The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-04-09
PHOTOGRAPHIC TELESCOPE.
some Of IN. wonder. THAT IL Reveal.
(Garrst p. Serviss in New York Jour
nall

nall
Everybody Ia familiar with the revs-
lations Of the X-rays concerning secret
and invifible things. concealed In boxes
or behind mstaliio screens or hidden IN
the bodies of men and animals. To see
our own skeletons while yet clothed with
llssh. and to trace the progress Of diseases
and the presence Of foreign substances In
the organs and cavities OF our living
bodies-thess seem, at iist sight, TO be the
browning wonders Of photography. But
&c night in the observatoriss, photog.
raphy achieves even greater msrvels In
it's revelations of the secrets Of the star
depths.
So rapid has been the strides Of aatron
omicsl photography OF late that the time
seems now to have come for making,
with its aid, great chart-like pictures OF
the Invisible heavsnsl At n recent meet.
ing Of the Royal Astronomical Society In
London, &c was suggested that photog-
raphy now places IL In our power to
sound the depths of space beyond the
reach OF any telescope and to make what
might be lik sned to typographical maps
showing the real form of the universe.
These photographs would far transcend
the limits Of vision. BIZ varying the time
and the oiron N stances OF the exposure
of his sensitized plates the astronomer Ia
enabled TO bring out Invisible things as
easily as the operator with the X-rays
can do it. He Gnds the skslftln lines Of
the universe indioStsd by streaks. clouds
and splrals OF mysterious nebulons mat
ter TOO teuous to affect our organs of
sight. A Photographic telescope is
marvellous instrument, endowed with
rowers which make the wonderful eye OF
man seem comparatively simple AFFAIR.
With such tslsscops the extent OF rsye-
lation depends HIon the time that the
lens Ia lett unoossred. Turned On the
great nebulous cloud thGt Rlows under
the 1pRrkJing star belt Of Orion, 1t pro-
duces in one minute. picture that ILLS
the mind with astont4hment. The stars
lthat the eye sees have become mere
| splashes of light, the brighter parts of the
nebula, also invisible to the eye, are
blurred with over-sxposure, but all
around have seemingly sprung Into ex-
| istsnos vast currents, spirals and sddlss
| OF glowing matter, as tnextricably III
| terTningled as the foam atreAks In the
| Niagara whirlpool, Substance enough to
mako ten tbousand Guns Is scattered
here. in a wild swirl Of chaos. covering
| q space so broad that the solar systan
would be lost in 1t as drop In the ocean.
Let the photographic TELESCOPES gaze an
hCur iasteRd of only minute, and 1t
psnetratee fsr hey ond Its former revela
| liens Now the great eddies of the
nebuloua clouds are lost In the blaze OF
| light, but wide around other currents OF
| the mystic world-stun are seen setting
in from other billions OF miles coward
the centers OF condemnation. Again In
Grease the time OF exposure. and the neb-
ular wonder expands, until ut length that
entire region Of the sky which contains
| the constellation of Orion 10 seen to be
embraced in one mighty oyolonio whirl
| of glowing gases ana incandesuent Vapors
making the beholder Imagine that the
finger OF omnipotsnoe has been dipped
| Into q stagnant corner of space and hiss
| lust stirred It with the impulse OF new
creation. The things are hidden from
she eve when It IL aided by the telescope.
| Photogr Apply is needed 10 reveal them.
such pictures are photographs OF The
living and growing universe; and, armed
| with the power TO maze them, the as
| truucmer becomes tina anasoruist OF space
and spes bsyoDd the limits OF vision and
behind the veil of the ornament. be
uncovers the ecrets OF Its strength eno
its weakness, The great nebulous clouds.
expanding and growing mora complicated
as his oh geographic revelation psnstrates
deeper and deeper, show him where the
cantsrs Of FRI 50 life lie, and the dark gaps
that his picture contain interspersed
among the brighter regions tell where
there Is atrophy and death.
What the new Photographic telescopes
do with nebulous clouds they do also
with stars. The eye, aided ny the tsle-
soope, penetrates u certain distance into
| she vast deaps where lie tie moro diGtAnt
stars, like gems on the bed OF the ssa,
and can look no further, But the sstro-
nomieal photograph begins where the eve
leaves of, and shows what the lar
ter mistook for depth, and its pictures
reveal millions upon millions OF unsesB
stars glittering in the vcid beyond
while those that seemed 20 the eye to re.
pose on the very floor of immeasurabIe
profundity start out on tine photographs
suspended brightly In mid-sbyss,
The penetratsVe power Of Rstronom'-
cal photography Is capable Of another ap-
plication. The solar systsin ia swiftly
rushing through space with dizzy
velocity In comparison with which the
flight Of q cannon shot Ia as the lettering
of a thistle down. II theirs is any peril
awaiting US IN consequence of this motioR.
| it is invisible and undetscted. Collisions
of solid bodies apparently do oc3ur In the
heavens, but they are extremely rare.
The greatest danger, II danger there can
be. would no doubt arise from our pass-
Suoh a cloud might have no damaging
efftcs open tbs earth or 1t might. on
mingling Its gases with the air we
breathe, cause a worldwide epidemic
that no medicine and no skill could
combat. TIE CHANCES Of such can OCCUR
renee may be regarded as inhinitssimal,
and at any rate no human power could
prevent an encounter of that kind II the
earth were destined To experience 1t; but
II It's coming could be fcrstold at all,
astronomical photography would offer the
rest means OF prediction, because photo
graphs show innumerable nebulous clouds
in the heavens which telescopes alone DO
not reveal.
1t has lately been suggested that tbs
entire universe may bs an enormous
spherical mass in revolution upon itself
"a gissntls drop Of crystalline ether, be-
senlued and studded with stare, II so,
it's organic structure must become ons
Il tho highest studies OF the human
mind. aud the psnetrativs power of
photography must prove among the most
effaetive means Of unfolding its secrets