The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-03-25
NO. 25.
Wonders of the Sky.

A VISIT TO THE NAVAL OBSERVATORY A
WASHINGTON - WHAT GEN. JOHNSTON
JONES SAW THERE-sATURN, HIS RING
AND SATELLITES; THE NEBULH IN ORION
THE PLEIADEs HANDFUL OF DIAMONDS
THE MOON A GREAT sNow-FIELD.
Gen. Johnstone Jones, son of Col.
@. Jones, of York County, recently
visited the Naval Observatory at
Washington, and upon his return
home wrote his father an interesting
letter descriptive of what he saw
there. We have been permitted to
make the following extracts from the
letter;
Remembering your suggestion as
to looking at Saturn through the great
telescope, procured letter of intro
duction to Commodore Belknap from
his son-in-law DR.. Westray Battle,
who resides here, and called at the
Naval Observatory. The Commodore
received me kindly, and invited me to
look through the telescope the first
fair night. The night of February
9th was tolerably fair, and I visited
the Observatory, and in company with
the Commodore and his wife called
upon Professor Hall, who has charge
of the great instrument. 1 saw Sat
urn, his rings and satellites; the
ncbul@ in Orion; Sirius; the Moon:
the Pleiades, and the star Aldebaran.
Of all these eight Saturn was the
grandest and most beautiful; but the
nebul@ in Orion the most sublime
and impressive.
Saturn appeared q perfectly round,
smooth bali, with well defined edges,
as yellow as gold, and without scin-
tillation. The sphere was encircled
by two bright, fiat rings of the same
color as the planet, separated by
dark line, supposed to be empty space
between them. All along the interior
edge of the inside ring was a cloudy
or vaporous appearance The rings
had clear-cut edges and seemed to be
solid bodies. In the black space sur
rounding these luminous bodies shone
the eight satellites--each q brilliant
star--a diamond point of clear, steady,
"llvery-white light-at unequal dis
tances from the rings 1t appeared
to be about the size of the full moon.
The wonder of the spectacle is great
t. increased when we reflect that it is
100 millions of miles distant from the
earth, or $50 millions from the sun,
and that it is more than fifty times as
large as the earth. Compared to this
rlnged-wonder OF the skies our planet
is small, commonplace and insignii-
cant.
The Pleiades under the power of
the telescope spread out into about
thirty beautiful stars. They seemed
handful of diamonds strewn on the
sky, without order on system.
Sirius, the largest of the fixed stars,
If not the neal est, was brilliant beyond
description. It scintillated violently,
blindingly, flashing out q reddish,
yellowish light
The Moon seemed great snow
field, with the crater, the mountains,
and the shadows of the mountains all
plainly visible. These shadows, made
by the distant sun, filed me with q
feeling of indescribable awe. had
always thought the moon appeared
dark under the telescope, but the only
dark spots about it are the, shadows
of the mountains on the plains and
valleys.
The most sublime spectacle is the
nebulm in Orion. 1t is faint, whitish
cloud, shaped like q ploughshare. In
the centre are four brilliant stars
called the Tqpeziana-fanked by two
stars that appear to be in the cloud
veiled, as it were. Whether they are
in this nebulous matter, or on the
other side of it, seen though it as
through veil, is an unsolved and most
puzzling question. OFF below the
point, which juts out into the black,
empty space, appear two beautiful
stars, with no nebulous matter around
them. This field of cloud must be
many millions of miles in extent, and
the stars each great sun, the centre
of some mighty solar system, perhaps.
At this immense distance Saturn
would not be seen at all, even with
the greatest telescope; our OWL sun
would appear but o small point of
hght-size of star as it appears to
the naked eye. This nebuloe and the
Trapezium cannot be seen with the
naked eye. When I meet you again
L will tell you more of these wonders
of the sky. The subject is one all
unfamiliar to my vocabulary.