The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-09-13
new TELESCOPE
TO PIERCE VEIL
OF UNIVERSE
Billions of Stars Will Be
Brought in Range of
Huge instrument.
BY DAVID DIETZ
Seripps-HoWard Science Editor

ScOrpio. the celestial scorpion,
distinguishing constellation Of sum-
mer. now is 50 low upon the vest
ern horizon that it IS only partially
visible. Antares, the bright RED
star. which is the chief star Of the
constellation and the largest star
known to astronomers. trembles In
the haze of the horizon, and by 9
o'clock disappears below 1t.
The heavens remind us that sum-
mer is at an end and autumn days
near. Indeed, here and there, trees
which have been parched and
weakened by the summers drought,
are already turning color or she'd
ding their leaves.
Autumn arrives officially at 7;0l
p. m. on Sept. %. A. that instant
the sun will arrive at the autumnal
equinox. The SUNS apparent path
in the heavens-due. of course, to
the earth's real motion around 1t
is known as the ecliptic.
Giant Eye Created
The projection Of the earth's
equator into the bowl Of the heavens
is known as the celestial equator.
The two points at which these mag
mary circles intersect are the yernal
and autumnal equinOxes.
On Sept. %, the sun reaches one
of these imaginary points and the
season for football games, cross
country hikes and Halloween parties
is officially opened.
Most important astronomical news
of the month is the announcement
that the contract for the 80-inch
telescope for the Mcdonald Observ-
atory in Texas has been awarded to
the Warner g. Swasey Co. OF Cleve-
land.
Each new giant eye turned upon
the heavens increases mans ability
to learn the wonders of the universe
and to unravel their mysteries.
Situation Is Changed
The amateur enthusiast. gazing
upon the beauties Of the night sky
with his unaided eye. may feel that
the stars are indeedNaS countless as
the poet has called them. But that
is only an illusion.
Astronomers long ago not only
counted all the stars visible to the
unaided eye but catalOgued their
brilliance, size, and exact position
in the heavens. From any one loca-
ton there are as a rule about 1000
stars visible to the unaided eye. The
total Of such stars in both the
northern and southern hemiSpheres
is about 5000.
Those 5000 stars were all that men
might see until in 1909, Calico
turned his first little telescope upon
the heavens. At once. the whole sit
uation was changed. Stars never
before seen by the eye of man
swan into view in his little tel
escope. Half a million stars lay in
range Of Galileo's little telescope.
Located in Mountains
AS larger and large telescopes
were built, more and more stars
came into view. The number OF
stars to be seen increased by mil
lions. When the 6O-inch telescope
was completed at Mt. Wilson a
billion stars we're within its range.
The 1OO-inch telescope at Mt. Will
son. largest in the world, revealed
two billion stars.
The new S0-inch telescope will be
located in the Mcdonald ObServa-
toryon Mt. Locke in the Davis
Mountains of Texas. 1t was made
possible by gift of 5000, 900 left by
the late w. j. Mcdonald of Paris,
Tex, to the University of Texas.
Under a cooperative agreement, the
new observatory will be operated by
the University of Chicago which
also operates the Yerkes OBJ
servatOry. DR.. Otto Strive has been
-, -f.,.-