Apbil 1, 1895.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



87 



any observations of value until the former was transferred 

 to its present site, where the fine new building was erected 

 under the auspices of Kaiser, and completed in 1860 ; 

 whilst at Utrecht the observatory was remodelled in 1855, 

 but is not yet adequately provided with instruments. 



A similar remark may be made of the state of observatory 

 work in Switzerland a century ago. Small establishments 

 were buQt at Geneva in 1775 and at Zurich in 1759, but 

 the instrumental provision for both was very inadequate. 



Still less can be said of the peninsula of Soain and 

 Portugal in this respect. The observatory of San Fernardo, 

 near Cadiz, was not founded until later, and though that 

 of Coimbra preceded the former by about five years, it was 

 not an establishment at which much could be done. 



Italy was somewhat differently placed. The observatory 

 at the Collegio Romano was established in 1787, though 

 its real activity began long afterwards under De Vico. 

 Bologna possessed a university observatory as long ago as 

 1721, but the work accomplished there has never been 

 regular. The now famous Brera Observatory, at Milan, 

 was founded in 1765, but its instruments were for many 

 years iusufBcient for important work, and the early 

 directors, Oriani and Carlini, occupied themselves princi- 

 pally with theoretical investigations. The observatory of 

 Padua University was founded about two years earlier, but 

 its instrumental equipment was also very small for many 

 years. That of Turin was erected first in 1790 by the 

 Academy of Sciences, and rebuilt in 1820. 



Florence had a small observatory as early as 177-1, which 

 formed part of the building of the Museum of Science and 

 Natural History, but the real astronomical activity of that 

 place began with Donati, and the old observatory has 

 been lately superseded by that of Arcetri, which was, 

 imfortunately, very badly built. In speaking of Italy, Sicily 

 must not be forgotten, as the royal observatory at Palermo 

 was founded in 1790. 



Passing on to Scandinavia, it is recorded that Denmark 

 possessed an observatory at Copenhagen from 1614, 

 situated on the top of a high tower, but Homer found 

 the locality so unsuitable that he made his observations 

 at a place selected by himself, some distance from the city. 

 The tower observatory was burnt in 1725, and afterwards 

 rebuilt. The present observatory, rendered famous by the 

 labours of d" Arrest and Sobjellerup, was erected on another 

 site Ln 1861. The Stockholm Observatory was founded by 

 the Academy of Sciences in 1750, and it was there that 

 Wargentin carried o)i for many years his observations 

 of Jupiter's satellites. The Upsala Observatory was 

 established twenty years earlier, in 1730, but until later 

 times not much was done there. 



Russian astronomical activity really began with the 

 erection of the Dorpat Observatory, in 1808. At the time 

 of which we are speaking the only observatory in that 

 country was a small one at St. Petersburg, founded by the 

 Academy of Sciences in 1725. It was left for the Czar 

 Nicholas I. to establish a first-class observatory in Russia 

 by the foundation of that at Pulkowa, which was completed 

 in 1839, and to which the famous W. Struve migrated 

 from Dorpat. 



[Mr. Lynn's interesting review of the state of astrono- 

 mical observatories one hundred years ago omits any notice 

 of the second English Royal Observatory, that of Kew, 

 founded by George III. in 1768, in preparation for the 

 transit of Venus of 1769. Dr. Demainbray, the first 

 director, died in 1782, thirteen years before the date which 

 Mr. Lynn is reviewing ; but his son, the Rev. Stephen 

 Demainbray, continued Ln charge of the observatory till its 

 abolition in 1840, when the instruments were handed over 

 to King's College, London. 



The obsei-vatory at St. Petersburg, as originally founded 

 in 1725, was by no means a small one, having a frontage 

 of two hundred and twenty-five feet, and central towers 

 one hundred and forty feet high, and it had been equipped 

 with every variety of instrument known to the astronomers 

 of that day. Only the observers were lacking. This 

 building had, however, been almost entirely destroyed by 

 fire in 1747, and Mr. Lynn is correct in describing the St. 

 Petersburg Observatory as " small " in 1795, and in his 

 remark that Russian astronomical activity really began in 

 1808 with the foundation of the Dorpat Observatory. — 

 E. W. Maunder.] 



THE 



SOUTHERN MILKY WAY, WITH 

 SYDNEY STAR CAMERA. 



By E. Walter Maunder, F.R.A.S. 



THE 



THE two photographs which we reproduce in the 

 present number of Knowledge were sent to the 

 late Editor by Mr. H. C. Russell, Director of the 

 Sydney Observatory, in the course of last year for 

 a special purpose, viz. : to show the difference in 

 the rendermg of a portion of the heavens by a photograph 

 on a considerable scale from that by one on a small scale. 



The present photographs were taken with the telescope 

 constructed for the International Astrographic Chart, of 

 thirteen inches aperture and eleven feet focal length. 

 The scale, therefore, is one of 2-36 inches to the degree. 

 They were intended by Mr. Russell to be compared with 

 plates 9 and 10 in the volume of photographs which he 

 published in 1890 (" Photographs of the Milky Way and 

 NubeculiE, taken at Sydney Observatory, 1890 "), and 

 which were taken with a portrait lens of six inches aperture 

 and about thirty-one inches focal length ; the scale, there- 

 fore, being one of 0-556 inches to the degree. 



Both photographs are of extraordinarily rich regions in 

 the Milky Way. Fig. 1 shows a district in the constellation 

 Norma, with its centre in R.A. 16h. 19m., S. Deo. 52° 31'. 

 Of this district Herschel says : " The Milky Way here is so 

 immensely rich as to be one vast cluster of stars." Fig. 2 

 is of a richer region still, with its centre in R.A. 

 17h. 46-6m., S. Dec. 30^ 2' ; length of exposure, 6h. 14m. ; 

 not far from Yi and y-, Sagittarii, and a little to the south 

 of the Great Trifid Nebula. This is the very brightest part 

 of the entire Galaxy. Nowhere else are the stars so 

 closely crowded. The only region to parallel it is the 

 Greater Magellanic Cloud, in portions of which they seem 

 to cluster, if possible, more closely still. 



A photograph of this second region with the portrait 

 camera of the Sydney Observatory was, through the 

 kindness of Mr. Russell, presented to the readers of 

 Knowledge, in the number for March, 1891, and another 

 taken with a lens of corresponding aperture and focus by 

 Mr. E. E. Barnard, in the number for December, 1891. 

 In the following issue — January, 1892 — Mr. Ranyard 

 pointed out the curious resemblance to a human face 

 which could be traced in part of Mr. Barnard's photograph, 

 and which might by careful examination be recognized 

 also, though much less easily, on Mr. Russell's. 



As a careful comparison of the first photograph given in 

 March, 1891 with the second reproduced now will soon 

 show, the long focus telescope has many advantages over the 

 shorter one. First of all, far more stars are shown. 

 Referring to the earlier photograph, two bright stars may 

 be seen four inches from the northern edge of the plate, 

 and respectively 1-05 and 0-75 inches from the preceding 

 edge. A little above them is a smaU cluster ; its centre 

 3-75 inches from the northern edge, and ab-jut one inch 



