Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-08
AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS
: LABOR TO CHART SKIES
Toll lndefatigably to Tag Stars Wan
dering in Firmament as They
So. Pursue Hobbies.
By GEORGE W. GRAY.

0SCAAn14EW 70 on 10
any other wing clipping science; but
hstronony does, and q stickler for facts
might remark that the force of the poets
apostrophe depends upon which star he
Us addressing. For there are several
noticeable orbs which are by no means
steadfast." The precious North star,
Tor example, long hailed as the en-
bodiment of constancy; the red giant
Mira. the wonderful Algol, the Arabs
demon star, and Betelguese, the brilliant
shoulder point of Orion-all are incon-
slant luminaries, blinking stars; or, as
the astronomers more elegantly label
them, variables. And they are but a
quartet among thousands such that
ere known to the sky explorers.
. BY sky explorers I do not mean
t. merely the astrophysicists, celestial
mechanicians and other professional stu
dents of the heavens. I am thinking,
rather. of certain young man in an
Ohio town; he works by day as stock
clerk in an automobile shop and by
night as an observer of variable stars.
I am thinking of a veteran insurance
broker who recently retired from active
business in Boston, to take his 4-inch
telescope to a quiet farm in the New
Hampshire mountains; from there he
continues to send carefully tabulated
reports of his variable star observations
And I recall, too, the employe in a
Government bureau in Washington. the
cancer specialist in New York, the high
school boy in Michigan, the clergyman
and his wife in Massachusetts,, the loco
motive engineer who until recently
pilpted the fast express out OF Pitts
buTgh, the school teacher in Texas. the
two printers in California, the house
wife in Nantucket, the newspaper pub
Usher in Connecticut, the court reporter
in New York, the commercial photog-
rapher in Brooklyn, the street lamp in
spector in Somerville, MaSs.-men and
women of a score Of vacations, but all
one in their avocation; this absorbing
interest in variable stars.
They are banded together in the
American Association of Variable Star
Observers, 800 strong, a worldwide.
international fraternity Of astronomical
emateurs-for, in spite of its American
name, the association has members In
a nations. The are meeting in reunion
and conference next Saturday in old
Nantucket town-as many OF the 500
as can make the pilgrimage.
I Memorial to Famous Amateur.
There could be no more appropriate
place for this gathering OF star lovers
than the Nantucket Maria Mitchell OBJ
servatory, where their sessions will be
held; for the observatory Is memoria!
to q famous amateur, established ana
0HlnJ6lQcQ Uy uCNObCCSs WAAOs AAAAS @'A~.. -
Mitchell herself, watch the stars Tor the
fun of it.
She began in childhood, picking out
The familiar consultations from the
marden of the old house at Vestal
street. where she was born IN 1913. Her
father. the village schoolmaster, de-
vout Quaker and Self-taught astrono-
mer, instructed his daughter in the
rudiments of star lore. At the age OF
"a she was his assistant in observing a
solar eclipse, and these and other OBJ
seryations were instrumental in liking
the longitude of the Mitchell house,
where the schoolmaster rated chronom-
eters for ships of the whaling fleet
and-without benefit Of cable or radio
set them to Greenwich time. SUCH pre-
cision inculcated respect for accu.
racy in the mind OF the astronomical
daughter. s.
When she was Is Maria was APP
pointed librarian of the village Atha-
neunn. The roof of the Athaneum be-
came her observatory. Sometimes she
spent most of the night there, watch
ing the heavens and in 1S47 she dis
covered telescope comet. A few years
earlier the ring of Denmark had Of
fered a gold medal to discoveries OF
the librarian of Nantucket was brought
into world prominence as the first
American winner Of this international
award.
Maria Mitchell's comet was quite as
celebrated in its day as Planet 8 has
been In ours, and 1t brought Its as
coverer election to the American Acad-
ekny OF Arts and Sciences. She was the
frst woman in this roster OF American
innnortals. She received honorary de-
Rrees from Hanover College. Rutgers and
Columbia She toured Europe, visited
famous observatories, and on her re-
turn was presented with a 5-inch tele-
SCOPE on behalf of the women OF Amer
sca. In 1865 VaSsar College appointed
her to its professorship of astronomy,
and thus the little girl who had helped
her father to time an eclipse became
Americas first professional woman In
astronomy-the ancestress Of that dis
tinRuished line Of women who have
added much to the annals Of the science
b this country.
J Feel UnspOken Kinship.
Maria Mitchell herself was not a vari-
able star observer. Indeed, she died in
1889, Just as science was beginning to
recognize the value of stellar varia-
ton. But still, we believe, the variable
star observers are on home ground in
Marias ancient. garden, and will feel
an unspoken kinship as they peer
F. Saturday night. They will feel at home
and akin because the Nantucket maid
was the sort of amateur that variableS
seem to attract-her zeal, patience and
painstaking care for detail are the very
stun Of which variable star observers
are made.
But why, you may ask. why, in this
world so full of a number of things,
should any one be interested in variable
stars?
kTheir attraction is perhaps not so
obvious as that which draws crowds to
the movie palaces. The compensation
Is Of a more subtle coin than that which
causes some to spend most of lifetime
watching the stock exchange. What Is
it. then? Why, after few excited
elimpses to safe ones curiosity, why
watch the stars?
Ask that Of the watchers themselves
Ask David Pickering, for example, q
man who, every variable star observer
W7ill instantly grant, is an outstanding
example of the sort of person who goes
IN for their sort of interest.
David Pickering lives in East Orange,
n. j. He was vice president of a large
wholesale jewelry mandatory In New
ark, an active and successful business
man. And yet, at the age OF So, when
most successful business men are just
entering their prime and regard their
biggest success as ahead, Mr.. Pickering
rs&igned his vice presidency, disposed
Of his business interests and retired to
the tiny observatory which he built
years ago on the roof of his suburban
home.
Drafting Series Of Master Charts.
Recently I was lunching with Mr.
Pickering. He had just returned from
q Winter in Florida, and was bubbling
with talk Of the things that had inter-
ested him in his trip-talk OF q mopu-
mental set Of star charts which he is