

ASTKNMI< \I. PROGRESS IN' 1897. 



r*an Turkey use es*t -alia. 



Zealand, and Japan the 



11 hours fa*t of Greenwich. 

 Canada and ih- u- f",r time tones, 



tire, six, srv.-n. and ,-u-ht hours slow of ( i 



A i a 4^ that i>. the next 



liror 



will t 



Mlecheny. Pa., for l>r. n 

 Astronomical and Physical Obnerratory. 



waldfs 



Mafdebarg. Germa. -1 f-t long and re- 



T a room 96 feet square. The 

 ruled with 

 ~ line* to the inch, between which there i- n<> 



grvas r than three mlllioothi f an inch. 

 It rrTeai* in the solar pe<trmu ..\,-r 'J.uoo lines be- 

 hwtny; to iron. In tin- infancy of >| 

 the odium line (Fraunh ;deivd 



- doubles, 

 call* - mammoth instrument shows 



.louble an apart are the pairs that 15 



Hoc* am revealed between (hem. Some ,.f them, 

 and fierhap!* all. mav turn out to belong to our at- 

 DlOfpbere. It a]-> donblei the famous helium line. 

 - The sjH-etrum of the Sun has been photo- 

 graphed by it to <W feet in length. uowded with 

 . to end. Ii i> - 1 that, no 



matter what |art of the spectrum i> de-in-d to be 

 pbotograf plate is always in 1 



The following method of photographing the 

 spectrum and t hat of other heavenly bodies can not 

 fail to ettle many di-put. 1 points and may origi- 

 ;t. many new ones as it -ettles. Suppose it is 

 desired to ascertain whether any terrestrial -ul>- 

 stance, say calcium, i- in the condition <>f au r a^ in the 

 i'iie sunlight i- turne<l int.. t In- 

 fill of the spectroscojM. narrowly closed for sharp- 

 Deft of the lines to be photographed, and photo- 

 gmph the center of the Sun <m tin- center only of 

 the negative plate. An opaque bar i- now placed 

 over this nart of the plate. The electric . in . ]j u j,t, 

 in which has been placed in the < 

 lower carlM.n pencil a small piece of calcium, is 

 turned on the slit and the spectrum of calcium is 

 photographed on each side of the opaque l>ar. When 

 the plate is developed then- is a picture on which 

 :rum with it- lin.-> i- shown, and 

 if there In- any in the Sun's s|H-ctrum they can in a 

 moment be identified by their coincidence. If this 

 be the case we knw that calcium exists in the 

 of vajK-r in the Mm'- atmosphere. 



\ - rken Obwrratory. The largest and mo-t 

 powerful refm --ope in the world has 



;ly been successfully mounted in the Verkes 

 Observatory, at William'- Hay, \\ ,-"..n-in. n.-ar the 

 shore of Lake Geneva, 75 niiles north of Ch: 

 The glass, 40 inches of clear aperture, has be. 

 experts pronounced of MI |--rir x,ellence and has 

 been received by the trustees. Much is expected 

 of this gigantic telescope, which, from norne discov- 

 eries already made and re|*.rUHl. will not disappoint 

 the generous donor. CharlenT. Yerkos. of Ch 



lata will give the r .; hing 



of an idea what the making and mounting such a 

 telescope In time, skill. lat*>r. 

 means. The amount of the la", r. includin. 

 observatory, was more than $1.(X)0,000. Th- 

 disks of crown ami flint glai*. 41 f inche* in 1 

 ter. each free from *tria\ bubMi^, ami inequality of 

 density, cost in Pan-, in the rough. al-.Mt th- 

 of two large, thin grindstones, $40,000. Four years 

 were spent br the late Alvan G. Clark, at Cam- 

 bridgeport. Mass., ii. . them t the right 



- and polishing them. The ], ar available 

 aperture is 40 inches, and so perfect are the figures 



f th.- four surfao- that f li-rht fn-m a 



I'racted and dis- 



d by the i-rown disk and again opp.'-itcly n-- 

 fra-ted ly the flint to a \ery -mall j>oint. The 



tedobj ...;:- an object 

 II. wis $100,0(H' 



unds. The outer <T..\MI len- 

 inches thick at the I " t in. -h at th 



and weighs 200 IK. uinl-. The heavy Ilint-u'la-- di-k 

 iiiclie- thick at the edge and' 1$ inch at the 

 (enter, and \\ > pound-. The t\\-> 



glasses in their eel! 

