Evening star., 1937-06-20

old records also disclose an inter.
esting collection of kilograms and
letters from communities that desired
to buy time from Washington. Leav-
enWorth. Kans, expressed a desire to
buy time once month, and the
mayor was willing to pay to have the
time delivered to jeweler in that
city, who was to communicate 1t to
the city and to the railroads.
In 1884. upon invitation from the
United States, an international me-
ridian conference was held in Wash.
ington. 1t was agreed to esta blis1
single prime meridian for the en-
tire world, for the measurement OF
longitude and time. The meridian
Of Greenwich was accepted.
This accounts for the curious faces
upon the clocks in the main time Office
today. It's wise observer who can
tell the hour of day when one hand
points directly at "22" and the other
is swung down to "8," in a position
that seems to indicate it is 20 minutes
past II, or, let US say, g past 90"
Indeed, one might well wonder if his
eyes do not deceive him in this par
ticular Office, where second clock
announces, at exactly o'clock pm,
that it is 6-the five hours difference
due to Greenwich. If you have been
accustomed to overlooking a 15-min-
ute delinquency in your own time.
piece. you will come from the time
office Of the Observatory acutely self
conscious Of wrist watch undepend.
able enough to skip half-second.
In there you begin to think, indeed.
that time is imitless-both ways
| and that you can split a second as
indefinitely as you can multiply 1t.
W
RUT they do other things at the
- Naval Observatory besides per-
forming these miracles Of precision.
They take daily snapshots of the sun,
for example, and keep a complete
record in this way of any and all
sunspots that may appear on that
celestial body. The instrument that
performs this feat is known as q
''photoheliograph." Technically the
camera and rest of the apparatus are
intricate and involved, in the eyes Of
| the layman. There are mirrors. a
dark room, plates, prism, a plumb
line and other confusing details.
3 Generally speaking. however, the
camera is housed in a small white
house: there is 40-foot shed which
extends outward to pier and this
pier carries the optical parts of the
equipment. The plate is set in posi-.
tion in the dark. room inside the small
white house. the photographer goes
outside, adjusts the image by focusing
solar reflection upon the plate at
the other end of the shed, and drops
a lever. In a most accommodating
fashion the sun seems to stand still
to get its picture taken, and when
the plate Is developed, miraculously
enough. there is the sun with whatever
sunspots it is Haunting that day. We
can assure you of this. as witness the
very nice photograph We were per-
mitted to take personally Of the sun
that shone on June 10, the day We
went after this story.
Some very fascinating conclusions
are being drawn by scientists with
regard to these sunspots. They are
attributing more and more occurrences
in nature to their presence They are
now believed, for example, to bear
some relation to fading of radio
programs They have been shown ia
be responsible in some way for mag
net!c disturbances, and they have
been proved responsible for other con-
ditions affecting the sending OF wire.
less messages. so that daily records
Kept at the Observatory are shared
with our commercial telegraph COM
panles. BY combining activities, the
Washington Observatory and Mount
Wilson contrive, between them. to
keep the record complete. fair DAYS
or gloomy, in either locality.
The Nautical Almanac Office is re-
sponsible for the annual that
guides navigators upon the sea and
also Is used by aviators to fly their
ships. 1t functions under various
divisions, such as the stellar section,
the solar section, the lunar section
and the satellite section.
The Ephemeris is another publica-
tion OF this office and work upon both
books has grown to such proportions
that today, in order to avoid needless
expense and duplication of work, an
agreement has been reached by all
the principal maritime nations Of the
world to divide the work and to ex.
change the output of each Office. The
major part Of the work is now divided
:. between Great Britain, France, Ger
many and the United States. The
, Nautical Almanac Office is Justly proud
5 Of the fact that most Of the theories
E OF the sun, moon, planets, satellites
! and tables based on them, were de.
veloped by its staff.
/ The astronomical branch, in provid.
e ing information with respect to con.
o tinous observations of the sun, moon
: planets and fundamental stars for thu
= determination Of absolute positions
d carries on very interesting and valu,
y able work, and many Of It's discoveries
(see OBSERVATORY. Page F.z.)