Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1895-05-29
PepsIa, intense Misery
AMERICAN ASTRONOMERS.

| Great Work Done Tn Recent Years WhIel,
 Places This Country In the Front Rank.
 In no branch of science has this
 country made greater progress dur
 ing the last quarter of a century
 than in astronomy. Whether com
 pared with the work accomplished
 here in previous years or with that
 of England. France, Germany or It.
 ally since 1870. our own record for
 this period stands out prominently
 fin astronomical discovery.
 More comets, asteroids and binary
 stars have been discovered by Amer
 ican astronomers than by those of
 Gll other countries put together. The
 two satellites of Mars were first seen
 by an American astronomer, as was
 Jupiter's fifth moon. Nor was this
 work due entirely to tho advantage of superior telescopes. Most of the new comets and asteroids were dis covered with instruments inferior to the best ones in service across the Atlantic.
 It is not denied, however, that the great refracting telescope on Mount Hamilton has been of great service. From little pamphlet just issued by the director of Lick observatory Professor Holden, formerly of this city-we learn that, besides Jupi- ter's fifth satellite, "ten comets and great number of double stars" have been discovered with that tele- scope.
 Nor is this all The photographs taken there of solar eclipses have put new face on the question of the constitution of solar corona" Tho photographic and visual obser- vations made there of comets, the omon and planets have added great ly to the world s knowledge of those bodies. Much has been learned, too, of the Milky Way. Our spectro- sc0pic observations of notu'sa, stars and comets arc Gf hitherto Unattain- cd accuracy ard have led to quite new views, says the professor. and for the first time tho angular diam eter of fixed star has been measur- cd there Several foreign ashono- mers arc devoting their time largely to measuring. enlarging and study ing the astronomical photographs l taken on Mount Hamilton. Among them arc Director Weinek at the l Prague observatory in Bohemia, Bar on Rothschild in Austria, Professor Franz in Germany, Dr. Nielsen in ! Denmark and Professor Stanley Will | liams and Dr. Boeddicker in Eng | land
 Notwithstanding the fine results | accomplished at other American ob- many of the discoveries credited to tho one on Mount Ham, lton could not have been made with their telescopes. All honor, then, to Lick observatory, an American prod act in every detail.
 It is a great thing for America to have the most powerful telescope in the world, and still greater to have sho largest too. The new instrument Tor the University of Chicago is moro powerful than even the one with which Jupiter fifth moon was discovered.
 Another great telescope recently and put in service in this country is the one at the new ob- in Arizona In clearness # atmosphere it has an advantage # any in Europe and over any other D this country, except perhaps Lick 
 Judging from discoveries made by American astronomers in the last CIV years, we cannot doubt that many more will be made by them 'efore the close of the century. Amerioa is abreast, if not in the cad, of Europe in the discovery of lew facts about the heavens. St .ouis Republic.