The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-05-27

TO aim the glass and In just what direction
10 set up his polar axis. Then when the
eclipse comes along IT just pops into view
in the right spot. and there you are.
Lick Camp at Thomnston.
Lick Observatory camp at Thomaston. Ga.
Is another marvel OF neatness. interest and
intellectual ingenuity. Here Professor
Campbell and Professor Perrine have an
amazing battery of Instruments. each set
ny on polar axis, and in addition the only
original photohe.iograph. the first one ever
made.
Ia avoid vibration from wind and other
causes. the ph0to-hciiuSraph has ITS pase
set in deep rit dug in the red clay. In
this way the surface exposed to the wlhd
is far less than II all Of IL We're set up
above the ground.
Professor Campbell + chiefly interested in
determining the direction. connection ana
relation between the solar prominences ana
the great radiatinC coronal strearners. which
stretch out sometimes 10 more than 500. =
90 miles from the suns rim.
A special duty OF a novel nature Is as
signed 10 another Of Professor Campbells
Instruments With this telescopic camera
H. VIII first take two pictures east of the
sun. two others west of the sun and two Ill
rectly on the eclipse. by searching the sky
in this manner he hopes to locate hereto
fore INDICATED celestial bodies. tine s,-called
intstmerCurial planet or planets. Certainly.
with his bombar'iing of the skies. he should
win no incomplete victory over the nlys-
;eri-s -! the heavens.
Smithsonian Plans Secret.
What the Smithsonian party AZ the
Wadesboro. y. @. camp hopes to get Ia al
Present confined 10 the secrecy of the MEM
herS and the skies. They say, however. that
they going Iii for big things. The Pick
ering lens. with focal length of l35 feet.
is their mainStay. and with this they will
Gra.slr .at.5 Of r..
According to actual calculations. it would
take about IN hour for this lens to photo
graph the coronal streamers so Ihey are
limiting the machine 10 taking the picture
of the inner corona.
The time lens viii b. used also In specto-
graphic work before the eclipse approaches
.otality.
You wouldn't call this Fl camera TO look
at It. In way it looks Ike long avn
ing set out for wedding party. Ii
stretches along the ground and the suns
image is projected along through the COW
cred sileyway by means Of mirror moved
by heliostat. This corrects the movement
OF the earth and keeps the image fixed in
one exact spot on the sensltiZed plate.
In addition there is a photo-heliograph
with a lens Of eleven foot focal length that
will try out the heavens in search of the
stray and incidentally figure
the outer corona. streaIners and all
hopes rom 1erkeS
The best work, however. Is expected OF
the Yerkcs instruments at Wadesboro.
There IS no secrecy or suggestive necro-
NANCY about the matter of fact and busi-
nesslke way in which Professor Hale ard
Professor Barnard are going about the
work With them they have Professor
Post and u. W. isitchie. who. by the way,
Is said TO be the most ingenious astronomer
this side OF the lunar orbit. Mr.. Richie is
the deviser of the great Yerkes plateholder.
W hich will bring seven plates into the field
Of the lens in less than four seconds.
The other Photographic experiments or the
Yerkes astronomers are On an unusual
scale Professor Barnard will test the
efficiency of fast ard slow plates. Profes-
sor Frost will confine himself to the specto-
graph but of different order than the
ones used elsewhere. With this machine he
has arranged six prisms and gratings IN
way that will devote the energy of the in
s.rument to picking cut certain sectors of
the spectrum rays.
Professor Frost Is looking fer rays that
have lodged other men at the spectroscope,
and with his instrument he hopes to corner |
them. In fact he expects to discover just
what Is making all the heat in old Sol.
There are lots of other things like this
that the Yerkes observers expect to get.
The Princeton expedition is in command !
Of Professor Young. With him are Profess
sor Bracket. Professor I.ibbey, the Arctic 2
explorer and photographer: Professor /
Magic, Professor Reed and II. y. Russell.
WATER COLOR SKETCH.
aEPUBLIC SPECIAL.
pinehurst n. C., MAY 2s.-That worn-out !
Did topic the weather is of much more in !
.eres. to the observers at Pinehurst just |
now than its ordinary use In corversa-
ion implies The forecast by the Weather !
Bureau for this section tonight and to- |
morrow contains the following ominous (,
words: Partly cloudy tonight and to-
morrow" The spirits OF the party sank
1erceptlbly when the message was re-
.e,ved, and even the most sanSuine sd-
ntted II was not an encouraging outlook.
However, it cleared this evening and the
prospect begins to look brighter.
Professor Wood of the University of Wis
,onsin Is to-day setting up his varied ap-
,aratus He will make "A water-color sketch
# the corona. viewing 1t through flve-inch
e!escope.
There is one fact OF great importance con-
,ected with the observations for this
eclipse namely. that heretofore the length
II the exposures given plates had been
argeiy guess work, while the exact number
II seconds required for different plates is
low known. 1t is said that the hest picture
# the outer corona obtained during the In
liam eclipse was one taken with compara-
lively crude instrument owned and operated
" some private Individual VINO chanced TO
et lust the right exposure.
A plan was proposed by Professor Wood
o-day which will enable the timekeeper to
ga the eclipse and stiil count the seconds
1t is known that a pendulum
Is inches long will swing through its
ormal arc In one second. Now Professor
Wood proposes that the tinekeeper hold
n his hand such pendulum and. starting
on the second. allow IL TO touch his third
niger at the end OF each swing. He can
hen look at the eclipse and count the sec
nas accurately by sense Of touch instead
Z sight This plan WAS tried with good
rccess In to-day's drills.
Another addition to the observing party
,-day was e. T. Vowel OF Cincinnati. Mr. .
DWELL has been assigned the second equa- |
1rial. which position had not been ffled
esterday. The party now at Pinehurst. in
9th scientific and lay branches. has grown |
, that the little boardng-house was forced
, divide the family Into two messes.
COURSE OF THE ECLIPSE.
EPIBILc SPECIAL 1.
Grttfn Ga. May "a visit to the Griffin |
.lipse station to-day proved conclusively |
,at the astronomers located in the lire Of
10 eclipse of the sun which occurs Mon
,v morning next have anything but an |
,sy task. There are at the observatory |
,w the following noted scientists and as
onomers: Doctor s. J. Brown. naval OBJ
rvatory. Washington; Doctor Henry
rev and Doctor r. r. Tatnall, North
estern University, Evanston. ILL.,. l.. Il.
well, Johns Hopkins University. Bait
ore; s. A. Mitchell. Columbia University. |
ew York; Doctor w. j. Humphreys and
:. W. Dinwiddie. University OF Virginia.
and Doctor c. A. Perkins,
University OF Tennessee.
These men have been untiring in their S
forts to have every detail exact before |