Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-10-01
STUDY OF STARS.
Marvellous Results Achieved Within
Thirty Years in the Science
of the Heavens.
What has been Accomplished by the
Application OF two Instruments,
the SpectrOScope and Camera


London Speaker. One chief reason for
this Is that we have had typical man of
Silence as president. Not only is astrou-
omical science worthily represented by
DIR. Hugglns, but special characteristic
OF British science is at the same time
personihed. For a man to devote himself
to scientific research out of pure love of
the thing without being a professor is
almost unknown on the continent The
name OF DR.. Higgins will always take
high rank among these non-protessorial
English men of science, for the work he
has done Is both far-reaching and accurate
his discourse Was model scientific ad-
dress; II 1t does not appeal to the general
public so powerfully as soma presidential
addresses have done it does what is far
better, 1t initiates the public into some of
nature hidden secrets by pointing ont
the marvellous results which have been
achieved In astronomy during the last
thirty years by the application to it of two
simple instruments, the spectroscope and
the camera.
The president does not attempt survey
of the progress of spectroscopic science
from it's birth at Heidelberg in 1859 up to
the present time, but contents himself with
distinguishing, in the case of few of the
important problems which present them
selves, what we know at present from
what we do not know. Even in this re,
strlcted review we can not In these columns
follow him, for no less than thirty five
closely printed papers are necessary for the
treatment Of the matter with which he
deals. 1t must here suffice to note in the
first place, as regards our knowledge of
the chemical composition of the sun and
stars, that It's progress since KirchhOff' S
time had been great both as regards ex-
tent and accuracy. Among the men of
science who have aided jp this progress
special mention is made IF Prof. Rowland
of Baltimore, to whom science is indebted
for much valuable work on the subject.
He has not only quite recently shown that
thirty six Of our chemical elements are
found In the son, but believe that many of
the solar lines which are as yet unaccount-
ed for may be the means of enabling us to
discover new elementary substances still
lurking undetected In rare terrestrial min
erals; so that the sun may In its turn
analyze the earth. And some terrestrial
chemists naturally trusting in the fxity of
their laws of combination and unaterabil-
lty OF their chemical elements, will be re-
lleved to hear, after the doubts which have
recently been cast upon tie reliability OF
their most cherished beliefs in this respect,
that the Johns Hopkins observer, than
whom no one is safer guide, says bis ex-
periments show very little evidence of the
breaking up of the chemical elements as
known to US at the high temperature ex-
isting Ia the sur.
In the second place, we learn that the
advances made in the measurement Of the
nf Sta h.
earth have now attained such an amount
of accuracy that the observations made by
photography at Potsdam and by the eye
at the Lick observatory, coincidipg In their
results agree In determining, to which few
tenths of an English mile per second, the
rate of motion of the star Areturus, The
distance of which, it must be remembered,
is so stupeDdousiy remote that even the
exact method of paraliax fails to fathom
the depth of the intervening space; and
this is accomplished by means of light
waves, which have probably been 2U0
years on their journey.
Lastly, what has not photography done
to enlarge our knowledge of the heavenly
host? The eye, looking into telescope at
a barely visible star for secoad, sees as
much as it can do if it gazes at it for an
plate, for after the lapse of an hour it has
seen, roughly speaking, 5000 tines as
much as it did during the first seconds ex-
posu1e-it ac2umulates and does not re-
peat its impressions. Thus it comes that
the plate records that which the eve cannot
detect; and this is true not only of the
quantity, but also of the quality, of the
vibrations. As an illustration of this it is
interesting to note that on one of the
numerous Photographs of solar eclipses
taken by Prof. Shuster sometimes like a
smudge appeared ON development near uhe
solar limb. For short time this was
supposed to be due to an imperfection in
the plate. Closer examination, however,
showed that the apparent smudge was in
reality tie image OF a comet lying close to
the sun, and therefore invisible to the
naked eye, which the more sensitive photo
graphic retina had seer and preserved.
The accuracy OF workmans nip of morden
astronomical instruments enables the
observer to keep the image of a star Or of a
nebula In position, whether with or with
out spectrOscope, for as long time as
is necessary to produce a satisfactory i'm
preston on the plate. Mr.. Roberts, by an
exposure of three hours, obtained on his
photograph an unIooked-ior extension of
the nebulous region surrounding the trap
ezium in the constellation of Orion; and In
the same way he records an altogether
new view of the physical constitution of
the great n.bula in Andromeda So, too, |
Mr.. Russell, In Sydney, has shown that /
the great rift in the milky way in Argus, |
which 20 the eye is void of stars, is in |
reality uniformly covered with them
Again. Vogel of Postsdam, by the most
minute and complete mechanical arrange
ment, has succeeded in obtaining photo |
graphic record of no less than $50 dis |
tinct lines In the spectrum Of CapelIa, In |
a small portion only of the total visible |
SPECTRUM near the line G.. Of such recent |
triumphs of observational dexterity over |
difficulties which formerly were counted |
insurmountable the address is full. But |
it would have been incomplete without |
reference to the remarkable international |
undertaking now In progress for photo |
graphing the whole of the heavens. b
the joint action of eigteen observatories |
scattered over the earlh's sufaee it is |
proposed to accomIish this work. The |
position of all stars down to the four
teenth magnitude will be accurately map. |
ped. For this purpose no less than % |
900 photographs will be needed as the |
purvlew of each plate is TO be limited to |
ARA of four square degrees. So it is clear
hat the completion of this great photo
graphic chart of the heavens must be a
work of time.
AS to the evolutionary changes which
are doubtless going on in nature, the
president adheres rather to the older
nebuIar than to the newer meteorite
theory. He candidly states that while in
1904. under the undue influence Of theo-
logical opinions then widely prevalent, he
view that In the stars We have
IL IL. 4 Ill