Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volumes 1-2

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Priestley and Weale, 1831
Includes lists of additions to the Society's library, usually separately paged.
 

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Page 16 - ... in this point of view. Every well-determined star, from the moment its place is registered, becomes to the astronomer, the geographer, the navigator, the surveyor, a point of departure which can never deceive or fail him, the same for ever and in all places, of a delicacy so extreme as to be a test for every instrument yet invented by man, yet equally adapted for the most ordinary purposes ; as available for regulating a town clock, as for conducting a navy to the Indies ; as effective for mapping...
Page 143 - It is believed that the experience of the past, not only with the railroads but with all industry, and not only in this country but in other parts of the world, shows which course to take.
Page 161 - The like observations were made on the 5th, llth, and 12th days of the same month, and there appearing no material difference in the place of the star, a farther repetition of them at this season seemed needless, it being a part of the year...
Page 117 - over a small cluster of most minute stars of the 16th and 17th magnitude; and when on the cluster presented the appearance of a nebula resolvable, and partly resolved, the stars of the cluster being visible through the comet. A more striking proof could not have been offered of the extreme translucency of the matter of which the comet consists. The most trifling fog would have effaced this group of stars, yet they continued visible through a thickness of cometic matter which, calculating on its...
Page 15 - If we ask to what end magnificent establishments are maintained by states and sovereigns, furnished with master-pieces of art, and placed under the direction of men of first-rate talent and high-minded enthusiasm, sought out for those qualities among the foremost in the ranks of science : — if we demand cui bono? for what good a Bradley has toiled, or a Maskelyne or a Piazzi worn out his venerable age in watching ? the answer is, — not to settle mere speculative points in the doctrine of the...
Page 113 - ... reach of recovery, because we will not take the pains to note them in their unobtrusive and furtive passage, because we see them in their every-day dress, and mark no sudden change, and conclude that all is dead, because we will not look for signs of life ; and that all is uninteresting because we are not impressed and dazzled.
Page 7 - The meeting then proceeded to the election of Officers for the ensuing year, when the following List was delivered in by the scrutineers : viz.
Page 162 - September following, when it again became stationary, being then near 20" more Northerly than in June, and no less than 39" more Northerly than it was in March. From September the Star returned towards the South, till it arrived in December to the same Situation it was in at that time twelve Months, allowing for the Difference of Declination on account of the Precession of the Equinox.
Page 38 - ... until it finally disappeared on the body of the planet. At least twelve or thirteen minutes must have elapsed, when, accidentally turning to Jupiter again, to my astonishment I perceived the same satellite outside the disc ! It was in the same position as to being in a line with the apparent lower belt, where it remained distinctly visible for at least four minutes, and then suddenly vanished.
Page 15 - The stars are the landmarks of the universe; and, amidst the endless and complicated fluctuations of our system, seem placed by its Creator as guides and records, not merely to elevate our minds by the contemplation of what is vast, but to teach us to direct our actions by reference to what is immutable in His works.

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