Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-10-03
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 aud Camera.


science last week ut Cardiff, II not as mum
/ erously attended as mas been the case with
many of the former meetings, can not be
said, from the scientific point OF view, to
/ be inferior to Its predecessors, says the
I London Speaker. One chief reason for
] this Is that we have had typical man OF
Silence as president. Not only is astron-
omical science worthily represented by
/ DR.. Huggins, but special characteristic
of British science Is at the same time
personifed. For 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 DIR. Higgins will always take
I high rank among these non-professorlal
/ English men of science, for the work he
\ has done is both far-reaching and accurate.
His discourse was model scientific add
dress; if it does not appeal to the general
public so powerfully as soma presidential
1 addresses nave done 1T does what is far
better, it initiates the public into some of
natures hidden secrets by pointing out
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 a survey
| of the progress of speCtroscopic science
/ from its birth at Heidelberg in 1859 up to
/ the present time, but contents himself with
I Distinguishing, in the case of few of the
| important problems which present them
selves, what we know al present from
what we do not know. Even in this re
strlcted review we can not in these columns
{ F,tI ~ 60 -.
closely printed papers are accessory for the
/ treatment of the matter with which he
deals. II must here suffice To note In the
first place, AS regards our knowledge of
the chemical composition OF the sun and
stars, that its progress since kirchhotf
time had been great both as regards ex-
tent and accuracy. Among the men of
science who have aided in this progress
special mention is made of 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 6xity OF
their laws of combination and unalterabil
ity OF their chemical elements, will be re-
lIeved to hear, after the doubts which have
recently been cast upon tle reliability OF
their most cherished beliefs in this respect,
that the Johns Hopkins observer, than
whom no one is a 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.
listing ia the sun.
In the second place, we learn that the
advances made in the measurement of the
motions of stars from and toward the
earth have now attained such an amount
of accuracy that the observations made by
photography at Potsddm and by the eye
At the Lick observatory, coincidipg In their
results agree iudetermluing. TO which a few
tenths of an English mile per Sc ond, the
rate Of motion of the star Areturus, The
distance of which, il must be remembered
is so stupendously remote that even the
exact method of paraIiax fails 10 fathom
/ the depth of the intervening space; and
this is accomplished 10y means Of light
waves, which have probably been 30
years on their journey,
Lastly, what has not photography done
/ 10 enlarge our knowledge of the heavenly
host? The eye, looking into telescope at
/ barely visible star for a scco ID, sees a.
much as it can do if it gazes at it for an
noIr Ii is not so with the Photographic
plate, for after the lapse of an hour 1t has
/ seen, roughly speaking 3 500 tiCes as
much as it did during the first seconds ex-
/ posme--it accumuIates and does not re-
/ peat its impressions Thus it comes that
! the plate records that which the eve cannot
4 detect and this is true not only Of the
quantity, but also OF the qudIty, 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 Prot Shuster sometimes like IL
smudge appeared on development near he
solar limb For a short time this was
supposed to be due to an impeTfectlon In
the plate. Closer examination, however
showed that the apparent smudge was IN
reality the image OF Il comet lying close 10
the sun, and therefore invisible to the
naked eve, which the more sensitive photo
graphic retina had seen and preserved.
/ The accuracy Of wOrkmans MP OF mOrden
ANlIONtAiANhl AilNtA LAAltHbo NhdbtIo A'fN
observer to keep the image of a star or Of a
uebula in position, whether with or with
out spectroscope, for as long time as
rs necessary to produce . satisfactory i'm
preston on the plate. Mr. Roberts, by an
exposure of three hours, obtained on his
photograph an uujookedIor extension Of
the neUulous region surrounding the trap
ezium in the constellation of Orion; and IN
the same way he records ar altogether
new view Of the physical constitution Of
the great n bula in Audromeda. So, too,
Mr.. Russell. In Sydney has shown that
the great rift in the milky way in Argus,
which 20 the eve Is void of STARS is in
reality uniformly covered with them.
Again. Vogelot postsdam, 10y the most
minute and complete mechanical arrange
ment. has succeeded in obtaining photo
1rsphic record Of no less than $50 dis.
tlntt lines in the spectrum OF Capella, IN
small portion only of the total visible
SPECTRUM near the line g. OF such recent
triumpbs Of observational dext-rIty over
Difficulties which formerly were counted
insurmouutable the address Is full. But
il would ua,o been incomplete without
rtfererta.to the remarkable international