The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astronomical Discovery, by Herbert Hall Turner

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Title: Astronomical Discovery

Author: Herbert Hall Turner

Release Date: August 3, 2010 [EBook #33337]

Language: English

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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 will find a score in it." Indeed even in cases
such as those in Chapters V. and VI., where a discovery is made by turning
over a heap of rubbish--declared such by experts and abandoned
accordingly--we instinctively feel that the finding of something valuable
was especially "fortunate." We should scarcely recommend such waste
material as the best hunting ground for gems.