" The same observation was made in a letter he addressed to
me in March, 1829.)
The Milky Way composed of nebulae does not belong to our starry stratum, but
surrounds it at a great distance without being physically connected with it,
passing almost in the form of a large cross through the dense nebulae of
Virgo, especially in the northern wing, through Comae Berenicis, Ursa Major,
Andromeda's girdle, and Pisces Boreales. It probably intersects the stellar
Milky Way in Cassiopeia, and connects its dreary poles (rendered starless
from the attractive forces by which stellar bodies are made to agglomerate
into groups) in the least dense portion of the starry stratum.
We see from these considerations that our starry cluster, which bears traces
in its projecting branches of having been subject in the course of time to
various metamorphoses, and evinces a tendency to dissolve and separate,
owing to secondary centers of attraction -- is surrounded by two rings, one
of which, the nebulous zone, is very remote, while the other is nearer, and
composed of stars alone. The latter, which we generally term the Milky Way,
is composed of nebulous stars, averaging from the tenth to the eleventh
degree of magnitude,* but appearing, when considered individually, of very
different magnitudes, while isolated starry clusters (starry swarms) almost
always exhibit throughout a character of great uniformity in magnitude and
brilliancy.
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