Astronomer Royal

“ There are a hundred pages devoted to the progress of Astronomy in the United States, which will be read with much interest, as they enable us to understand the grounds of a remark of the Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, that “the Americans, although late in the field of astronomical enterprise, have now taken up that science with their characteristic energy, and have already shown their ability to instruct their former masters.” ”

“ The annual reports issued by the Astronomer-Royal are practically a history of astronomical science, and it is impossible to overestimate the value of the quiet, systematic, unremitting work done under his auspices all the year round, or of the unceasing vigilance of the experts whose business it is to make sure that all the instruments used are in the highest possible state of efficiency. ”

“ At the Cambridge Observatory the Prince of Wales had once appeared, but on that occasion the young astronomer was made to feel less than nobody. Now the great War President, who signed his commission in the United States Navy, talked with him face to face. One night soon afterward, when alone in the observing tower, he heard a knock at the trap door. He leisurely completed his observation, then went to lift the door, when up through the floor the tall President raised his head. Lincoln had come unattended through the dark streets to inquire why the moon had appeared inverted in the telescope. ”

“ Ample means had enabled him to completely outfit an observatory, with a powerful telescope, at our summer residence. Here he would spend hours gazing into the abyss of space. He saw things up there the trained, professional astronomer never saw, or ever hoped to see—colliding suns, formation of temporary stars, the rejuvenescence of dying worlds, and gaseous explosions in the Milky Way. ”

“ For there exists a strong curiosity to ascertain just how the greater world is built and governed; and it must be admitted that astronomers have been able to satisfy that curiosity with no small measure of success. But it is seldom that we hear of the means by which the latest and most refined astronomical observations are effected. Popular imagination pictures the astronomer, as he doubtless once was, an aged gentleman, usually having a long white beard, and spending entire nights staring at the sky through a telescope. ”

“ The only instrument which, as I think, may possibly be called for by the demands of the astronomer or the astronomical public, is a telescope of the largest size, for the observation of faint nebulae and minute double stars. Whether the addition of such an instrument to our apparatus would be an advantage, is, in my opinion, not free from doubt. The line of conduct for the Observatory is sufficiently well traced; there can be no doubt that our primary objects ought to be the accurate determination of places of the fundamental Stars, the Sun, the Planets, and, above all, the Moon. ”

“ The telescope may be likened to a wondrous cyclopean eye, endued with superhuman power, by which the astronomer extends the reach of his vision to the further heavens, and surveys galaxies and universes compared with which the solar system is but an atom floating in the air. The transit may be compared to the measuring rod which he lays from planet to planet, and from star to star, to ascertain and mark off the heavenly spaces, and transfer them to his note-book ”

“ In this superb work, which placed its author on an equality with the most brilliant and illustrious astronomers, he defined and described 4015 of the nebulae and star-groups in the southern hemisphere, and 2995 of the double stars; besides entering into a variety of valuable particulars relative to Halley's comet, the solar spots, the satellites of Saturn, and the measurement of the apparent magnitude of stars.
On his return to England (in 1838) the astronomer received a noble welcome. Honours poured in upon him. ”

“ And with new and greater telescopes, with new photographic processes of higher sensitivity, with the help of modern invention in overcoming the obstacle of the air—that constant foe of the astronomer—who will presume to set down any limit to the leaps and bounds of astronomy in the future? ”

“ The full effect of an uncertain climate in nullifying optical improvements was recognised, and the attention of astronomers began to be turned towards the advantages offered by more tranquil and more translucent skies.
Scarcely less important for the practical uses of astronomy than the optical qualities of the telescope is the manner of its mounting. [Pg 120] The most admirable performance of the optician can render but unsatisfactory service if its mechanical accessories are ill-arranged or inconvenient. Thus the astronomer is ultimately dependent upon the mechanician ”

“ By its aid we obtain a sensible demonstration that space is boundless—that the universe is replenished with innumerable suns and worlds—that the remotest regions of immensity, immeasurably beyond the limits of unassisted vision, display the energies of Creating Power, and that the Empire of the Creator extends far beyond what eye hath seen or the human imagination can conceive.
The telescope is an instrument of a much more wonderful nature than what most people are apt to imagine. ”

“ This telescope, the largest and most magnificent that ever was attempted, reflects the greatest honour on the genius, the inventive powers, and the scientific acquirements of its noble contriver, as well as on the elevated station in which he is placed. With rank and fortune, and every circumstance that usually unfit men for scientific pursuit, he has set a bright example to his compeers of the dignity and utility of philosophical studies and investigations, and of the aids they might render to the progress of science, were their wealth and pursuits directed in a proper channel. ”

“ For, when the right Ascension and Declination of any star is known, from astronomical tables, the telescope may be immediately adjusted to point to it, which will infallibly prevent his mistaking one star for another. In this way, likewise, the precise position of the planet Mercury, Uranus, Vesta, Juno, Ceres, Pallas—a small comet, a nebula, a double star, or any other celestial body not easily distinguishable by the naked eye, may be readily pointed out, when its right Ascension and Declination are known to a near approximation. ”

“ At the age of twenty, without having even waited to take that degree at the university which the authorities would have been glad to confer on so promising an undergraduate, this ardent student of Nature sought his father's permission to go to the southern hemisphere for the purpose of studying the stars which lie around the southern pole. His father possessed the necessary means, and he had likewise the sagacity to encourage the young astronomer. He was indeed most anxious to make everything as easy as possible for so hopeful a son. ”

