TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



129 



Contributions to the Sound Beach 

 Observatory. 



Miss Frances H. Errett, New- 

 town, Ohio (Increase — total 



$179-38) ....$154-38 



Dr. P. J. Oettinger, New York 



City 1 .00 



Miss Eulalee Finney. Sound 



Beach i.oo 



The Frost Family, Soitnd Beach 



($1.00 each) 5.00 



Mr. H. E. Deats. Flemington. 



New Jersey (Increase — total 



$15.00) 10.00 



Mr. Thomas W. King. Sound 



Beach 5.00 



A Friend 2.00 



Mr. W. W. Lathrop, Warren, 



Ohio 50 



Mr. William T. Finney, Stam- 

 ford I.oo 



Reverend Fay E. Livengood. 



Sound Beach 2.00 



Mrs. H. H. Knox, New Canaan, 



Connecticut i.oo 



Mr.]\Iitchell Kennerley, ]^Iamar- 



oneck. New York 5.00 



Total $187.88 



Previously acknowledged . . . 506.20 



Grand Total $694.08 



Here is a good example for other young 

 folks. Miss Eulalee Finney of Sound 

 Beach has contributed a dollar to The 

 Agassiz Association for a telescope, 

 and writes as follows : 



"I earned a dollar a few days ago. 

 and I want you to have it, to help buy 

 the telescope wihch I know we shall 

 all enjoy." 



It is probable that every girl and boy 

 in Sound Beach would contribute at 

 least five cents each if it could be made 

 clear to all yonug folks how much they 

 will enjoy and be benefitted by becom- 

 ing familiar with "the wonders of the 

 sky." These wonders are marvelously 

 entertaining, and few people, even the 

 adults, know much about them. Eula- 



lee Finney is right in the statement 

 that we shall all enjoy the telescope. 

 The heavens are moving pictures 

 that are not "trash," and that are al- 

 ways uplifting in thought. 



Variable Star Observing. Fascinating 

 Work for the Amateur Astronomer 



BY WILLIAM TYLER OLCOTT, CORRESPOXD- 

 IXG SECRET.4RY, AMERICAX .4SSOCL\TIOX 

 OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS 



There may be many members of 

 The Agassiz Association who possess 

 small telescopes. By small telescopes 

 I mean those mounted on tripods of 

 three to five inch aperture. It is the 

 purpose of this article to outline briefly 

 how telescopes of this type may be 

 turned to good advantage in the aid of 

 science by anyone willing to engage in 

 an interesting bit of astrophysical re- 

 search work that involves no mathe- 

 matics and the details of which are 

 quickly and easily mastered. 



There are many stars, telescopic for 

 the most part, that, strange-enough, 

 do not present the constant state of 

 brightness that characterizes most of 

 the lucid stars with which the layman 

 is familiar. The light of these stars, 

 which are known as Variables, fluctu- 

 ates, and the law that governs their 

 variation presents a baffling enigma, 

 which only time, and a large number of 

 observations can solve. 



Professional astronomers the world 

 over are for the most part too busily 

 engaged in solving other great astro- 

 nomical problems to give much atten- 

 tion to \'ariables, and consequently 

 this important work has been some- 

 what neglected, and the field is open 

 to the amateur astronomer with his 

 modest telescopic equipment to do 

 something that is worth while in the 

 realm of astronomical research that so 

 many think is for the professional as- 

 tronomer alone. 



The only requisites for the work, 

 aside from a certain amount of patience 

 and perseverance, is a knowledge of 



