XVI. Astronomical observations relating to the construction of the heavens, arranged for the purpose of a critical examination, the result of which appears to throw some new light upon the organization of the celestial bodies

Abstract

Aknowledge of the construction of the heavens has always been the ultimate object of my observations, and having been many years engaged in applying my forty, twenty, and large ten feet telescopes, on account of their great space-penetrating power to review the most interesting objects discovered in my sweeps, as well as those which had before been communicated to the public in the Connoissance des Temps , for 1784, I find that by arranging these objects in a certain successive regular order, they may be viewed in a new light, and, if I am not mistaken, an examination of them will lead to consequences which cannot be indifferent to an inquiring mind. If it should be remarked that in this new arrangement I am not entirely consistent with what I have already in former papers said on the nature of some objects that have come under my observation, I must freely confess that by continuing my sweeps of the heavens my opinion of the arrangement of the stars and their magnitudes, and of some other particulars, has undergone a gradual change; and indeed when the novelty of the subject is considered, we cannot be surprised that many things formerly taken for granted, should on examination prove to be different from what they were generally, but incautiously, supposed to be.