A different kind of association between stars and nebul? is shown in
some surprising photographic objects in the constellation Cygnus,
where long, wispy nebul?, billions of miles in length, some of them
looking like tresses streaming in a breeze, lie amid fields of stars
which seem related to them. But the relation is of a most singular
kind, for notwithstanding the delicate structure of the long nebul?
they appear to act as barriers, causing the stars to heap themselves
on one side. The stars are two, three, or four times as numerous on
one side of the nebul? as on the other. These nebul?, as far as
appearance goes, might be likened to rail fences, or thin hedges,
against which the wind is driving drifts of powdery snow, which, while
scattered plentifully all around, tends to bank itself on the leeward
side of the obstruction. The imagination is at a loss to account for
these extraordinary phenomena; yet there they are, faithfully giving
us their images whenever the photographic plate is exposed to their
radiations.
Thus the more we see of the universe with improved methods of
observation, and the more we invent aids to human senses, each
enabling us to penetrate a little deeper into the unseen, the greater
becomes the mystery. The telescope carried us far, photography is
carrying us still farther; but what as yet unimagined instrument will
take us to the bottom, the top, and the end? And then, what hitherto
untried power of thought will enable us to comprehend the meaning of
it all?
Stellar Migrations
To the untrained eye the stars and the planets are not
distinguishable.
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