The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-08-31
LITTLE WANDERERS In
The MIGHTY HEAVENS
The Little Planets Called Asteroids Have Given Astron.
omers Much Trouble-Each Used to Cost SzOU
a Year to Look Out for-Importance
of the AsterOid Eros
of the Asteroid Eros.

VI kA4S 4 ASS
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Aug. cs-The
Harvard College Observatory discovered.
not long ago. another member of the nu-
| nterous family of asteroids, or little
planets, whose eccentric doings in the
armament make them virtually thu freaks
Of modern astronomy. The first remark
able thing: about this particular asteroid
was its location, very far to- the south,
where no asteroid was at that time
expected. The photograph was taken
from the Southern station of the Har-
ward Observatory at Areauipa, Peru.
VIXEN the plate was examined at Cam
bridge, preparatory to being iiled and
catalosued with the other plates, now
over 1o0.eO0 IN number. already accumu-
lated in the Observatory archives, the lit
| tie asteroid, was plainly visible among
| the hundreds of stars photographed at
the same time Being in more rapid mo-
| ton than the stars it had made short
| line on the plate while the stars simply
| appeared as dots.
Professor Simon Newcomb, we'll known
TO all persons interested in astronomy
Tor his work on the American Nautical
Almanac. was visiting in Cambridge and
undertook to compute the orbit Of the
new asteroid. It was found to have
greater ellipucity than any other known
planet and to approach closer to the sun
terence OF great football, its distances
from the sun vary in single revolution
moro than those of any other member of
Its wandering family. But for this fact,
however. the discovery would have ex-
cited little interest, for astronomers have
| already more asteroids to take care of
| than are altogether welcome. Within
the last century something over 5oo of
them helre been discovered and one Cor
| man observatory devotes itself entirely
| to looking after them
| The asteroids have proved OF consld
cradle value in measuring the distance
from the earth to the sun; but as one
astronomer has said, two or three aster-
olds of just the right kind would be
worth more than the whole 500 Their
peculiarities prove, indeed. that the laws
of the celestial universe are quite as
complicated as those of terrestrial nature
| but the knowledge Is. as yet more In
! teresting than practically valuable to as
| Economical study. Meantime they great
| ly complicate the routine business OF such
an observatory as that at Harvard, which
| is devoted to the task of keeping pho
| tographic record year by year Of all the
| stars known to astronomy. II it were
not for the German observatory that
| takes special care of them they would
| often prove an actual nuisance.
| Suppose. for example. we imagine the
| armament to be vast field containing
! countless sheep moving in a regularly
| ordained manner about n pole In the
| center. The pole is the Pole star: some
| of the sheep are planets others are
| stars. still others are asteroids: and
| Photographic astronomy is tho shepherd.
| Now, the shepherd is so we'll acquainted
| with the movements OF the planets and
star sheep that he always knows in what
| a-f Of tha oIJ TO FOR :, ot
| particular movements. But the asteroid
| sheep are wanderers. The shepherd,
| looking at the condition of his charges
| in any given part Of the field. is likely
! to find among them a new arrival and
| the question must Immediately be an
swered. is this actual addition to
{ the flock or an old asteroid sheep? X
the armament were really a flat field.
instead of being space itself, the aster-
oids would be constantly in danger Of
running into each other or into the other
| celestial bodies Their orbits constitute
| a series of rings so interviewer by cross
! Ing each other that If the rings wera
| tangible and one OF them could be lifted
up the whole bunch would follow. But
| each asteroid moves in a different plane
| from any other celestial body, and for
that reason there are no collisions
| The discovery of the aSterofd family
|
astronomical history. 1t followed the
| first celestial discovery make by looking
! for n given object in the place where as
| Economical science declared such an oh-
| iect ought to be, although there was NJ
visible sign of it. Previous to the .sev-
| enteenth century, astronomy. still IN
medieval darkness SO far as concerned
photography, spectroscopic analysis. or
| telescopes driven by electrical attach
| Tod with SfS n1anatS
one satellite, and some very general theo-
| res about the stars. In 1910. Galliieo
| saw the first satellite of Jupiter and q
| certain Tuscan astronomer wrote as
| follows: '.Those satellites are invisible
| to the naked eye, and therefore can eN-
! ercise no influence on the earth. and
| therefor would be useless, and therefore
| do not exist. Besides. the Jews and
| other ancient nations, as we'll as modern
F,uropeans, have adopted the division of
| the week into seven days. and have
named them from the seven planets; now
| If we increase the number or planets
| the whole system falls to the ground
| This sapient decision neither discredlted
| GalliIeo's newly invented telescope nor
| stopped the discoveries OF the later CEN
| turtles.
B,,t even at this early period. hepler-
whose temptation to accept the comets
as living creatures tIdSeiiuS thiooSh
| snace like fishes in the sea, Is an IN
teresting reflection OF contemporary as
tronomy-had noticed a curious relation
between the POSITIONS or the known
nlanets and the sun. The planets SEEM
ed to be arranged in a automatically
oruered progression. The order would
have been complete II there had been
lust one more planet visiblefin a certain
position between Mars and Jupiter.
kepler suggested. later proved to be
the case. that the planet was there, only
it was invisible. More than century
later the astronomer Bode enunciated
a mathematical law that reduced the re-
spective distances Of the planets to terms
of the radius OF the earth's orbit, and
this law was confirmed by the finding OF
| Uranus in 1771-although it must be add
ed that Neptune. discovered in 1916, does
not conform to II. But the space between
Mars and Jupiter Is still empty.
BODIES law. now generally considered
| simply an interesting coincidence. led,
| however. to perhaps the most pictures
me astronomical investigation on record