The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-09-20
manitomo1 pilot.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20.
THE LICK TELESCOPE.
1T Reveals Wonders of the Heavens Here
tofore Unknown.

| LINN lCLCSSSFCs
| 1t Reveals Wonders of the Heavens Here
| tofore Unknown.
The Alta California prints the follow
| ing extracts from private letter from
| Prof Holden to a gentleman in SaL
Francisco, giving many details re-
| garding the first astronomical observa-
| tons made at the Lick observatory with
| the great telescope: MIR. Barnard is
| assiduously observing comets and
| nebulp with the fine twelye-inch equa-
torial, and getting the Photographic
appliances in readiness to be used with
| the great telescope. He has already
discovered twenty new nebule, found
| in the course of his sweeps for new
comets. To show you some of the adj
vantages of our situation here L may
| tell you that Prof. Swift of Rochester
has fine 16-inch Equatorial by Alvan
Clark, and has discovered many faint
nebulp by its use. Two nights ago
Mr.. Barnard was examining some of
these excessively faint objects by means
of the 12-inch telescope (Which gives
only little more than half the light of
Prof. Swift's), and in the field of view
where Prof. Swift had mapped only
one nebula Mr.. Barnard found three,
two being, of course, new. This is due
not only to the observers skill and
keenness of eye, but in great measure
to the purity and transparency of our
atmosphere here.
THE eastern astronomers have
given up the observation OF Olber's
comet, which is now only about 7-10O
as bright as last year, but Mr.. Barnard
has succeeded in following it up to last
night, when it finally became too faint
to be seen even here. These observa-
tons which are several weeks later
| than those of other Observatories, are
| of real value, as they determine a
| larger are of the comets orbit and en-
| able its motion to be fixed with a much
higher degree Of accuracy. Mr..
Keeler is just reducing his observations
of the faint satellites of Mars, made
with the large telescope during the
past months. You can gain some sort
of an idea of the immense advantage
of the great telescope in such obserya
| tons when | tell YOU that the bright
ness of the satellites as observed by
! him was only about one-sixth of their
| brightness at the time of their dis
coverv. We can then make satisfac-
tory observations of objects which are
six times fainter than those very min
| ute satellites of Mars were when Prof.
Hall discovered them in 1877 with the
great telescope at Washington. / am
| becoming familiar with the perform
ance of the large telescope and learn
inc how to get the very best work from
it. 1t needs peculiar conditions; but
when all the conditions are favorable
| its performance is superb. | am, as
| you know, familiar with the action of
large telescopes, having observed for
many years with the great refractor at
| Washington, but | confess | was not
prepared for the truly magnificent aC-
ton of this, the greatest of all tele-
scopes, under the best conditions. |
have had such views of the bright
planets (Mars and Jupiter), of nebule,
the milky way, and some of the stars
as no other astronomer ever before
had. Jupiter, especially. is wonder
fully full of detail that l had not be-
gun to see before. The disks of his
moons can be readily noted in smaller
telescopes; but here they are full and
round, like those of the planets. | am
also of the opinion that the curve of
Jupiter's shadow might be seen on the
surfaces, under favorable circum-
stances, when the satellites suffer
eclipse There is reason to believe
that the satellites of Jupiter, like our
own moon, present always the same
face to their planet. This can be
studied here to great advantage if the
disks present any of the markings
which are reported by other observers.
The milky way is Il wonderful
sight, and | have been much interest
ed to see that there is, even with our
superlatiye power, no final resolution
of its finer parts into stars. There is
always the background of unresolved
nebulosity on which hundreds and
thousands of stars are studded each
bright, sharp, separate point The
famous cluster in Hercules (where
| Messier declared he saw no starr is
one mass of separate individual points.
| The central glow of nebulosty is
thoroughly separated into points. /
have been especially interested in look
ing at objects which are familiar to me
| in other telescopes and in comparing
| our views with the drawings made by
| Lord Rose with his giant siX-foot re-
| flector. Theoretically his telescope
should show more than ours, for his
| collected the most light. But the de-
finition (sharpness) Of his is far behind
our own, as we constantly see. For
| example, the ring nebula in Lyra is
| drawn by Lord Rose with no central
| star At Washington one small star
can be seen in the midst of the central
vacuity, but here we are sure of seeing
| three such at least. These are inter-
esting on account of their critical
situation in the ncbula, not simply as
stars.
The great trifd and omega nebula
are wonderful objects here. Not only
is vast amount of detail seen here
| which can not be seen elsewhere but
the whole aspect of them is changed
Many points that are doubtful with
other telescopes are simple and clear
| here. | have always considered that
one of the great practical triumphs OF
this telescope would be to settle, once
| for all, the doubts that have arisen
| and that will arise elsewhere. Now
| am sure that we shall be able to do
/ this, and in way to end controversy"
Young mother (whose baby has been
weighed by the butcher)-And how
| much does the dear little fellow weigh.
Mr.. Bullwiukle? Butcher-Twenty
pounds. mum. Young mother-Isn't
| he splendid specimen? Butcher (du-
biously)-Well, from my pint of view,
| mum, he runs too much to suet.-NeU
| York. World.
He Cat Manhattan Beach, -Shall we
so and listen 10 the music. darling. or
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