“ The astronomer directs his telescope to the heavens, records the position of the planets, and hopes to discover the influences worlds exert upon one another. He explores space to obtain data to enable him to delineate a map of the visible solar universe, but the instruments he has at command are so imperfect, and mind is so feeble that, like mockery seems his attempt to study behind the facts connected with the motions and conditions of the nearest heavenly bodies, and he can not offer an explanation of the beginning or cessation of their movements. ”

“ It is the effect produced by illuminating power that renders telescopes, furnished with comparatively small magnifying powers, much more efficient in observing comets and certain nebulæ and clusters of stars, than when high powers are attempted. Every telescope may be so adjusted, as to produce different space-penetrating 391 powers. If we wish to diminish such a power, we have only to contract the object-glass or speculum, by placing circular rims, or apertures of different degrees of breadth, across the mouth of the great tube of the instrument. ”

“ Such is its power, that if a star of the first magnitude were removed to such a distance, that its light would be three millions of years in reaching us, this telescope would, nevertheless, show it to the human eye. Is it to be wondered at, then, that, with such an instrument, grand discoveries should be made? It has been pointed to the heavens; and, although in the beginning of its career, it has already accomplished mighty things. There are nebulous spots in the heavens which have baffled all the instruments hitherto constructed, but this telescope resolves their true character completely. ”

“ Do the stars also rotate on their axes? or are they sometimes partially eclipsed by the intervention of opaque bodies? And he went on to enquire, What are these singular spots upon the sun? and have they any practical relation to the inhabitants of this planet? To these questions he applied his telescopes and his thoughts; and he communicated the results to the Royal Society in no less than six memoirs, occupying very many pages in the Philosophical Transactions, and extending in date from 1780 to 1801. ”

“ In many papers, however, we read that the ‘sun will not be in perihelion by so many seconds of mean chronometer!’ Who first devised this marvellous reading is unknown.
(From the Daily News for September 27, 1869.)
DEEP-SEA DREDGINGS.
Men have ever been strangely charmed by the unknown and the seemingly inaccessible. The astronomer exhibits the influence of this charm as he constructs larger and larger telescopes, that he may penetrate more and more deeply beyond the veil which conceals the greater part of the universe from the unaided eye. ”

“ In the spring of 1807 he had a serious illness; and from that time onwards his health remained delicate, and a larger proportion of his time was in consequence given to indoor work. The last of the great series of papers presented to the Royal Society appeared in 1818, when he was almost 80, though three years later he communicated a list of double stars to the newly founded Royal Astronomical Society. ”

“ These long-exposure plates are intended especially for what may be called descriptive astronomy. With them, as we have seen, advantage is taken of cumulative light-effects on the sensitive plate, and the telescope's light-gathering and space-penetrating powers are vastly increased. We are enabled to carry our researches far beyond the confines of the old visible universe. ”

“ There is something almost startling in their appearance of companionship with the huge planet—this sudden verification to your eyes of the laws of gravitation and of central forces. It is easy, while looking at Jupiter amid his family, to understand the consternation of the churchmen when Galileo's telescope revealed that miniature of the solar system, and it is gratifying to gaze upon one of the first battle grounds whereon science gained a decisive victory for truth. ”

“ The analogy long presumed to exist between the mighty star of our system and the bright points of light spangling the firmament was shown to be no fiction of the imagination, but a physical reality; the fundamental quality of attractive power was proved to be common to matter so far as the telescope was capable of exploring, and law, subordination, and regularity to give testimony of supreme and intelligent design no less in those limitless regions of space than in our narrow terrestrial home. ”

“ Will it be used to increase our knowledge of astronomy, or will it be allowed to rest in idleness like so many other fine instruments? It is to be trusted, and it may be safely anticipated, that the former will be its fate. It will wear out, not rust out. There is much in astronomy which this grand telescope can do. It can be used for observing the faint and difficultly visible satellites of Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. All these pressingly want observing and measuring, and there are few telescopes of sufficient power and excellence to do the work wanted. ”

“ A stranger appears, but has only the aspect of a fixed star. Long did the eye watch that night, but no motion was found. When twenty-four hours rolled round, and it was once more possible to fix the instrument upon this strange body, it had moved in the precise degree and direction computed. The new planet was found. The news spread with the utmost rapidity throughout the world,—all Europe was electrified, and soon the intelligence crossed the waters. Our telescope was directed to this object. All had hitherto failed,—no eye had ever seen it round and planet-like from its disk. ”

“ It will have to be no less than 6,000 miles long, and our 100,000,000 oranges will stretch in a straight line from England to China.
One hundred million stars, and of all these God is King. But these are but as a speck compared with His vast universe. Each telescope that is invented, which enables us to see a little further into space, discovers more and more worlds unseen before. Who can even guess how many still lie beyond, unseen, unnoticed, unheard of? The regions of space are endless, as God their Maker is endless. ”

“ Beginning with astronomy, the oldest and noblest of the sciences, we could record a vast number of minor discoveries, but shall confine ourselves to the major ones. Progress in astronomy has kept in close pace with development in instruments. The telescope of the end of the century, for instance, has enormously greater space-penetrating and star-defining powers than that used at the beginning, and has added extraordinarily to our knowledge of the number of stars, the character of their groupings, and the constitution of solar orbs and nebulæ. ”