The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-04-20
A Glorious Spectacle.

4 a ViVlAVuS OVtCt8ClcS
The astronomical editor of the Pruvf.
hence Journal recently, visited Cam.
bridgeport, Mass, and had the pleasure
IF gazing at the planets through the
.argest and best refracting telescope in
The world. Messrs. Alvan Clark & Sons
having completed the object-glass, thirty
inches in diameter, forthe Pulkowa OF.
,,ervatory, in Russia, had mounted the
glass for the purpose of testing its work
ng qualities. The temporary structure
consists of pier of solid masonry,
5wenty-seven feet in height, to which is
firmly fixed, with various Joints. hinges
and movements, sheet-iron tube made
in three sections. The tube is forty-five
feet in length and forty inches in diam
ster. The first object viewed was Sat-
urn, and the Transformation is Hkened
10 vision of fairy land. The pale star.
on which, moment since, we had
looked with the unaided eye, is now a
creation Of surprising loneliness. the
most charming telescope object the
heavens reveal Saturn, his rings and
bis moons are before us. The disc, a
golden sphere crossed by faint cloud
bands of a delicate creamy tint, the
wonderful rings softly grading the
planet, seven Of the eight moons beam
ing from the dark background of the
sky, Titan, the largest moon, showing
a perceptible disc, making up the shin
ing picture. Every detail OF the mag
'aificent and complex Sattirnian system
Is complete. The shadowy cloud bands
'on the disc; the outer ring, with its
faint line of division; the division be-
tween the outer and inner rings; the
second or inner ring; the third or crepe
ring, closely joined to the second; and
the break in the rings formed by the
shadow of the planet
Jupiter is the next object to test the
space-annihilating glass. The Prince of
Planets is superb, larger than the full
moon, though but little larger than we
have seen him many times in tele-
scope of eight inches aperture. He is.
however, much brighter. on account of
the Gght-collecting power of the glass.
Though by no means as magnificent as
Saturn, he far exceeds him in mass and
volume, and, as he is twice as near, we
see him on a much larger scale. The
giant of the system takes on grand pro-
portions; the flood of light irradiating
his surface brings out every minute de-
tail. His broad belts are delicious in
coloring, suffused with pale rose, mot
tied with soft gray, purple, brown and
delicate green. We have seen Jupiter
when the definition was more perfect,
but never with the variety of tint and
tone we behold this night; never before
did he seem so near, so grand in pro-
portions, so symmetrical in equipOse.
His four satellites are in line on his
left, and bear witness to the power of
the telescope by presenting discs instead
of points. We find it difficult to decide
which OF the two pictures is the more
beautiful. Saturn is more magnificent,
more complex, more curious, but Jupi-
ter is more majestic, more like the great
sun himself.
The great nebula of Orion was also
inspected, and the little wisp of cloud
haze around the star in the sword of
the Mighty Hunter that is visible to the
unaided vision becomes one of the most
glorious spectacles that ever breaks
upon the entranced eye of an observer.
The most wonderful nebula the north
ern skies reveal is before us, filling the
field of view and suffused with celes-
tial light suggestive of the holy city
that had "nO need of the sun, neither
of the moon to shine in it; for the glory
of God did Tighten it,"
In conclusion, the editor says: "Tbe
Russian objective will soon be trans
ported to its destination in the Pulkowa
Observatory, founded by the Gar Mich
olas, and overlooking the cioy of the
Cars from its lofty position on the
Pulko hills, nine miles south of St.
Petersburg. We shall never again be-
hold the wonders of the sky through its
great object-glass, but as long as life
endures we shall remember the time
when we beheld, irradiated by its light
collecting power, and brought near by
its great eye, the magnificence of Sat
urn, the grandeur of Jupiter and the
awe-inspiring combination of beauty,
mystery and shadowy form of the great
nebula of Orion"