Omaha daily bee., 1915-05-11

They were telling us the other day OF
a new German gun CAPABLE OF sending
projcctiles across the channel into Eng
land. a distance Of twenty-five o. thirty
miles. We have alec heard much OF the
marvellous shooting the artillery OF the
Allies, which hits marks that the gun
ners cannot see. The gun lie set at an
elevation determined by previous caleula,-
ton, based upon the Known distance and
direction OF the invisible target. a signal
from an aeroplane tells when 10 shoot
and the great gun drops its proieetile
on the selected point, skaters trench,
and reveals it's hidden quarry in tho
form Of flying fragments In the air.
There is a close analogy between this
work OF the big guns and that of the
astronomer with his great telescopes.
The scientific gunner in the observatory
also finds his aim by calculation, in
stead OF by sight what he IL shooting
at in the sky Is generally somethins
that he cannot see before he lifts IL.
People whose ideas about telescopes are
based upon the use OF spX-glasses have no
I comprehension OF the way the astron-
omer goes TO work with his huge optical
| ordnance. t-..rr,
| He does not peep out Of the observs-
! tory dome fix the direction OF a star
with his eye and then turn his telescope
upon Il. On the contrary. he proceeds
very much as the gunner behind the lines
in France or Flanders proceeds He be-
gins by getting the direction and the
range out of a book or paper He
/ doesn't even glance at. the sky; he looks
4 ~ thumb
| screws and handles and sduints through
microscopes fixed over sliding scales and
graduated circles. until he has swung
the great telescope tube on lite noiseless
bearings, which are as delicate in design
as thew are powerful and rigid in ma
terial and construction. to the exact
pointing in right ascension" and de
clination" required 60 hit the spot In the
starrv vault for which he is searching.
That done he puts his eye at the eye
niece or ocular. OF the telescope and the
| object that he is after leaps into sight
before him. whether It be a new comet
or a double star. or variable star. or
one Of those marvellous spiral nebulae
which crawl in the profoundest deeps OF
a,ellar space like luminous oephalopoda'
spawning the Rlittering germs of new
suns and solar systems
The astronomer does not see the SKY
when he is in his observatory. working
with his telescope. He is as blind to the
universe as is the steersman of sub
marine to the broad surface of the ocean
THE narrow slit In the observatory dome
through which the long tube of the tele'
scope almost energies. high above Ms
head. is his only perisoope, and that hi
rarely uses, for his tables Of figures anc
his graduated and movable circles are I'll
that he needs for his sub-celestial navi'
CATION
Often when he comes out from the
confinement of the dome into the fresh
air, under the vast star-spangled vault
OF night, he looks up with admiration
and sense Of refreshment. and OF in
SEPARATION. at the sight OF all that spark
ling multitude, as n II were to him a
novel spectacle.
In the increase OF range the telescope
is again like the cannon, The great CUR
shoots farther in proportion as it is able
to Withstand more and more pressure
from the powder gases. The great tele.
scope reaches deeper into universal space
In proportion as It's lenses or its mirrori
are able TO collect and bring TO a focu'
more and more light