William Herschel Short Quotes

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Here, truly, is a hole in the heavens!

William Herschel
He broke through the barriers of the heavens

William Herschel
I will make such telescopes and see such things!

William Herschel
We need not hesitate to admit that the Sun is richly stored with inhabitants.

William Herschel
In the old Telescope's tube we sit, And the shades of the past around us flit.

William Herschel
An object may not only contain stars, but also nebulosity not composed of them.

William Herschel
I have made it a rule never to employ a larger telescope when a smaller will answer the purpose.

William Herschel
A knowledge of the construction of the heavens has always been the ultimate object of my observations...

William Herschel
When an object is once discovered by a superior power, an inferior one will suffice to see if afterwards.

William Herschel
These instruments have play'd me so many tricks that I have at last found them out in many of their humours.
On the problems with telescopes

William Herschel
Aberration would forever have remained a secret to us if it had not been found out by other methods than that of time-keepers.

William Herschel
The power of penetrating into space by telescopes is very different from magnifying power, and ought to be considered separately.

William Herschel
A proportional condensation of the nebulous matter in the brighter places will sufficiently account for their different degree of shining.

William Herschel
That planet has a considerable but moderate atmosphere. So that the inhabitants probably enjoy a situation in many respects similar to ours.

William Herschel
According to my theory, a dark spot in the sun is a place in its atmosphere which happens to be free from luminous decompositions [above it].

William Herschel
The starlike appearance of the following six nebulæ is so considerable that the best description... was to compare them to stars with certain deficiencies.

William Herschel
A little practice in this business [looking through a telescope] soon makes it easy, especially to one who has already been used to look with both eyes open.

William Herschel
The difference of the degrees in which the individuals of a great community enjoy the good things of life has been a theme of declaration and discontent in all ages.

William Herschel
As observations, carefully made, should always take the load of theories, I shall not be concerned if what I have to say contradicts what has been said in my last paper.

William Herschel
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.

William Herschel
The sun is the celestial body which should first attract our notice, not only on its own account but since the fixed stars are, by the strictest analogy, similar bodies.

William Herschel
We may conceive that, perhaps in progress of time these nebulæ which are already in such a state of compression, may be still farther condensed so as actually to become stars.

William Herschel
I have looked further into space than ever human being did before me. I have observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two million years to reach the earth.

William Herschel
The spots on Mars are of a different nature. Their constant and determined shape, as well as remarkable color, show them to be permanent, and fastened to the body of the planet.

William Herschel
We are told that we gain nothing by magnifying too much. I grant it; but shall never believe I magnify too much till by experience I find that I can see better with a lower power.

William Herschel
I have looked farther into space than ever human being did before me. I have observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two millions of years to reach this earth!

William Herschel
The subject of the Construction of the Heavens is of so extensive and important a nature, that we cannot exert too much attention in our endeavors to throw all possible light upon it.

William Herschel
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...

William Herschel