The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-01-12
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Will knock 'em all out.
The NORTH POLE.
wanderin9a of That Ceiestisi Point Toward
Which Oar Axis stretches

The NOhin fOles
wandersnRs of That Ceiestisi Point Toward
Which Oar Axis stretches.
One of Prot. Barnard's photographs
taken at the Lick observatory, is made
by Sir Robert Ball the text of clear
and fascinating description IN the Fort
nightly Review of the wanderings Of
the North pole. 1t is, OF course. the
celestial pole of which the photograph
was taken. and not the terrestrial pole
The plate was directed toward tha,
portion of the heavens, and remained
stationary during the hours in which
the stars were rota ting about the pole.
The result was that the plate showeda a
number OF concentric circles with the
pole as the center, the circles indicat-
ing the paths of the revolving stars.
The pole star is near the pole, but i
not quite at the pole
And thou dos, see them rise.
Star OF the pole, And thoa doss see them set
Alone in tay cold skies
Thou keepss thy Old unmoviRe station yet.
SAYS Bryant in his beautiful Hymn "a
the North Star" But, a. matter CT
fact. the pole star. not being quite al
the pole. revolves around the pole with
the other circumpolar stars OF ecurst
it is understood that the stars them
selves do not revolve, bat that they ap
pear to do so cn account of the siinrna
revolution of the earth on Is axis.
When we speak of the north pole ~.
may mean one or two things: we NAV
mean the celestial or tke terrestrial
pole The terrestrial pole IS the point
which so many people have los. their
lives in trying 10 reach; the celestial
pole is that point in the celestial sphere
At which the axis of the earth. when
projected northward, enters. That the
celestial pole moves has long been q
matter of knowledge. The pole. with
the lapse of ages. moves through
considerable space of the
heavens. The time was. for in.
stance, say in the days of the
Ptolemies. when the pole was long
distance from the pole star. II is now
approaching nearer the pole star. In
the lapse of ages il win begin to re-
treat again, SO that in about three
thousand years the pole star will bs
too far from the pole to be of the Us
Economical service il is at present.
The pole takes about twenty-five thou
sand years to complete this movement
In order to get a notion of what the
movement of the celestial pole is like
it is expedient to run knitting needle
through the familiar orange. The
orange revolves around the sun But
the knitting needle has also a motion
of its own, The projecting needle per-
forms a movement that describes a
cone. bnt with such slowness that IL
takes twenty-five thousand years to
complete the circuit. A well-known
illustration OF the movement is that IL.
is like that of peg top which rotates
rapidly on its axis. while at the Same
time the axis itself has slow revoly-
ing motion.
So much for the movement of the
celestial pole. But does the terrestrial
pole move, too? OF course, the terres-
trial pole has the same motion as the
celestial pole with relation to the stars
But does the terrestrial pole have "a
movement in relation to the earth
that is, does il move about on tho
earth's surface? 1t gives MS clearer
understanding Of the subject to con.
slider at first that il has no such move.
ment; a qualification may be made
later We must conceive OF the earth
rs a rigid body. The knitting needle
does not move about in relation 10 the
orange. but only in relation TO the rsst
of the universe
But IL has been Of late discovered
that the terrestrial pole does have
very slight movement OF its own-,hat
face. This has been demonstrated by
a distinguished American astron'
omer, Prof Chandler. The state.
ment has at first an slarming
aspect. for If the pole should tax.
To moving in the direction of ths
temperate regions the consequences
might be important. We are assured.
however, that the movement is very
slight one. and that its wanderipgs are
probably confined within the space a
ground. and that they certainly would
not go beyond the limits Of t-sct Of
the size Of Central park.
IL IL impossible 10 follow Sir Pober,
Ball in his account of the astronomical
and scientific results Of this discovery.
1t has, however. one bearing which j.
interesting. Readers will
remem Der Alfred Eussei WalIaes's dis
-ussions Of the nature % the eaT.h's in
.erior. and his argument that IL is mol.
en-. Sir Robert Bali states tha. one
result Of the discovery Of this slight
q the earth's axis and of
Prof Chaadler's Investigations Is -
make II certain that the earth 10 no
-iRid body For this very interestiat
,pinion. however. BE- does not state nas
-sasona--E. I. Times.
t;ssson roa.d Las.