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.[1]
[1] Published at 5_s._ by Gall & Inglis, Edinburgh and London.
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.