The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-20
USE OF THE TELESCOPE.
Why Amateur Astronomers Are Dis
appointed at the First Results
Achieved.
Primitive Nature Of the Early Tel
escopes, Which Were Proper
tional Mirrors.
Astronomical and Terrestrial ents
Difrer-Suitable Series of Magnifyine
. Powers-They Cost Money.

Amateur astronomers who are DESTROYS of
studying the mysteries of the heavens are
quite apt at the very outset Of their ~investi-
cations to become disappointed, if not dis
gusted, on account of tho difficulties en-
countered in selecting the proper glass for
their observations. In addition to the
mechanical troubles, a sense of ~disappoint-
meIt often sets in shortly after ono has be-
gun as a telescope observer, for everything
seems 80 much smaller than was sntici-
pated, and so little seems visible as com-
pared with with what others have seen and
described. 1t requires some little time for
the average novice to realize that no has in
reality but just begun to educate his eyes.
Even those who have had considerable
practice in other branches of telescopic
work experience the same sensation
when they first turn their attention to new
features. Thus the most experienced OBJ
server of double stars frequently finds him
sslf quite at a loss when he begins to
observe planetary details. The wissst use,
therefore, that a beginner can make of his
telescope for the first two years ia to turn it
first on one body and then on another,
until he can with ease see plainly what
Others before him have already seen in
similar objects. He thus learns how best
to uss his telescope. he gains experience in
interpreting what he sees and in what to
look for. and, above all, he educates his
eye. Having at the end Of his period
learned what others have already done, he
is then better qualified to do something for
himself.
Digge's works in 1891 speak of the use of
proportional mirrors placed at convenient
angles for the discovery of things afar off.
1t is stated that men could even then DO
recognized at a distance Of thr ee miles, and
that the superscription on coins deposited
in fields adjacent to the position in which
the glass was mounted could easily be read.
Calico knew nothing of it until 1859, when
he was casually informed from Germany.
He then made one for himself that maRni-
fed three times. and afterward made a
larger one that WAS ten times the power of
the first, and with this he discovered the
spots on tho sun, the satellites of Jupiter,
and the phases of Venus. These were di-
optrlc instruments, and the great length
that was found necessary to make glassss
of this type resulted in the rejecting tele-
scope being introduced.
When one examines into the compouent
parts of the telescope, he can readily SEQ
how the instrument may be considered one
of the most remarkable in the whole circle
of human knowledge. 1t is a work in
which, by follow ng unconsciously the plan
~ ha'hio All II loTIlhtlOH Oh Luo eye, men
have come nearest to the construction of q
new organ of sense, and by means of which
they have extended their views and re-
searches far beyond the limits of their own
globe, says the New York Sun. Enabling
ths eye to penetrate into the immensely of
space and to become, as it were, familiar
with other worlds placed at almost i'm
measurable distances from it, the telescope
has revealed an infinitude OF celestial bodies
whose existence must forever have re-
manned unknown but for it's invention.
Interesting though the inquiries may be
- to who was the first inventor of the