Astronomy and the Bible;

STARSINNUMERABLE 139

gazingforatimeatthissublimecelestialspectacle,on
slightly moving the direction of the instrument, a
secondgloriousclustercomes intoview,alsoofstars
fromtheseventhtothefifteenthmagnitudes;andall
these stars are, as separateobjects, invisible to the
nakedeye.
"Wemightspendthewholenightinthusexamining
starclusters, and wouldonly then have beguntheir
survey. Butletusglanceforamomentatoneofthe
manyclustersremarkableforsphericalformandcom-
pactness. Directingthetelescopetoi6hr. 37 m.right
ascensionand 3639 northdeclination,awondrousball
ofstarsblazesupinthecenterofthefieldofview.
Thatmightysystem is knowntoastronomersby the
modestname of 13 M. Herculis,indicatingthatitis
thethirteenthin Messier'scatalogue of nebulae,and
issituatedintheconstellationHercules. Itwas dis-
coveredbyHalleyin 1714,andexaminedbyMessier
with a four-foot Newtonian instrument fifty years
later, who wasableto resolveitinto separatestars.
Withthislargeequatorialitisperfectlyresolvedeven
withlowpowereyepiece,whilewiththeeyepiecesof
higherpoweritseemstoblazeandbreakintoseparate
starsand starbranches streamingout fromadense
coreofglitteringlightpoints. Languageutterlyfails
to adequately describe suchan object. It has been
trulysaidthatnonecouldbeholditforthefirsttime
withoututteringa*shoutofwonder.' Andyetthat
system of worldsisonlyoneamongthousands, and
hasnotevenanameassignedtoit,beingonlyknown
among astronomersby its number, 13 M. HerculisI