The Astronomical Observer A Hand Book To The Observatory And The Common Telescope

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Excerpt from The Astronomical Observer: A Handbook to the Observatory and the Common Telescope "Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew Thee from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue? Yet, 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, Hesperus with the host of heaven came, And, lo! Creation widen'd in man's view. Who could have thought such darkness lay conceal'd Within thy beams, O Sun! or who could find, Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal'd, That to such countless orbs Thou mad'st us blind! Why do we then shun death with anxious strife? If light can thus deceive, why may not life?" The history of Astronomical Science is probably coeval with the history of man. The unrivalled splendour of the night sky would naturally awaken interest, that interest would induce observation, and observation would soon inculcate the leading principles of astronomy. If Adam wept, as poets tell us, when he beheld the first sunset, his sorrow must have been very soon turned into joy at the appearance of Sirius, "monarch of the suns," with his heavenly host. Josephus asserts that "God indulged the antediluvians with a very long life, in order that they might bring astronomy and geometry to perfection;" and that "Abraham was a most intense observer of the stars, and the first to bring astronomy from Chaldea into Egypt." Job certainly possessed an intimate knowledge of the heavens, for this is implied in the questions addressed to him by the Creator, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?" - Job xxxviii. 31 - 33. David was an observer of the heavens, and composed some astronomical hymns (Psa. viii. and xix.) for the services of the Temple; Isaiah exhorted the Hebrews to a contemplation of the starry firmament as a ground of confidence in God: "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Excerpt from The Astronomical Observer: A Handbook to the Observatory and the Common Telescope Mysterious Night! When our first parent knew Thee from report divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is a revealing account of the family life and achievements of the Third Earl of Rosse, a hereditary peer and resident landlord at Birr Castle, County Offaly, in nineteenth-century Ireland, before, during and after the devastating famine of the 1840s. He was a remarkable engineer, who built enormous telescopes in the cloudy middle of Ireland. The book gives details, in an attractive non-technical style which requires no previous scientific knowledge, of his engineering initiatives and the astronomical results, but also reveals much more about the man and his contributions – locally in the town and county around Birr, in political and other functions in an Ireland administered by the Protestant Ascendancy, in the development and activities of the Royal Society, of which he was President from 1848–54, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The Countess of Rosse, who receives full acknowledgement in the book, was a woman of many talents, among which was her pioneering work in photography, and the book includes reproductions of her artistic exposures, and many other attractive illustrations.