Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-23
GREAT oBsERvAToRIEs
SCIENTIFIC WORK IN PROGRESS AT
GREENWICH End HARVARD.
English Institutien Famous for As
tronomy OH Position, the Ameri-
can f6r Asfro-Physics.

ID -
From the New York Commercial Advertiser.
Astronomy, oldest ,pf the sciences. has
had Its devotees eyes since the dawn Of
civilization. The regular recurrence of day
and night, the moons changes and the
shifting panorama Off the stars could not
fail to be observed with more or less In
terest. Very early, indeed, was suggested
an association, or contrast, between these
embiems of unchanging destiny on the one
hand and the changeful lot Of man on the
other; and in this way astrology had Its
origin. performing certain service too, in
spite OF Its pretensions In that it encour-
aged observation and led to interesting dis
coveries.
But although motives Of mere curiosity
probably first impelled men to observe the
star courses, they soon saw that these
might De made to serve their convenience
And out of this fact grew the science of
astronomy. Chaldeans. Egyptians, Chinese
and Indians, Gauls and Peruvians-an con-
trfbuted something to the science, and
down through the ages their records have
come In constantly increasing volume as
the apparatus of observation was improved.
In the last century discoveries have been
brilliant and numerous, both by means OF
the powerful instruments in the great OBJ
ServatorieS of every civilized country ana
by the improved methods Of analysis OF re-
suits.
Two famous observatories, the one at
Greenwich, London, and the Harvard OBJ
servatory at Cambridge. stand out con-
spicuously for their achievements In the
great world science. Greenwich Is per-
haps the foremost observatory In the
world for 1.-THE astronomy of position as 1t
Is called, it's records of the positions OF
stars being standards the world over. Har-
ward, on the other hand, is especially pre-
eminent for its astro-physical work, or the
new astronomy"
Greenwich Observatory.
From old London bridge. only six miles
distant southeast, Greenwich observatory
locks high within the limits Of a beautiful
public park. Fronting the Thames, at the
park entrance, is row Of stately buildings
In Grecian style of architecture. formerly
the Greenwich Hospital, but now used as
royal naval college. A full-r1gged ship,
dry-docked, as it were, upon the roomy
lawn, Is one Of the striking features of this
naval college Enclosure. There are 100 acres
Of land in the Greenwich Park, which adj
joins Blackheath on the left-an open COM
mon much frequented by excursion1sts, also
used for golf and cricket. From the OBJ
servatory hill, which is approached through
an avenue of fine Spanish chestnut trees.
there Is a superb view, miles In extent, or
the Thames, London and the plains OF Es-
sex.
A severely high wall surrounds the
group of low, irregular buildings making
up the observatory settlement. once IN
side this frowning WALTZ one has the
"open sesame" Of an introduction with
which to pass the portals-an unpretentious,
stone-iagged courtyard comes to view,
and ranged around it a half dozen compact
buildings with ,.domes holding great tele-
scopes, equatorials. meridian circles and
other paraphernalia needful for the vast
work carried on here. The observatory was
built in 1875 for the advancement OF navi-
CATION and nautical astronomy, and there
o@yh3 to6 n building
some Of the first instruments used, ancient,
rusty, simple-looking apparatus compared
with the complex instruments OF To-Day.
Here Is the signal board from Whicn the
exact time Is sent at noon each day by
electric current to London and all the large
cities of the British kingdom. And one
almost expects TO find here some Tangible
evidence Of that famous meridian from
which east or west longitude Is reckoned
almost the world over--that meridian wnicn
was chosen, inl international council. pc
cause when extended on the opposite Sue
Of the world iteeuts down into the racine
ocean, and the change OF time involved az
fects no nation, only the steamships pass
ing to and fro. France, by the way, 1t IS
said, objects to taking its Longitude from
the English starting point OF Greenw5cr r
but conforms nevertheless. Spain, FOR
tugal and Russia vary the meridlan some
what. a..
high rank as general authority IOr tue az.
tronomy of position, marvelously minute
and accurate measurements OF star ols-
tances being made here. And here, TOO, as In
almost every other observatory nowadays,
photography comes more ana more aa.o
use. work on sun spots being the Green
witch specialty The entire observatory IN
closure, with its low, irregular: domed
buildings. mantled in ivy and set In green,
short-grassed lawns, sucn as one sees az
ouietude infinitely far removed from the
whirl and turmoil Of London, only few
miles away.
Astro-Physics at Harvard.
Harvard observatory. in Cambridge. Is
comparable to Greenwich in general exte-
rior effect-in it's groups Of low-storied
buildings set on q hill top, with dottfng
domes here and there. in its smooth lawns.
well-kept paths and vine-hung walls AT
Harvard special attention is given to astro-
physical work: Prof Edwara e. s.. pcke hainS
widely known as the father OF astro-phys-
les. The vast amount OF work which has
heen done here in this new department of
science is the combined work OF gener9us
mower of Prof Pickering as a worker and
organizer. with the allied observatory at
Areonipa. in South America, for second
station. Harvard .s Is h abe TO cover the
The Harvard observatory Is especially
noted for it's Investigations in photometry
the measuring and arranging, by their
relative brightness, all the stars down to
those of the faintiest magnitude. Spectre
scopic work has also been carried to a
great extent here. by means Of photog-
FANNY. the funds for this work coming
through the annual gift Of Mrs. Henry
Draper of New York, whose husband was
the first to photograph the spectrum of a
star Harvard, likewise, has made a spe-
cialtv of ssyariables." great number hav-
ing been discovered through the photo
Prof s. I. Bailey of the Arequipa OBJ
servatory. who has recently visited Har-
ward. has done much effective work in
studying the great southern clusters. The
Harvard staff of workers, in their spectrum
Classifying of stars. have discovered nu-
merous stars in confagration: Mrs. Flem-
ing. the charming Scotchwoman who is in
charge of the Draper memorial. has been
particularly successful in this direction. 1t
was her painstaking search that led to the
discovery of q starting point from which
to trace the course OF the recently located
Thonsands of Photograph plates similar
to that upon witch the Eros orbit was dis
coyered-the results Of about ten years
nightly exposure att Cambridge and at
Areuuipa-are stored III the Draper memo
rial. Each platx1s put into separate en-
velope. its value recorded in percentages,
and the envelopeU plate so catalogued and