Quote#Wisdom
It is evident that we cannot mean to affirm that the stars of the…
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, published (1817)..
English (original)
It is evident that we cannot mean to affirm that the stars of the fifth, sixth, and seventh magnitudes are really smaller than those of the first, second, or third, and that we must ascribe the cause of the difference in the apparent magnitudes of the stars to a difference in their relative distances from us.
— William Herschel
More from William Herschel
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A knowledge of the construction of the heavens has always been the ultimate object of my observations...
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.
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...
An object may not only contain stars, but also nebulosity not composed of them.