ASTRONOMY FOR AMATEURS
BY CAMILLE FLAMMARION AUTHOR OF POPULAR ASTRONOMY
AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION BY FRANCES A. WELBY
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK AND LONDON D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1910
COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Published October, 1904
TO
MADAME C.R. CAVARE
ORIGINAL MEMBER OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF FRANCE CHATEAU DE MAUPERTHUIS
MADAME: I have dedicated none of my works, save Stella--offered to the liberal-minded, the free and generous friend of progress, and patron of the sciences, James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald. In this volume, Madame, I make another exception, and ask your permission to offer it to the first woman who consented to be enrolled in the list of members of the Astronomical Society of France, as foundress of this splendid work, from the very beginning of our vast association (1887); and who also desired to take part in the permanent organization of the Observatory at Juvisy, a task of private enterprise, emancipated from administrative routine. An Astronomy for Women[1] can not be better placed than upon the table of a lady whose erudition is equal to her virtues, and who has consecrated her long career to the pursuit and service of the Beautiful, the Good, and the True.
CAMILLE FLAMMARION.
OBSERVATORY OF JUVISY, November, 1903.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
I. THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS 10
II. THE CONSTELLATIONS 28
III. THE STARS, SUNS OF THE INFINITE. A JOURNEY THROUGH SPACE 56
IV. OUR STAR THE SUN 88
V. THE PLANETS. A. MERCURY, VENUS, THE EARTH, MARS 113
VI. THE PLANETS. B. JUPITER, SATURN, URANUS, NEPTUNE 146
VII. THE COMETS 172
VIII. THE EARTH 205
IX. THE MOON 232
X. THE ECLIPSES 259
XI. ON METHODS. HOW CELESTIAL DISTANCES ARE DETERMINED, AND HOW THE SUN IS WEIGHED 287
XII. LIFE, UNIVERSAL AND ETERNAL 317
INDEX 341
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Contemplation Frontispiece From a painting by Paul Renaud
FIG. PAGE
1. The great Book of the Heavens is open to all eyes 15
2. The earth in space. June solstice, midday 20
3. The Great Bear (or Dipper) and the Pole Star 34
4. To find the Pole Star 35
5. To find Cassiopeia 37
6. To find Pegasus and Andromeda 37
7. Perseus, the Pleiades, Capella 38
8. To find Arcturus, the Herdsman, and the Northern Crown 40
9. The Swan, Vega, the Eagle 41
10. The Constellations of the Zodiac: summer and autumn; Capricorn, Archer, Scorpion, Balance, Virgin, Lion 46
11. The Constellations of the Zodiac: winter and spring; Crab, Twins, Bull, Ram, Fishes, Water-Carrier 47
12. Orion and his celestial companions 48
13. Winter Constellations 51
14. Spring Constellations 52
15. Summer Constellations 53
16. Autumn Constellations 54
17. The double star Mizar 69
18. Triple star [xi] in Cancer 72
19. Quadruple star [epsilon] of the Lyre 73
20. Sextuple star [theta] in the Nebula of Orion 74
21. The Star-Cluster in Hercules 79
22. The Star-Cluster in the Centaur 80
23. The Nebula in Andromeda 81
24. Nebula in the Greyhounds 82
25. The Pleiades 83
26. Occultation of the Pleiades by the Moon 85
27. Stellar dial of the double star [gamma] of the Virgin 86
28. Comparative sizes of the Sun and Earth 93
29. Direct photograph of the Sun 96
30. Telescopic aspect of a Sun-Spot 97
31. Rose-colored solar flames 228,000 kilometers (141,500 miles) in height, i.e., 18 times the diameter of the Earth 103
32. Orbits of the four Planets nearest to the Sun 115
33. Orbits of the four Planets farthest from the Sun 116
34. Mercury near quadrature 117
35. The Earth viewed from Mercury 119
36. The Evening Star 123
37. Successive phases of Venus 124
38. Venus at greatest brilliancy 126
39. The Earth viewed from Venus 130
40. Diminution of the polar snows of Mars during the summer 136
41. Telescopic aspect of the planet Mars (Feb., 1901) 137
42. Telescopic aspect of the planet Mars (Feb., 1901) 138
43. Chart of Mars 140
44. The Earth viewed from Mars 144
45. Telescopic aspect of Jupiter 150
46. Jupiter and his four principal satellites 155
47. Saturn 159
48. Varying perspective of Saturn's Rings, as seen from the Earth 161
49. The Great Comet of 1858 174
50. What our Ancestors saw in a Comet 177
After Ambroise Pare (1858)
51. Prodigies seen in the Heavens by our Forefathers 178
52. The orbit of a Periodic Comet 182
53. The tails of Comets are opposed to the Sun 185
54. A Meteor 191
55. Shooting Stars of November 12, 1799 196
From a contemporary drawing
56. Fire-Ball seen from the Observatory at Juvisy, August 10, 1899 199
57. Explosion of a Fire-Ball above Madrid, February 10, 1896 200
58. Raphael's Fire-Ball (The Madonna of Foligno) 202
59. A Uranolith 203
60. Motion of the Earth round the Sun 222
61. Inclination of the Earth 224
62. The divisions of the globe. Longitudes and latitudes 226
63. To find the long and short months 230
64. The Full Moon slowly rises 234
65. The Moon viewed with the unaided eye 236
66. The Man's head in the Moon 237
67. Woman's head in the Moon 238
68. The kiss in the Moon 239
69. Photograph of the Moon 240
70. The Moon's Phases 241
71. Map of the Moon 247
72. The Lunar Apennines 251
73. Flammarion's Lunar Ring 253
74. Lunar landscape with the Earth in the sky 254
75. Battle between the Medes and Lydians arrested by an Eclipse of the Sun 266
76. Eclipse of the Moon at Laos (February 27, 1877) 269
77. The path of the Eclipse of May 28, 1900 273
78. Total eclipse of the Sun, May 28, 1900, as observed from Elche (Spain) 281
79. The Eclipse of May 28, 1900, as photographed by King Alfonso XIII, at Madrid 285
80. Measurement of Angles 289
81. Division of the Circumference into 360 degrees 291
82. Measurement of the distance of the Moon 292
83. Measurement of the distance of the Sun 297
84. Small apparent ellipses described by the stars as a result of the annual displacement of the Earth 306