 sultii the combined 1. The 



tlll.e is of -heet slei-l. Jil feet lo|| U 'ai|il "'J illclie- III 



diameter at the middle, tapering toward the 



and u ' , liich 



f i-ast iron, rise to a height . and 



A win<linu r -taircase ascend- to the 

 driving-doek room ami iva.ln ,nd to the 



balcony -urn.unding the head. Th- polar a - 

 of steel. l."i inches in di.i feet |on_. 



. The deelinaticn . 



I 1 . 1 inches in diameter. IP feet long, and 

 weighs 1^ ton. The driving clod. ton. 



and is wound automat ically by an electric i: 

 A double conical pendulmii controls the <ii 

 clock, and is geared to the main driving ul 



feet in diameter, which, together \\itll the tllle, 



weigh 'JO ton-, driven inexact sidereal time. The 

 in diameter, i- rai-ed ami de- 

 |.r. ed 'J.'i fe.-t I -v ;m 



liy simply 



touching a imtton. so that a high observing cbau 

 is not required. The center of motion "f the tele- 

 scope ' from the 11. ...p. The dome i> the 



largest in the world, and weigh ; 



1'iihlirations.-- Harvard College 

 has lately published two volunn - "f it- anna! 

 concluding the /one observation-., which has ex- 

 tended through VoU, \\. XVI, XXV, XXXV, and 

 the one just is-ued. XXXVI. The other is dev.-. 

 a description of the spectrum of bright -tars photo- 

 graphed with the 11-inch hraper tell 1 di-- 



red by Mi A. < . Maiiry. Tw hundred and 

 fifty pages of Vol. XXV are 'devoted to di-cii i..n 

 of the proper motions of the -tars. d. dm -ible from 

 the observation*. In a -cries of preliminary 

 -he has di-cn ed the relation of the spectra of the 

 Orion .-tar- to that of helium. 



Pri/es. The following o been award e<l 



rononiers -ince the la-t nport: The Laland 

 i.ri/e of .110 francs was awarded to M. Pni-d. 



his selenographical work. The Valz prize was be- 

 stowed on M. I'os-ert for the reduct ion of old . 

 vatinn- pn-vioijsly inacce>-ible. The .Ian-sen 

 was given to M". l>e-hindre- f.,r hi- -tu.lie- and 



i gat ions in spectroscopy. The Mr-. .Iack-on- 

 (iwilt medal, of the |{ ( ,val Afltronoiniofl Socjrtyof 

 Kngland. was awarded for the Jir-t time to hr. I 

 Swift, of the Lowe Obs< i Mountain. 

 California, for his nuinerou- d 



anil nebui i of a large bn.n/e me-lal 



and x The prixe- <,f the Paris A< ;i-l- 



r led a- fullows: The 

 f <5.(HK franc- has U-cn divided 

 -rion- and t" M. Manic, for t ! 



plication of t l.e g\ ro-cope \ .let,.]-iiiine the altitude 

 of the star* at sea. M. Faye, the distinguished 

 astronomer of France, has been awarded a gold 

 modal l>y the Pari- Academy, in honor of his jubi- 



having b at in 1H47. The 

 A-t n-nornical Soei.-ty of England be-towed 



-.'A medal on Dr. K. I ;. I'.arnard for ll.. 



the ffth satellite to .lupiter. and other 

 ini|H>: ttomy. The (ierman 



a-tron.mer Prof. Dr Arthur Auwer-. ha- received 

 from the (ierman Kmpep.r a gold medal for his 

 services to science, especially to astronomy. 



