fox's Head,{Of the third Magnitude, seen by Hevelius in July 1670, and till August 1671, also from March 1672 to September 1672.
A new Star in the Swan's Neck.{This appear'd periodically every four hundred and four Days, and about six Months at a Time; it was seen at its brightest, September 10, 1714.
Of the Nebulæ, or Cloudy Stars. Nebulose in Orion's Sword. Nebulose in Andromeda's Girdle. Nebulose in the Bow of Sagitarius, Small, but very luminous. Nebulose in Centaurus, Never seen in England. A Nebulose preceding the right Foot of Antinous, Obscure, but with a Star in the Middle of it. Nebulæ in Dorso Herculis, Discovered by Dr. Hally.

Besides the Nebulæ, and new Stars, it appears from the ancient Catalogues of Hevelius, &c. that some of the old ones have intirely vanished; in particular, one in the left Thigh of Aquarius, the contiguous one preceding in the Tail of Capricorn; the second on the Belly of the Whale; the first of the unformed ones after the Scales of Libra, and several others. Many of the Stars also appear to be double, as the first Star of Aries and Castor; others triple, as one in the Pleiades; and the middle one in Orion's Sabre; and others again, quadruple, &c.

I would now willingly help you to conceive the indefinite mutual Distance of the Stars, in order to give you some small Notion of the Immensity of Space; but as this will be a Task merely conjectural, I shall only desire you to believe it as far as your Reason will carry you, safely supported by an obvious Probability.

Perhaps it may be necessary here to acquaint you, that all the Stars are so far apparently of different Magnitudes, that no two of them are to be found in the whole Heavens exactly the same, either in Bigness or Brightness[AH]. The largest we have sufficient Reason to believe is the nearest to us; the next in Bigness and Brightness more remote; and so on to the least we see, which we judge to be the most remote of all.

The first Degree, or that of the largest Magnitude, we give to Syrius, the second to Arcturus, the third to Aldebaran, the fourth to Lyra, the fifth to Capella, the sixth to Regulus, the seventh to Rigel, the eighth to Fomahaunt, and the ninth to Antarus: These are all said to be of the first Class; and besides which, there are at least, within the Reach of our latest improved Opticks, nine more Denominations within the Radius of the visible Creation.

[AH] A very little Knowledge in Opticks will render this indisputable, and has been in a great measure demonstrated before; 1. in the Great Dog; 2. in Bootes; 3. in the Bull; 4. in the Harp of Apollo; 5. in Auriga; 6. in the Lion; 7. in Orion; 8. in the Southern Fish; 9. at the End of Erridanus.

Now, by the certain Return of the Comets, which we find are all governed by the Laws of this System, and supposed to be undisturbed by any of the others, we cannot avoid concluding, if we consider them at all to the Purpose, that the nearest Stars cannot be less distant than twice the Radius of the greatest Orbit belonging to the Sun. Most Mathematicians think this a great deal too near, as it must of course make all the Systems join, as in Contact; and I think we may safely add, to separate their Spheres of Attraction, at least one Half of this Distance more, which will make in the Whole about four hundred and twenty Semi-orbits of the Earth, or 33,600,000,000 Miles. This even the ingenious Mr. Huygins endeavours to prove still much too little, and his Arguments are such as cannot easily be refuted. His Principle is grounded upon the known Laws of Analogy, as considered in the Proportion of light Surfaces, and is as follows. Having reduced the Sun's Disk to the Appearance of the Star Syrius, by the Help of a small Hole at the End of his Telescope, and comparing this Part of his Surface to the whole Disk of the Sun, he infers that the Stars Distance to that of the Sun must be as 27,664 to 1. Hence Syrius from us will be nearly (avoiding Units) 2,213,120,000,000 Miles: But this I take to be as much too large as the former is too little; yet, as Mr. Bradley has, with some Shew of Reason, banished all the Stars out of the Sphere of Parallax, the last is the only Method we can possibly make use of with any kind of Confidence; and Sir Isaac Newton endeavours to recommend it with great Force of Argument, as the only probable Means by which we can give any tolerable Guess at these immense Measurements of Space.

To moderate the Matter then if you please, allow me but to make use of a Mean betwixt the two fore-mentioned Numbers; and we may take it for granted, a Distance sufficiently exact, to suit all our Wants in the present Case, namely, to give a very tolerable Idea of the Extent of the visible Creation, which is all I propose in this Place to attempt; but I mean to be much more exact in another.