The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-25
HEAVENLY WONDERS.

Ako CSAu t@n0tuVW Ass& 1GAmUWA~ edgee the courtesy which permits the printing of the following ex- tracts from private letter from Prof Holden to a gentleman In that city, giving many details regarding the Arst astronomical observations made at the Lick observatory with the great telescope. The observatory, as has boon previously published, is now In working order, and will he open to visitors every Saturday night from seven to ten o'clock.
 Tho Lick observatory is beginning to present a very different appearance, both by night and by day, from tho one 1t lately had during its period of construction. At night tho windows which have been % long dark show the lamps of the astronomers gleam. ing through them. The shutters of the observing slits arc open, and the various instruments are pointed through them at the sky. The actual work of observing has begun, and the purpose for which tho observatory was founded--.to bc "usefnl In pro. noting scienoes--is in the way of being accomplished. Prof. schaoberle. late of Ann Arbor, has commenced the long task which has been assigned to him, namely to fix with the very highest degree of prccision possible to modern science the position of tho fundamental stars" with the Repsold meridian circle. The time service for railway use Ia now conducted by Mir. Hill (late assistant to Prot. DAvidsonj. which leaves Mir. Keclcr ftee to make the necessary studies of the great star spcctroscope, which Ia one of the most important Ae- cessories of tho S6.inch equato- rial. Mr. Barnard is as.iduously ob- serving comets and nebulm with tho fine i2-lnch equatorial, and getting the photographic appliances In readi- ness to be used with the great tclc. scope. He has alrcady discovered twenty new nebulm, found in tho course of his sweeps for new comets To show you some advantages of our situation here, l may tell you that Prof. Swift, of Rochester, has \ flpc 10 inch equatorial by Alvin Clark, ard las discovered many faint ncbuln by its usc.
 Two nights ago Mir. Barnard was examining some of thcae excessively faint objects by means Of the i2.ineh telescope (which gives only . little more than half the light of Prof. Swifts). and In the field Of view where Prof. Swift had mapped only one ncbulA Mir. Barnard found three, two being, of course, new. This Is due not only to the observers skili and keenness of eye, but In great measure to the purity and transpar. ency of our atmosphere here.
 The eastern astronomers have given up the observation of Olbcr's comet, which Is now only about 7-i00 as bright as last year, but Mir. Barnard has succeed in following 1t up to last night, when 1t finally became too faint to be seen even here. These obscrva- tions, which are several weeks later than those of other obsorvatories, arc of real value, as they determine a larger arc of tho comets orbit and en. able its motion to be fixed with much higher degree Of accuracy. Mr. Kecler Is just reducing his observa. tions Of the faint satellites of Mars, made with the large telescope during the last months. You can gain some sort of an idea of the immense advantage of the great telescope in such observations when tell you that the brightness of the satellites as observed by him was only about one. sixth of their brightness at the tune of their discovery. We can then make aatis- factory observations of objects which are six times fainter than those very minute satellites of Mars when Prof. Hall discovered them in 1877 with the grnt telescope at Washington. ! am becoming familiar with the perform apce of the large telescope, and lsarns ing how to get the very best work from 1t. It nssds particular condi. tions; but whsn ell the conditions are favorable its performance is superb. II am, as you know, familiar with the action of large telescopes, having ob. served for many years with the great refrsctor ct Washington, but l con- fess I was not prepared for the truly magnificent action cf thss, the great. est of ell telescopes, under the best conditions. I hsve had such views of the bright planets (Mars and Jupiter) of psbul@, the milky way and soms of the stars, e no other astronomer ever before he'd. Jupiter, especially, is wonderfully fall of detail that had not begun to sss before. The dfscs Of his moons can be readily noted in smaller telescopes; but hsre they are full and round, like those of planets. l am almost Of the opinion that the curve of Jupitsr's shadow might be