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ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERY




[Illustration: ASTRONOMERS ROYAL.]




  ASTRONOMICAL
  DISCOVERY


  BY
  HERBERT HALL TURNER, D.Sc., F.R.S.

  SAVILIAN PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY IN THE
  UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD


  _WITH PLATES_


  LONDON
  EDWARD ARNOLD
  41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, W.
  1904

  (All rights reserved)



  TO

  EDWARD EMERSON BARNARD
  ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERER

  THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED IN MEMORY OF
  NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN DAYS SPENT WITH HIM AT THE
  YERKES OBSERVATORY OF
  THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO




PREFACE


The aim of the following pages is to illustrate, by the study of a few
examples chosen almost at random, the variety in character of astronomical
discoveries. An attempt has indeed been made to arrange the half-dozen
examples, once selected, into a rough sequence according to the amount of
"chance" associated with the discovery, though from this point of view
Chapter IV. should come first; but I do not lay much stress upon it. There
is undoubtedly an element of "luck" in most discoveries. "The biggest
strokes are all luck," writes a brother astronomer who had done me the
honour to glance at a few pages, "but a man must not drop his catches.
Have you ever read Montaigne's essay 'Of Glory'? It is worth reading.
Change war and glory to discovery and it is exactly the same theme. If you
are looking for a motto you