Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9809
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Theoretical stellar structures and a ring nebula
Date
1785
Creator
William Herschel (1738 - 1822, German-British) , Astronomer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 321mm
width (drawing): 179mm
width (drawing): 179mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Plate 8 figures 1, 2, 3 and 5 from the paper “On the construction of the heavens”, by William Herschel, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol.75 (1785), pp.213-266.
Illustrations to support Herschel’s speculations on the larger structures formed by stars. Figure 1 shows an ideal arrangement of four sections of cones of stars, the stars filling the space most evenly. Figure 2 shows an alternative arrangement with one star at the apex of a cone with three others in the circumference of the section. Figure 3 planes of first and second sections in a theoretical cone of stars. Figure 4 shows a perforated or ring nebula, which Herschel interprets as probably being “a ring of stars”.
Inscribed in pencil upper right with publication details. Not signed.
Illustrations to support Herschel’s speculations on the larger structures formed by stars. Figure 1 shows an ideal arrangement of four sections of cones of stars, the stars filling the space most evenly. Figure 2 shows an alternative arrangement with one star at the apex of a cone with three others in the circumference of the section. Figure 3 planes of first and second sections in a theoretical cone of stars. Figure 4 shows a perforated or ring nebula, which Herschel interprets as probably being “a ring of stars”.
Inscribed in pencil upper right with publication details. Not signed.
Associated place