XXIII. Astronomical observations and experiments, selected for the purpose of ascertaining the relative distances of clusters of stars, and of investigating how far the power of our telescopes may be expected to reach into space, when directed to ambiguous celestial objects
In my last paper on the local arrangement of the celestial bodies in space, I have shown how, by an equalization of the light of stars of different brightness, we may ascertain their relative distances from the observer, in the direction of the line in which they are seen; and from this equalization, a method of turning the space penetrating power of a telescope into a gradually increasing series of gaging powers has been deduced, by which means the profundity in space, of every object consisting of stars, can be ascertained, as far as the light of the instrument which is used upon this occasion will reach. This method has already been applied to fathom the milky way, and may with equal propriety be used to ascertain the profundity of globular and other clusters of stars in space; I shall therefore make use of some of the numerous observations, contained in my journals and sweeps of the heavens, to show how the distances of these objects may be obtained; and shall also attempt to represent their situation in space by a figure, in which their distances are made proportional to the diameter of a globular space, sufficiently large to contain all the stars that in the clearest nights are visible to the eye of an observer.