The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-11-27

Chief Of the Observation Party from HarTGrd College.
An astronomical expedition is being fitted out
at Harvard College for a two-fold purpose. The
first in order OF time will be an expedition to
California for observation OF the total eclipse Of
the sun on Jan. l, 1889. Immediately after the
eclipse one of tho corps of observers will proceed
to Peru. taking with him a part Of the apparat-
Us. He will be joined later by others, and the
work will then be entered upon, which has been
a year or more in contemplation, of making a
complete survey of the Southern heavens. The
solar total eclipse invites q renewed attempt to
solve various problems concerning the suns cor
ona by means of photography. and other prob
lens relating to the amount and intensity OF the
light emitted by the sun under the conditions
suggested This work will be under the per-
eonal direction Of w. III. Pickering, chief of the
department of photography of the observatory.
The eclipse will take place about 2 p. NJ on the
coast OF California, and during the remainder OF
tho afternoon. if the sky be clear, will be visible
In totaliiy over a strip of this country about 12O
miles wide; and will be visible as q sunset
phenomenon, also total, 10 Canada, a short dis
lance north Of Lake Superior. As a partial
eclipse IL will be seen over a much wider ex-
pause, and in New York State the sun will set
in partial eclipse. The Harvard observatory
party will take a position near the town Of Will
low, in the Sacramento valley, the observatory
station being at an altitude of two thousand feet
above the s~ea-level. Many instruments
in the equipment Among these are
a fve-inch and a four-inch photographing cam
era of the ordinary kind. One OF the instru-
ments is for measuring the brightness Of the
corona, and Is an ingenious piece OF apparatus,
q primary feature OF which is a perforated plate,
hsving perhaps a Thousand minute apertures
for the passage Of separate shafts OF light, any
one of which may be used for the purpose of OBJ
servation. An important part Of the work will
H. Il Eos -hsnk
complete apparatus is provided. There will be
two other important observing stations estab-
lished in the pathway Of the totality. One OF
these will be that OF the Lick Observatory.
Professor David, of the National Coast Survey.
will have charge Of an expedition fitted out at
private expense, and will occupy a station In
Nevada.
With the ending OF the eclipse. q part of the
apparatus of the Harvard expedition, the
thirteen-inch and eight-inch Boyden telescopes,
will be continued in service in California.
Friends Of the University of Southern California
propose to set up an observatory which snail
rival the Lick observatory, and shall excel Il In
having a larger telescope. The great Lick In
strument is Of thirty-six-inch aperture. The
telescope to be made for the university named
will be of forty inch aperture. The selection Of
a site for this purpose Is OF great Importance.
AS contributary to this END, the two Harvard
instruments mentioned will be operated exper-
mentally for a year on Wilson's peak, height
5000 feet, in southern California, after which
time they will be taken to Peru and placed in
the permanent observatory Of Hartford there.
This observatory WILL cooperate in the South
ern hemisphere with the work of the Harvard
college observatory.
W.. P. Pickering, chief OF the party from the
Harvard observatory, of whom We give q re-
markedly good likeness, was born Feb. 10,
1858. He was born to be a scientific man, and
at twenty assisted in the observations made in
Colorado, of the total eclipse OF 1878. The next
year Mr.. Pickering was graduated at the Mas
cachusstts Institute of Technology. In 1883 he
Arts and Sciences. He went to the island of
Grenada, off the coast of South America, in
1856, where he took charge Of a party Of OBJ.
servers at the time of the total eclipse Of that
YEAR. In 1880 Mr.. Pickering became assistant
in the department OF physics of the Massachu-
setts Institute OF Technology, whore he estab-
lishcd a course of photography, which later
led to the formation of a Photographic
laboratory. This, it is believed, was the
first institution in the world at which ~instruc-
ton in photography was given on o large scale.
Several hundreds of pupils had received this in
struction early in 1887, when MIR. Pickering left
the institute and became connected with Har-
ward COLLEGE observatory, where ne was put in
charge of the newly-establisned Boyden depart
ment. In the summer of 1887 he led a party to
Colorado, to study the atmospheric conditions
among and upon the higher mountains, with
reference to the establishment of an obserya-
tory at a considerable elevation. This winter.
after the work of observing the eclipse shall be
over, similar observations will be made in south
ern California and next winter in Peru.