The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-24
WANDERERS in THE SKY
LITTLE PLANETS CALLED ASTER-
ODDS ARE OF MUCH INTEREST.
They Have Given Astronomers Much
Notwithstanding Eros the
Latest Accession.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass, Aug. 23.-The Har-
ward College Observatory discovered. not
long ago. another member of the numerous
family of asteroids, or little planets, whose
eccentric doings in the armament make
them virtually the freaks of modern as
tronomy. Fhe first remarkable 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
Harvard Observatory, at Arequipa Peru.
When the plate was examined at Cam
bridge, preparatory to being filed and cata-
logued with the other plates, now over
100000 in number, already accumulated in the
observatory archives, the little asteroid
was plainly visible among the hundreds of
stars photographed at the same time. Be
ing in more rapid motion than the stars
it had made short line the plate while
the stars simply appeared as dots.
Prof. Simon Newcomb, well known to all
persons interested in astronomy for his
work on the American Nautical Almanac
was visiting in Cambridge, and undertook
TO complete the orbit of the new asteroid
1t was found to have greater ellipticity
than any other known planet, and to ap-
proach closer to the sun. Moving as if
around the longer circumference of a great
football, its distances from the sun vary
in single revolution more than those of
any other member of its wandering family
But for this fact, however, the discovery
would have excited little interest. for as
tronomers have already more asteroids to
take care of than are altogether welcome
Within the last century something over
five hundred of them have been discovered,
and one German observatory devotes itself
entirely to looking after them.
The asteroids have proved of considerable
value in measuring the distance from the
earth to the sun; but, as one astronomer
has said, two or three asteroids of Just the
right kind would be worth more than the
whole five hundred. Their peculiarities
prove. indeed. that the laws of the ceIes-
tial universe are quite as complicated as
those of terrestrial nature. but the knowl-
edge is, as yet, more interesting than prac-
tically valuable TO astronomical study.
Meantime they greatly complicate the rou-
tine business of such an observatory as
that at Harvard, which is devoted to the
task of keeping Photographic record year
by year of all the stars known 20 astron-
omy. If 1T were not for the German OBJ
servatory, that takes special care of them.
they would often prove an actual nuisance.
A PASTORAL SMILE
Suppose, for example, we imagine the
| armament to be a vast field containing
countless sheep moving in a regularly or
dained manner about a pole in the center.
/ The pole is the Pole star: some of the sheen
| are planets, others are stars. still others
are asteroids, and Photographic astronomy
| is the shepherd. Now. the shepherd is so
we'll acquainted with the movements of the
| planet and star sheep that he always
knows in what part of the field TO look for
/ them at any particular moment but the
| asteroid sheep are wanderers The shep-
! herd, looking at the condition of his
charges in any given part of the field, is
| likely to find among them new arrival
and the question must Immediately be an
| swered, is this an actual addition TO the
| flock old asteroid sheep? If the frma-
/ ment were really a fat field, instead of be-
/ ing space itself, the asteroids would be con-
stantly in danger of running into each
other, or into the other celestial bodies
Their orbits constitute series of rings SC
| interviewer by crossing each other that II
the rings were tangible and one of them
could be lifted up the whole bunch 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 asteroid family was
one of the most curious events in astro-
nomical history. II followed the first ce-
| lestial discovery made by looking for a
given object in the place where astronom-
ical science declared such an object ought
10 be, although there was no visible sigT
of II. Previous to the seventeenth centur!
| astronomy. still in medieval darkness 81
far as concerned photography, spectre.
scopic analysis, telescopes driven by
electrical attachments, was contented with
six planets, one satellite. and some very
| general theories about the stars. In 16lC