Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-08-02
FINDING NEW STARS.
The Latest One Was Discovered BY
Woman.
It's Presence Would Have Been known
six Months soone Had IL Not
Been for the War with
Spain.

1t appears that the star whichhas just
been discovered by Mrs. Fleming, the
curator of the astronomical photo.
graphs at the Harvard observatory
would have been found much earlier IL
it had not been for the Spanish wal
The Photographic plates on which Mrs
Fleming found the star were made in
last March and April at the Harvard
observatory at Arequipa, Peru. Thes,
plates had been long in transit from tn,
distant observatory, and but for the
var might have been received and ex,
amined and the presence of the new
star discovered some six months ear
lier. Last April, when the plates were
shipped from Peru, there was much
doubt in the public mind as to the
safety of goods coming from South
America, through or from Spanish coun
tries, andProf. Pickering, directorof the
Harvard observatory, ordered the ship.
ment of these plates, sent about that
time from the Peru observatory, to bt
made around the Horn. This delayed
their arrival, and consequently the dis.
covery of the star, about six months.
Much importance is attached by
astronomers to the discovery Of a new
star. In the seventeenth century IL
new stars were discovered, but from
1870 to 184S not another new star wa
found. From 1860 to 1895, inclusive
nine new stars have been discovered
of which number Mrs. Fleming dis.
covered four. Her discovery of this
week makes the fifth star she has
found. or one-half of the new stars dis
covered since 1860. or since photog.
raphy and improved telescopes brought
astronomy to its present high plane
Mrs. Fleming discovered her first star
in 1887 on a Harvard plate which had
come to her for examination. The
,eXt star was discovered in 1891 by a
Scotch clergyman, who thought SO lit.
tie of his discovery that he notified the
astronomers at Edinburgh of it anony.
mously, and was surprised when he
learned they knew nothing of the star
A close examination of the Harvard
plates by Mrs. Fleming showed that
this star al present in them, and
would doubtless have been discovered
by her had the plate not been imper.
| feet. All other stars found since that
date, four in number. including the lat
est one, were first seen by Mrs. Elem.
ing.
Whether this latest discovery will
merge into a nebula is a question Of the
highest interest to the Harvard astron.
omers, and undoubtedly to others, for
the whole astronomical world knows
through a telegraphic bulletin sent out
yesterday by Prof. Pickering, of the
discovery of Mrs. Fleming.
So complete are the Harvard photo.
graphic records of the heavens that
within a few hours after the discovery
of the star in the plate from Peru Mrs.
Fleming was able to state authorize.
| lively that the star had never been Wis.
ible, in modern times, at least. prior
to 1898, for the plates of ten years be-
fore its discovery do not show it, though
they show stars as faint as the fifteenth
magnitude. The Harvard astronomers
in Cambridge and Arequipa photographs
the entire heavens every year, making
a complete record of them, and some
sections are photographed many times
over. Nothing escapes Their powerful
telescopes and Photographic lenses.
and the record of their work is the
most complete in the world.-Boston
Transcript.