They thought it
must be due possibly to some instrumental defect or to the
imagination of the observer. It was, however, hardly possible for
any one who was both willing and competent to examine into the
evidence, to doubt the reality of Lord Rosse's discoveries. It
happens, however, that they have been recently placed beyond all
doubt by testimony which it is impossible to gainsay. A witness
never influenced by imagination has now come forward, and the
infallible photographic plate has justified Lord Rosse. Among the
remarkable discoveries which Dr. Isaac Roberts has recently made in
the application of his photographic apparatus to the heavens, there
is none more striking than that which declares, not only that the
nebulae which Lord Rosse described as spirals, actually do possess
the character so indicated, but that there are many others of the
same description. He has even brought to light the astonishingly
interesting fact that there are invisible objects of this class which
have never been seen by human eye, but whose spiral character is
visible to the peculiar delicacy of the photographic telescope.
In his earlier years, Lord Rosse himself used to be a diligent
observer of the heavenly bodies with the great telescope which was
completed in the year 1845.
Pages:
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314