Quote#Time
In future... we shall look upon those regions into which we may now…
Quote byWilliam Herschel · 1738–1822
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works (1880), Ch.4 "Life and Works" from a memoir (1784)..
English (original)
In future... we shall look upon those regions into which we may now penetrate by means of such large telescopes, as a naturalist regards a rich extent of ground or chain of mountains containing strata variously inclined and directed, as well as consisting of very different materials. The surface of a globe or map therefore will but ill delineate the interior parts of the heavens.
— William Herschel
More from William Herschel
'We may... have surmised nebulae to be no other than clusters of stars disguised by their very great distance, but a longer experience and better acquaintance with the nature of nebulae, will not allow a general admission of such a …
A knowledge of the construction of the heavens has always been the ultimate object of my observations...
An equal scattering of the stars may be admitted in certain calculations; but when we examine the milky way, or the closely compressed clusters of stars... this supposed equality of scattering must be given up.
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...
I compared it to H Geminorum and the small star in the quartile between Auriga and Gemini, and finding it so much larger than either of them, suspected it to be a comet.
An object may not only contain stars, but also nebulosity not composed of them.