The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1929-03-28
BERNH RYDBERC
GIVES FINE LECTURE
Interesting Talk on Astronomy
Heard by Pupils of Roose-
velt School Friday.

Astronomy was the subject Of
talk by Bernh Rydberg given last
Friday afternoon to the seventh and
eighth grade pupils in the Roosevelt
auditorium. The same talk was given
by Mr.. Rydberg at a session of the
Odd Fellows Lodge. Following is
the text of the discussions:
Astronomy is one of the most an
cient of sciences and was in the
earliest times connected with, and
part of religion. In fact the ancient
nations worshipped the sun, moon and
stars and built manifest temples dedi-
Gated to them and in the Chaldean
city of Ur where Abraham came from
the ruins of great temple built in
honor of the Moon God has recently
been excavated. Astronomy was in
these earlier times called astrology,
superstition still believed in by
good many people of fair intelligence.
/ 1t was assumed that the stars and
planets influenced human fate and
character and also foretold events. So
called horoscopes are sold to the
credulous from 10 cents to hundreds of
dollars. From astroloey developed
however, the science Of astronomy, as
from alchemy, the alleged art of MAX
ing gold from base metals progressed
into modern chemistry.
Now astronomy is thought Of gen
orally and considered to be a sort of
a highbrow entertainment for a few
Ilntellectuals, whereas really it is one
of the most necessary and practical
sciences. In the first place we would
know very little about our own little
planet but for astronomy. From as
tronomy we learn the shape, the size,
the motions and other important
things. We fix the ATTITUDES and
longitudes which tell us the accurate
distances and locations on land or
sea. For illustration on the trackless
sea, ship can stop at a given place,
sink an object to the bottom, then
sail away, come back any time, stop
at the identical spot and pick it up.
You also know how a ships position
is given in case of accident or dis
tress so that other ships may come
to the rescue. From astronomy we
get the knowledge Of Geodesyto
measure big surfaces of the planet
and surveying enabling us to ascer-
tain the size of the earth, to make
accurate maps of continent and
oceans and to fix boundary lines of
countries and estates.
Even the dates of historical events,
formerly disputed have now been
settled and been fixed by comparison
of dates of eclipses, etc,
Then we have the art of navigation,
whereby ship is conducted safely
from one port to another While the
compass points the way, you must
know your location and the road 1t
is said that the route of the great
liners is as straight as railroad
track. This is done by the aid of
q ocfropo,,,;oo1 -, o,,+r a,,ol = a.
chronometer and the sextant. And by
the way you carry an astronomical
instrument in your pocket as the
watch is relative of the chrono-
meter.
The chronometre is set by Green
wich time where the first meridian
is drawn. Formerly it was drawn
through the island of Ferro, on the
west coast of Africa and was select
ed by Cardinal Richelieu in 1880 as
Spain was then the greatest sea-
faring nation. The nations have now
generally accepted Greenwich An
other feature of navigation is that
knowing the curvature of the planet,
ships can take advantage Of this by
going north and shorten the distance
between Europe and North America.
One important thing to know elso, is
the movement of the tides These
are figured out years in advance i the
nautical almanac. In fact naviga-
tion as we know it and hav T in
modern life would be impossible with
out astronomy.
The measurement of and division Of
human life and its activities ore nilid-
ed by astronomy. Nothing on earth
to measure time from. Years, o~ths,
weeks, hours and seconds a. meas-
ured from heavenly bodies Ships
and trains by thousands leaviro and
arriving on schedule time, frinoing