 William Herschel was the first astronomer to attempt to determine the distribution of stars in the sky . During the <unk> he established a series of gauges in 600 directions and counted the stars observed along each line of sight . From this he deduced that the number of stars steadily increased toward one side of the sky , in the direction of the Milky Way core . His son John Herschel repeated this study in the southern hemisphere and found a corresponding increase in the same direction . In addition to his other accomplishments , William Herschel is also noted for his discovery that some stars do not merely lie along the same line of sight , but are also physical companions that form binary star systems . 
