ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES 



our system, particularly of Mars and of Jupiter. 

 The 24-inch refractor was also used for a year or 

 two in the observation of double stars, the result 

 being the discovery of about 500 new systems. Ex- 

 tensive photographic studies of comets and nebulae 

 as well as of the planets have been made, and a 

 program of spectrographic work on stars and 

 nebulae is in progress. The most striking result so 

 far obtained relates to the enormous radial veloci- 

 ties of certain of the nebulae, which exceed many- 

 fold, the average velocities of even the most rapidly 

 moving stars. 



The Society of Jesus established a small observa- 

 tory in the suburbs of Manila, Philippine Islands, 

 more than half a century ago. More recently the 

 observatory has acquired a Mertz refractor with 

 aperture of 19 inches and focal length of 23 feet and 

 a number of smaller instruments, and is in a posi- 

 tion to undertake serious research work. The ob- 

 servatory also possesses a full equipment of meteor- 

 ological and seismological instruments and its direc- 

 tor is the head of the Weather Bureau for the Phil- 

 ippine Islands. 



The Canadian government has purchased land 

 in the suburbs of Victoria, British Columbia, as the 

 site for a branch station of the Dominion Observa- 

 tory, which is located at Ottawa. The principal in- 

 strument of this new observatory is to be a 72-inch 

 silver-on-glass reflecting telescope, which, in con- 

 junction with spectrographs, is to be used chiefly 

 in measuring radial velocities. The telescope mir- 

 ror, as well as mounting, is nearly completed, and, 

 it is hoped, may be in position within a year. 



The National Observatory of Mexico is situated 

 at Tacubaya, near the City of Mexico at an altitude 

 of 7480 feet. Its equipment includes refracting 

 telescopes of 15-inches and 6-inches aperture, a 13- 

 inch astrographic equatorial, a 5-inch photohelio- 

 graph, supplied with siderostat, and the usual aux- 

 iliary apparatus, besides complete sets of magnetic, 

 seismologic and meteorologic apparatus. The prin- 

 cipal work of the observatory at present is the de- 

 termination, by photography, of the star places in 

 the zone 10 to 16 declination, in furtherance of 

 the great photographic map of the sky known as 

 the Carte du Ciel. 



No account of astronomy on the Pacific Coast 

 would be complete without some reference to the 

 popular astronomical societies. The one at Pomona 

 College has already been mentioned. The Sociedad 

 Astronomica de Mexico, is another, which is stim- 

 ulating interest in astronomy in Mexico. It is now 



205 



