CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER
I. THE ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY 9
II. THE SUN 29
III. THE MOON 70
IV. THE SOLAR SYSTEM 107
V. THE LAW OF GRAVITATION 122
VI. THE PLANET OF ROMANCE 150
VII. MERCURY 155
VIII. VENUS 167
IX. THE EARTH 192
X. MARS 208
XI. THE MINOR PLANETS 229
XII. JUPITER 245
XIII. SATURN 268
XIV. URANUS 298
XV. NEPTUNE 315
XVI. COMETS 336
XVII. SHOOTING STARS 372
XVIII. THE STARRY HEAVENS 409
XIX. THE DISTANT SUNS 425
XX. DOUBLE STARS 434
XXI. THE DISTANCES OF THE STARS 441
XXII. STAR CLUSTERS AND NEBULÆ 461
XXIII. THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE STARS 477
XXIV. THE PRECESSION AND NUTATION OF THE EARTH'S AXIS 492
XXV. THE ABERRATION OF LIGHT 503
XXVI. THE ASTRONOMICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HEAT 513
XXVII. THE TIDES 531
APPENDIX 558
LIST OF PLATES.
PLATE
I. The Planet Saturn _Frontispiece_
II. A Typical Sun-spot _To face page_ 9
A. The Sun " " 44
III. Spots and Faculæ on the Sun " " 37
IV. Solar Prominences or Flames " " 57
V. The Solar Corona " " 62
VI. Chart of the Moon's Surface " " 81
B. Portion of the Moon " " 88
VII. The Lunar Crater Triesnecker " " 93
VIII. A Normal Lunar Crater " " 97
IX. The Lunar Crater Plato " " 102
X. The Lunar Crater Tycho " " 106
XI. The Planet Jupiter " " 254
XII. Coggia's Comet " " 340
C. Comet A., 1892, 1 Swift " " 358
XIII. Spectra of the Sun and of three Stars " " 47
D. The Milky Way, near Messier II. " " 462
XIV. The Great Nebula in Orion " " 466
XV. The Great Nebula in Andromeda " " 468
E. Nebulæ in the Pleiades " " 472
F. ô Centauri " " 474
XVI. Nebulæ observed with Lord Rosse's Telescope " " 476
XVII. The Comet of 1882 " " 357
XVIII. Schiaparelli's Map of Mars " " 221
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. PAGE
1. Principle of the Refracting Telescope 11
2. Dome of the South Equatorial at Dunsink Observatory, Co. Dublin 12
3. Section of the Dome of Dunsink Observatory 13
4. The Telescope at Yerkes Observatory, Chicago 15
5. Principle of Herschel's Reflecting Telescope 16
6. South Front of the Yerkes Observatory, Chicago 17
7. Lord Rosse's Telescope 18
8. Meridian Circle 20
9. The Great Bear 27
10. Comparative Sizes of the Earth and the Sun 30
