DEPARTMENT OF MERIDIAN ASTROMETRY * 



Lewis Boss, Director. 



This report covers the operations of this Department to x\ugust 15, 1908. 



Our work has continued on much the same Hues as in the previous year, 

 except that the section of observations has again become the more important 

 feature. From October 7, 1907, to August 15, 1908, a period of 10 months, 

 10,421 meridian observations have been made with the Olcott meridian-circle. 

 These observations were made mostly by Chief Assistant Arthur J. Roy and 

 Assistant William B. Varnum. They are of a fundamental character and a 

 large proportion of them are upon the standard stars. The objects of obser- 

 vation are distributed over the entire sky available at Albany for practical 

 observation from 83° north zenith-distance to 40° of south declination. They 

 furnish the points for comparison with like observations to be made upon the 

 same stars from the observatory to be established in the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere. 



Much progress has been made during the past year in preparation for the 

 establishment of an observatory in the Southern Hemisphere. It has been 

 virtually decided to locate this at San Luis, in the Argentine Republic. San 

 Luis is a town of about 10,000 inhabitants, situated on the Trans- Andean 

 Railroad, about 500 miles west of Buenos Aires, and approximately 2,500 

 feet above sea-level. Its geographical coordinates are about 66.3° longitude 

 west from Greenwich, and 33.3° south latitude. The climate is reported to 

 be dry and healthful, and to offer a very unusual amount of clear sky. 



The U. S. Department of State has proved especially helpful in bringing 

 the proposed expedition properly to the attention of the Argentine Govern- 

 ment. Mr. Root has evinced a cordial and personal interest in this matter, 

 entitling him to my most sincere thanks. The x\rgentine minister to the 

 United States, Sefior Don Epifanio Portela, has been most obliging in secur- 

 ing attentions from his government, designed to facilitate the choice of site 

 and the safe entry of our material and apparatus. Other representatives of 

 the Argentine Government have also shown particular interest in matters 

 concerning the establishment of the new observatory. 



Arrangements have been completed to dispatch a preliminary expedition to 

 the Argentine Republic for the purpose of choosing a site for the new obser- 

 vatory ; to provide for it the necessary observing rooms, offices, and quarters 

 for the stafif ; and in general to prepare it for the reception of its staff. 



* Address : Dudley Observatory, Albany, New York. Grant No. 479. $20,000 for 

 study of motion and structure of the stellar system of the northern and southern hemi- 

 spheres. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.) 



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