The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1899-04-05
Limit of Size Has
Been Reached.
AMERICAN INSTRUMENTS LEAD
Question Of Location Found to be
Most importsnt n ouist
Atmosphere aoessssry.

Since the time Of sir william Her.
rehei. no subject has more constant
IS occupied the attention II aatr8n-
omers than The making II rreat fel.
csrnpea u Is. however. only with.
la the last twenty years that the
Efforts of opticians have attained
practical perfection. and only within
the last ave years that astronomer
have discovered how 10 utilize their
iuhirumcutH 90 the beet advantage.
- placing them Ia climate where tine
Atmosphere anabieH them 10 perform
"a Their fun theoretical effect That
the a,moHphere directly affects the
definition II great Telescopes. and
that good cir Is aa essential 20 def
nitian ~ optical perfection Itself. are
facts which have been very recent
- fully realized. and. as a canse-
gurnre. We are only now beginning
10 utilize tho optical discoveries u
which this century has been 30 pro-
iiac
Largely on account 81 tho work Of
the ilaraeheis. the rejecting telr-
scope hsn always brcn distinctive
b. EnEiiHh instrument. and tniay
Common and Roberts maintain the
ancient tradition by the manufae-
iure and use uf large teleac1pic mir
rofa. with which they have ahfaine ]
good results IN Work on nebuiae and
other vague objects not requiring
very sharp definition. Neither the
~ So a
aud used at Paris. nor the 'n-Fc rr-
Hector At Melbourne haH been very
productive II new revelations. aud.
consequently. ia feccnt years nstrun-
unera have practically ceased 70 inois
ia refieetura faF important dlscoN-
rrf-h This change II opinion among
men 81 science IL due mainly % the
development - the rrfraetor uy
rrHunhnfeF about the middle q the
first hair Of this century. and more
recently b. the famous Amcrican
arm 81 Avian Clark 4 Sons. Who are
hrknnw lodged 70 be the foremost
tclrHcope makers The history u
the making % great retraetars by
this FIRM j. 80 we'll known AMI 80
fully Illustrated hy iarFe luNiru-
mentn scattered over the country
yrr.tahis monuments TO their genius
hat ! shalt not recount even their
most memorable triumphH.
u ia admitted By mrn % science
that IN the hands - the CiarkS. thu
refrnctinr Telescope has come n .
near go perfection nA tt IL possible
a. approach with the optical glass
now available. Indeed. the mai
Vicious Instruments produced 10y
American genius leave little t. be
desired. either as 10 size % glass or
perfection 81 workmanship. Nor in
she cost ~ production any longer
pery great So fully are these facts
fcaiirrd IN European countries that
there D. no contention abroad 70
Rafiinr the superiority Of The clark
glasses.
Fortunately. American observers
have shown themselves equally
worthy OF their country. and uow
tho question q tho existence ar non
existence 81 difficult celestial oh
tcctu II no longer debated hy the Ha-
wants ~ Europe. bat Is referred at
once 20 Americans for decision. g.
II IA now conceded that the three
frlust powerful telescopes In the
world are In America consisting of
ths Lick. the YerkeH ana the Low
ELI Each % these Clark glasses II
admirable In workmanship. but IL In
known that the maker held the To-
wen Isnne. which was his last great
objective. to he the best piece o.
GLASS he ever worked. II three such
tsiearaueH a. the Lowell. the Lick
and the Yerkea were located side
by side. and. from an Optical point
~ view. were equally perfect It
uleht be assumed that their power
would Increase with the size 81 their
iauara such. however. IN not the
case. save in the one feature 81 coli
iertIne light: Tor Il iH found that
relatively the atmosphere handicapa
n large telescope more than Il does
a smaller one.
our recent studies prove cnnclu-
sIvely that Il Is only by Improving
Tao locations % great ohscryatorica
that n gain can hu made IN teleHcop-
ie pswer-the more quieHeent the at
unaphere. the better bnlng the per-
f1rmnnce Of our great telescopes.
Hence II follows that. with suiii-
cleniIy good atmosphere, large,
but not abnormal sized. telescope
can accomplish more work and re-
veal more dinieult objects than the
largest instrument in the world "
badly placed. u H sheer
...=a...s.s. ., tvf for that a hfu ions i'm