The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-05-19
WONDERS Of fHE SKY,

gang out when he cam
--iz-i-
WONDERS or fHE SKY.
What a Peep Through the Lick Tele
scope Revealed.
As the work on the Lick telescop
approaches completion interest in
creases in astronomical circles as /
the wonders which 1t will reveal witt
regard to other worlds and the extern
to which. beneIitting by Its happy sitli
alton and extraordinary powers, it vii
excel all other telescopes. Yesterday
morning Thomas E. Fraser arrived
home from Mount Hamilton, and rs
within two months ago. he was super
intendent of construction of the obser
vatory. and chose its ste for Jamei
Lick, it was thought that he might
very poss bly, afford some interesting
informal on. not only relative to. the
progress of the work, but also of the
powers of the great glass.
when will the work be readyp" he
was asked.
I'VE were in hopes by the end of Feb
ruary. but can say with tolerable GER
tainty that it will be the end of March
before the observatory is turned over
to the Regents"
Il suppose you had q peep through
the big glass?"
well. of course. though not much,
because the weather was bad; however.
l think we saw several things which
have never before been seen, and
which may be looked upon in the light
of discoveries. The first peep I had
was about noon, when the glass was
brought to bear on Venus Being SO
hear the sun. she is always difficult to
see. but l saw her better with 500
power through the great objective than
ever before at night with twelve incl
glass She looked almost as large rs
our own moon does through a finch
glass at night At mes when using
higher power we imagined we could
see markings on the disc, and much
will be learned of this interesting plan
ct in fine weather.
'.Did you observe any other plan
etsp''
"As the weather promised to be fair
er, waited until night. and was award
ed for doing so. As soon as Mr.. Clark
had finished the photograph which he
always takes to correct the lens BY. we
commenced to observe the nebulm of
Orion. Captain Floyd had before in
formed me that he thought he had seen
two stars never observed. and MIR.
Clark was also tolerably confident of
this. On turning the glass on the
of Orion, we could distinctly
see one star within the figure above !Ls,
lower right hand star. 1t is~about as
faint an object as can be- 1ooked at BIZ
any glass, but it was there without a
doubt. and has never before been seen.
Outside of the trapezium another faint
star was seen to the right of the upper
star of the constellation. We separa-
ted 1t, and ALVIN Clark expressed the
opinion that this is also the discovery
of star, as it could not have been
separated by any other glass"
IS rus. the dog star, Is such favorIte
with astronomers that I think you
might have taken shot at tips
$50 we did. and I was then most
struck with the wonderful clearness
and great light-gathering powers of the
36-inch objective. 1t was magnificent
sight. The star was hot like a DO mt of
light as l have before seen it through
other telescopes. In fact the star
proved to be round disc. as it has
often been theoretically held to he. 1t
Is sun like ours. only immensely lar
ger. Sirius companion could be dis
linctly seen with 5O0-power on the &c.
nch glass. while it is doubtful if it can
DO seen and measured by any other
glass in the United States at the pres
INT time. 1t has been getting closer
Turing the last four years. Its orbit
.akes so years to travel. and to me. as
IN amateur it seems that Sirius is a
Jun and its companion is a small
world like ours. So clear was our view
hat even an experienced observer like
Clark could not Conceal his surprise at
he wonderful effect"
'What interested you most?''
"Well, the grandest sight of all to
he was the moon. 1t was brought
within $50 miles of the earth and we
ould see the craters. canyons. ravines.
ocks and valleys with the greatest
istinctness. just rs though they were
N q checker board. There was
bsolutely no sign of life-nothing but
arren white waste. everything DESC
ate."
"What power did you usee"
"All the objects we looked at we
sed powers of from 500 to 1000,
ccording to the clearness of the sky.
he Lick objective. however. will stand
power of 5. 600 and the wonders will
hen be watched for by the sc entific
7orld. while should think no educat-
4 layman could fail to be keenly
,terested in the results obtained
Then your opinion of the powers of
he glass is good?"
unqualified so. 1t is not only the
est and largest in the world. but in
oint of actual workmanship con-
is, in the light of
,echanical perfection-it is far
nperior to any other in the world.
he glass itself is superior. 1t has
ouble the capacity of the Washington
lass. and in point of location has
,any advantages over the great
.ussian telescope. San francisco
hronicle.