Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-06

1t ia quiet, drowsy old spot hemmed in
with trees and shrubbery and an old-fashioned
flower garden blooming behind II hedge Here
the astronomers can sit during the day undis-
turbed BY the faintest echo Of the city's din and
work out their abtrG-e mathematical problems
In such place ii would seem easy to lose ones
self in ones work and become totally oblivious
tn all save the problem in hand At night the
trees interlace their branches and make Ieafv
shield from the glare of the electric lights in
the town. and the observatory il "a secluded a5
II In the midst of forest Then when the stars
come out the big telescopes are swung into DO
s1ton. and all through the night eager ewes are
scanning the heavens. seeking what they can
discover or verifying past discoveries.
NICELY ~ THE ASTRONOMERS WORK
1t is not all childs play, however. for with
every observation is coupled a series of rnathe-
NAUTICAL computations which would simply par
alyze the brain of an ordinary man 1t would
be jolly fun. don't Won know. 20 sit up there on
the observers chair. watching the glOries of the
heavens spread out like an Illuminated scroll
and 10 study first one phenomenon and then
another, stopping when Won tired But il is an
other thing to spend hours on that uncomfortable
step-ladder kind of seat. with your eve glazed
70 the telescope. tracing the movement of some
mr. away wanderer in the sky and timing its
speed and motion with the cbronometer 1t
probably seems very romantic to the visitor
who stops for a few moments in the early even
ing. with the full moon flooding the landscape
with light and the myriads OF heavenly bodies
dim and mysterious to the naked eve. magnified
In the gla-s to glorious beacons in the skv but
wait until the moon goes down and YOU sit
perched up the observation chair with the
mlssma rising from the river like mist and
the dampness getting into your rheumatism IL
II work then. not romance.
II might be said that two classes Of work are
performed at the naval observatory. The first
- the purely astronomical work the observa-
uon Of all the heavenly bodies and the conse-
quent mathematical computation OF their
movements; the other class includes magnetic
ooservauons, comparison of chronometers and
NE discrimination Of errors Of standard mean
ure. The great dome OF the observatory is
located on the meridian of Washington from
which longitude is reckoned. The standard
mean time Is a-certained by observations mere
and it is this time which is carried by the
ehronometers of ships.
Two PRINCIPAL TELESCOPES
There are two principal telescopes in the OBJ
servatory. One Of them is the grea. twentv-s.x-
inch equatorial. picture Of which is herewith
presented 1t is with this powerful glass tina,
frof Hall has been conducting . series of in
teresting examinations of double stars The
high power of this lens Is peculiarly adapted to
separating the double stars IL NAV sound
strange. but II Is said to be a fact that n
smaller instrument gives better results in the
ordinary observation of planets. for the reason
that the high power telescope maguiies the dis
turbance- In the atmosphere which surrounds
this earth at the same ratio that il niagnies the
object Astronomers say that now il is not 50
much question Of the power of the lens in
conducting observations il is the state of the
atmosphere. They would be willing to rest con-
tent with their present instruments il they
could get clearer and better atmosphere to
work IN This fact is illustrated at the obser-
vatory at Areauipa. South America, where the
nstrufnents are OF rather an inferior grade.
ons the asmosT here IL so good that splendid re-
suits are obtained nevertheless.
The nine-ineh equatorial which il in charge
q fros Edgar FrisDy is q good glass. Ii has
ooen used In tho observations of comets and