oking at
gamma Andromedae with the Lick telescope, and at that time it was
possible just to separate the third star. The angle seemed too small for
certain measurement, but a single setting of the micrometer by Mr.
Barnard, to whose kindness I was indebted for my view of the star, gave
0.17" as the approximate distance. In 1900 the distance had increased to
0.4", p. 115 deg.. The brilliance of color contrast between the two larger
stars of gamma Andromedae is hardly inferior to that exhibited in beta
Cygni, so that this star may be regarded as one of the most picturesque
of stellar objects for small telescopes.

Other pleasing objects in this constellation are the binary star 36,
magnitudes six and six and a half, distance 1", p. 17 deg.--the two stars
are slowly closing and the five-inch glass is required to separate them:
the richly colored variable R, which fades from magnitude five and a
half to invisibility, and then recovers its light in a period of about
four hundred and five days; and the bright star cluster 457, which
covers a space about equal to the area of the full moon.

Just south of the eastern end of Andromeda is the small constellation
Triangulum, or the Triangles, containing two interesting objects. One of
these is the beautiful little double 6, magnitudes five and six,
distance 3.8", p. 77 deg., colors yellow and blue; and the other, the nebula
352, which equals in extent the star cluster in Andromeda described
above, but nevertheless appears very faint with our largest glass. Its
faintness, however, is not an indication of insignificance, for to very
powerful telescopes it exhibits a wonderful system of nuclei and
spirals--another bit of chaos that is yielding by age-long steps to the
influence of demiurgic forces.

A richer constellation than Andromeda, both for naked-eye and telescopic
observation, is Perseus, which is especially remarkable for its star
clusters. Two of these, 512 and 521, constitute the celebrated double
cluster, sometimes called the Sword-hand of Perseus, and also chi
Persei. To the smallest telescope this aggregation of stars, ranging in
magnitude from six and a half to fourteen, and grouped about two
neighboring centers, presents a marvelous appearance. As an educative
object for those unaccustomed to celestial observations it may be
compared among star clusters to beta Cygni among double stars, for the
most indifferent spectator is struck with wonder in viewing it. All the