The Caldwell Objects

egion looks cold and disturbing, not warm and
comforting. But what beauty and wonder surrounds
the pole — the Large and Small
Magellanic Clouds; the Coalsack and its glittering
Jewel Box; the vast Eta Carinae Nebula. If I sum
up the parts, the far-southern skies attain a visual
balance. Their attraction, as in the north, is a
sense of unity among the stars. "Attraction is
therefore the supreme law among the worlds,
among atoms, and among beings," astronomy
popularizer Camille Flammarion penned in his
1923 book Dreams of an
109
Astronomer. "[T]he bird which flies from branch
to branch seeking a place for its nest, the
nightingale which with incomparable song
charms the sweet mistress of the night, the man
whose heart is troubled at the appearance of a
beloved being, the sound of a beloved voice, or a
fond memory — all these beings, all these things
obey the same law, that of universal attraction
which in diverse forms governs all nature and
guides it — whither? Towards yet another
attraction, to the attraction of the unknown!"
The Caldwell Objects 429