Larger instruments exhibit a faint light within the ring; and in Lord Rosse's great Telescope "wisps of stars" are seen within, and faint streaks of light stream from the outer border of the ring.

This nebula has been subjected to spectrum-analysis by Mr.
Huggins.

It turns out to be a gaseous nebula! In fact, ring-nebulae--of which only seven have been detected--seem to belong to the same class as the planetary nebulae, all of which exhibit the line-spectrum indicative of gaseity.

The brightest of the three lines seen in the spectrum of the ring-nebula in Lyra presents a rather peculiar appearance, "since it consists," says Mr.Huggins, "of two bright dots, corresponding to sections of the ring, and between these there is not darkness, but an excessively faint line joining them.

This observation makes it probable that the faint nebulous matter occupying the central portion is similar in constitution to that of the ring." The constellation Hercules also contains many very interesting objects.
Let us first inspect a nebula presenting a remarkable contrast with that just described.