New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-02
IHOTOGRAPHING THE SKIES.
AMERICAS SHARE IN THIS SORT oF
WORK.
NOTABLE ACTnEN EMENTs- MEN AND METHODS
THAT HAVE ADVANCED THE ART

Photography has told the astronomers mucf
about the skies that they did not kno" before
and has afforded permanent records OF no enc
Of fleeing phenomena for subsequent study. The
matter is one of especial interest in America
because Americans have had 50 'arfe share IT
the work. At the recent meeting of scientists
H. Boston Professor F. L. Barnard. o. tho
Ycrkes Observatory, than whom no more ca
pable and mprejudiced historian can be round
reviewed what has been accomplished IN TINS
department Of activity during the last six'!
years.
Daeucrre announced his wonderful and revo
lutionary discovery late in 1S39 Within year
III John w Draper of NewYork City, had ap'
Piled the process to picturine the moon. FRO
fessor Fond Of Ire Harvard Observatory, FOL
lowed the matter up as did various f"reisr
astronomers, but the FIRST real success was tina
OF Or Draper. Then that gentleman $ son. Or
Henry Draper, contii ued the work, greatly I'M
proving on the original He made his own teIe
scope "a begin with. q feat that has beer
parallolc0 since that time but not often. From
1850 10 1865 the best lunar photographs were
those taken by the younger Draper
Then another resident Of this city. Lewis M
Kntberfnrd manufactured a telescope and be
gan 60 photograph the moon and sun. Draper
telescope was a reflector Of 1919 inches diameter
Rutherfurds was refractor II inches across
Kutherfurd by the way, was the first man tt
ret photographs of the sun that showed tht
spots and the peculiar graduated surface OF th(
orb OF day Others have since made better
pictures Of the sort. but the New-Yorker was
a pioneer and this fact counts for much.
Between 1860 and 1870 the sun had beer
photographed during an eclipse several times
but little of the corona was secured. The only
feature Of the that appeared az all dls'
timely was the promnences. The first gooc
pictures of the corona were taken during tht
eclipse Of 1870 Since that time Professor
Todd Of Amherst. has been member. or II
charge Of an expedition to observe nearly ever!
solar eclipse no matter IN what part OF the
world II occurred.
PHOTOGRAPHS or NEBCLH.
A third class Of subjects selected lay Di. Iicnr,
Draper for deineation the netula. HIS
photograph Of tho Orion nebula. obtained II
$3.50 was the first Of its kind Common. II
England and ProfosscI H. c. Wilson. Of North
f,ld MINI. afterward took more exquisite pct
ures Of the same object, the Henry Brothers, OF
Tarls got wonderful one Of tho s'reaks q
nebulOus matter IL the PlelaGos. and Roberts
mad. Il surprising discovery q The structure OF
tn, Andromeda nebula 10y photography hut
mono of these lar performances were SO revo'
luiionary Diapers.
The first photographs Of comets were made
H. the same year 1SSD Ivy Draper and &
Frenchman. Jansen.
Bond Of Harvard. photographed stars ahead
Of any one else. hut Rutherfurd got the earliest
stan clusters such az Tho Pleiades and The
Prasepc group These, like the other famous
pictures obtained 10y the latter astronomer nov
belong to the collections OF Columbia Uni
versity.
The FIRST telescope ma0e and useO expressly
for pbotorraphing stars that Of the Henry
brothers Of Paris They were engaged in hunt
ing foI asteroids, the numerous Tiny planets
that have orbits between those Of Mars and
Jupiter And that they might more readily dis
tinguish th-Se objects which belong to our soal
system. from the stars III th' far distant back
yround the Henry brothers set GU, TO make
elaborate charts Of the region along which tho
asteroids were 10 be found-the echptic. But
they finally struck a snag, and cam. to stand
stM Just al that juncture some tne Jnoto-
graphs were made Icy Or GIN. AT the cape ~
GOOD Hone of q brillian, comet that Of 49,
When these pictures were EXAMINED by asiroho-
mers in the Northern Hemisphere il was noticed
that al astonishing abundance Of stars Vas
shown therein with great distinCtness. The
PARIS ast.roId hunters here foun0 a solution Of
then problem. with this and easy way &c
make "A chart of the stars no matter how
th.ckIy s,revn ;hey were. tho H.nry brothers
decided 10 produce al instrument foI that pur-
pose
Professor EaIhard al Tins point ~ ms Story
gives beautiful illustration g. the lTotheily de-
vu1iUn az IN, TWO men just mentioned. Between