Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-28

second suffice for star of the first magnl-
tude one ore-hSndredths for those Of the
second, three onc-hundredths for those nf
the third, and so on, according to the pro-
portions expressed above. In less than one
second the Photographic eye has seen all
that we could perceive with the naked eye.
But this is as nothing. Stars visible only
through the telescope also come and beat
upon the plate, and thereon inscribe
their images. Those of the seventh magni-
tude take IL seconds to make their i'm
pressions on the plate, those of the eighth
need 3 seconds, those of the ninth seconds,
those of the eleventh 80 seconds, those of
the twelfth require minutes, those of the
thirteenth minutes, and, finally, those of
the fourteenth 13 minutes. If we have left
our plate exposed for quarter of an hour,
we will find photographed upon it all the
region of the sky toward which the tele-
scope was directed, all that this region con-
tains, all that We could have contrived to
discover with infinite difficulty by serles
of very arduous and long continued observa-
tions. Bu.we have merely entered upon
the marvellous.
Stars of the Fifteenth Magnitude.
Let the Photographic eye continue to OBJ
serve in place of the human eye; it will pen
citrate the unknown. Stars invisible to us
33 minutes, stars of the fifteenth magnitude
will have finished their task of impressing
the chemical retina and placing there their
images.
The same instrument which TO the human
eve reveals stars of the fourteenth magni-
tude, and which would register about
40, COO, 600 stars in the entire heavens, dis
closes TO the Photographic eye 120,00O,OOO,
including only those of the fifteenth magni-
tude. II could reach forth to the sixteenth
and throw before the dazzled admiration OF
the observer luminous maze of 400, 900, 600
stars.
Never before in all the history of mankind
have we had in hand the power to penetrate
so deeply into the abysses of the infinite.
Photography with its recent improvements
takes a clear picture of every star, no matter
what its distance, and sets it down in
document that can be studied at leisure
Who knows if some day in the photographic
views ofVenus orMars some new methods OF
analysis may not discover to US their In
habitants?
1t Opens Up New Worlds.
And its power stretches forth to the in
finite. Behold star of the fifteenth OF
sixteenth, even seventeenth magnitude, a
sun like our own separated from us by so
great a distance that its light requires
thousands, perhaps millions of years to
reach us, notwithstanding its unheard of
velocity of 800, 900 kilometers second, and
this sun lies at such depth that its light,
so to speak, reaches us no longer. The
natural eve of man never would have seen
it, and the human mind never would have
guessed its existence but for the implements
Of this modern art. And yet this feeble |
light, come from so far, is sufficient to make
an impression upon the chemical plate
which will preserve its picture unalterably.
And this star might be of the eighteenth |
or the nineteenth magnitude, and beyond,
so little that the human eve could never see
it even aided by the most powerful tele- |
scopic appliances (for there will always be |
stars beyond our range of yision); and yet |
it will come and hurl its slight ethereal |
arrows on the chemical plate set up to await |
and receive them.
Started Before History Began. |
Yes, its light will have travelled during |
millions of years. When it started the |
earth did not exist, the real earth with its |
humanity; there was not single thinking |
creature on our planet; the genesis of our |
world was in the process of development; /
perhaps only in the primordial seas that en-
veloped the globe before the uprising Of the |
first continents, before the primitive, ele- |
the bosom of the waters, preparing slowly |
with the evolutions of future ages. This |
Photographic plate takes us back to the |
past history of the universe. During the |
ethereal fight of this ray which comes |
to-day to beat upon the plate, all the his
tory of the earth has been accomplished, and |
in this history that of human kind is but !
single wave, an instant And during this |
time the history of the distant sun i
which photographs itself to-day has been
also; perhaps it became extinct |
long since, perhaps it is actually out of ex-
istenee.
Thus this new eye which transports US
acress the infinite enables us at the same |
time to trace the periods of past eternity. |
Yes, many of these far-away suns that we /
are goirg to such pains to photograph, no
longer exist. The end of the world has |
come to them as it will come to us; and the |
luminous couriers that they sent us before |
dying travel forever. Astronomy plunges |
us into the insoluble mystery of the infinite |
and of eternity-and therein lies it grandeur. |
CAMILLE FLAMMARION.