Evening star., 1925-12-31

Hafnium, one of the latest discov-
cred chemical elements, has been
found to be of practical value in the
making of tilaments in electric lights.
An ether drift experiment, by Profs.
a. A. Nicholson and II. 6. Gale, of
the University Of Chicago. in which
the speed Of two beams of light, one
travelling east and the other west, was
indicated that the ether is
not appreciably dragged along with
the earth in its rotation, confirming
theory.
Evidence OF ether drift, contrary TO
the famous Nicholson Morley expert
nent basic to the Etnstein theory. was
obtained by Prof. Dayton G. Miller,
Who set up an interferometer on Mount
5000 feet above sea level. and
found positive displacement of fringes
when beams of light confiicted. This
Is said by some authorities to over
throw the theory OF relatively
Measurements of the displacementS
Of the dark lines In the faint compan-
ion star Sirius. the dog star" made
at the Mount Wilson Observatory in
show close agreement with
the predictions of Einstein and of
Prof. Eddington of Cambridge Uni
versity in England, and indicate that
the star Is so dense that if pint of 1t
could be brought to the earth it would
weigh % tons.
Astronomy.
The total eclipse of the sun on jan
uary "a, 1925, was found by Prof.
Ernest W. Brown of Yale University
to have been four seconds late, due
partly to uncertainty as TO the moon $
actual position in space.
The puZZling shadow bands which
appear before and after total eclipses
OF the sun We're traced TO rising warm
air currents by DR.. Charles Clayton
Wylie of Iowa University.
Studies based on this eclipse showed
that the suns corona IS approximately
900 degrees Fahrenheit. or only half
as hot as earlier calculations had indi-
Gated.
The total eclipse of the sun. which
was visible along a path from Buffalo
Ithaca, Poughkeepsie, New
Haven and Nantucket. was observed
by more than 100000 people. more
than ever before observed such a
phenomenon. For the first time in
history such an eclipse was observed
from a dirigibie balloon, the Los
Angeles, of the United States Navy,
py d party VI IL OIIl lliC
United States Naval Observatory.
from the Harvard Col
lege Observatory, Mount Wilson OBJ
servatory, Sproul Observatory of
College. Allegheny OBJ
servatory, Lowell Observatory and
others went to points along the path
of totality to photograph it, while
astronomers at Cornell, University.
Vassar College, Yale University and
Wesleyan University observed it from
their own observatories.
Many spectrum lines indicating the
presence of oxygen and other chemical
elements We're photographed at the
eclipse for the first time by DR.. H. d.
Curtis of the Allegheny Observatory
at Pittsburgh These photographs
were OF the flash spectrum, which can
be seen just before and after total
eclipse, and OF the corona, which is
seen during totality. They were made
by red and mira light.
Astronomers from the Naval Oh
servatory at Washington. the Sproul
at Swarthmore College,
the Allegheny Observatory at Pitts
burgh. the Mount Wilson Observatory
in California, Harvard University, the
United States Bureau of Standards
and institutions in Europe. sailed for
ton of a total eclipse of the sun which
will be seen there on January IA, 1926.
Photographs made by DIR. Edwin P.
Hubble of the Mount Wilson ObServa-
tory, California, with the great 100
inch telescope. showed that the spiral
nebula and certain irregular nebulae
consisted of great swarms of stars at
vast distances. The nearest are so
far away that their light takes about
a million years to reach us, and they
were, therefore, shown to be 'island
universes," similar to our own stellar
system of which the sun and the other
stars In the Milky Way and also those
seen in other parts of the sky are
parts.
Eleven comets, an unprecedented
for one year, were discovered;
two by American astronomers, Prof.
George Van Biesbroeck of the Yerkes
and Leslie c. Peltier. an
amateur of Delphos, Ohio; two others
by amateur astronomers In South
Africa, and two in Russia. Some of
the IL were old friends returning on
one of their periodic visits, while
others were new ones. A nova" or
new star was discovered in the con-
stellation of Pictor. the Painter" in
the southern skies on May 25 by an
amateur astronomer in South Africa
named Watson.
The suns present mass will supply
light and heat for the next 15 trillion
years, and, as the sun may gather up
more matter as 1t passes among the
stars, 1t may continue longer, accord
ing to reports made to the American
Mathematical Society. Study of sun
spots in relation to weather continued
and DIR. H. H. Clayton, former head
of fha foraca sting depa rtment of the
Argentine weather service, predicted
that other nations would follow Argen-
tina's example in applying observa-
tions of solar radiation to forecasting
The craters on the moon were caused
by the explosions of millions of
meteors after hitting the moon with
a speed as high as SO miles a second,
according to a new theory proposed
by A. c. Clifford of NewsZeaIand. The
theory that the moon is made of mate
rial that was once part of the
earth's crust and that was peeled off
by attraction of the sun was advanced
by DR.. r. H. Rastall at Cambridge
University.
A branch Of the Harvard College
Observatory was established in. the
nitrate desert of Northern Chile, the
highest, driest desert in the world, to
aid in the observation of stars too far
south to be seen from Cambridge. A
branch of the Yale University OBJ
servatory was established in South
Africa with the completion of 26-
inch refracting telescope. This OBJ
servatory will supplement the work
done at New Haven, Conn, by DR..
Frank Schlesinger, director of the OBJ
In 6nding the distances of
the stars.