USA > California > History of California, Volume V > Part 16
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Many auxiliary instruments, such as spectrographs, seismographs, clocks, chronographs, photometers, etc., have been purchased from time to time.
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The directors of the Lick Observatory have been
Edward Singleton Holden,
June 1, 1888, to December 31, 1897, James Edward Keeler,* June 1, 1898, to August 12, 1900,
William Wallace Campbell, January 1, 1901, to - -
Other astronomers on the staff have been
S. W. Burnham .
1888-1892
J. M. Schaeberle 1888-1898
J. E. Keeler 1888-1891
E. E. Barnard .
1888-1895
W. W. Campbell
1891- -
Henry Crew . 1891-1892
R. H. Tucker. 1893- -
C. D. Perrinet 1893-1909
R. G. Aitkenį 1895- -
W. J. Hussey
1896-1905
W. H. Wright}
1897- -
H. D. Curtis .1902- -
The list of assistant astronomers includes the names of
A. L. Colton,
Sebastian Albrecht,
R. E. Wilson,
J. H. Moore,
R. F. Sanford.
*Died August 12, 1900.
*Beginning as secretary of the observatory and later promoted to positions of assistant astronomer and astronomer.
#Beginning as assistant astronomer, with later promotion to position of astronomer.
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Members of the staff have been detailed to take charge of the D. O. Mills Observatory in Chile, as follows:
W. H. Wright. 1903-1906
H. D. Curtis . 1906-1909
J. H. Moore 1909-1913
R. E. Wilson 1913- -
The scientific staff has averaged: at Mount Hamil- ton, five astronomers, one assistant astronomer and two assistants; and in Chile, on the D. O. Mills founda- tion, one astronomer and two assistants.
The regents maintain three salaried University fellowships in the Lick Observatory, which are open to well-prepared graduate students who have decided to make astronomy or some of the closely related sciences the basis of professional careers.
The Martin Kellogg Fellowship in the Lick Observa- tory, endowed by Mrs. Louise W. B. Kellogg, widow of President Martin Kellogg, provides opportunity to one holder each year for advanced study and research under liberal conditions.
The efficiency of the Lick Observatory has been greatly increased by generous gifts of funds for special purposes from Regent Phoebe A. Hearst, Regent Charles F. Crocker, Regent William H. Crocker, Mr. D. O. Mills, Mr. Ogden Mills, and others; and by grants of funds from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The results of researches have been published in various astronomical journals: in Publications of the
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Lick Observatory, volumes I to X -; Contributions from the Lick Observatory, volumes I to V, discontinued; Moon Atlas, sheets I to 19; Lick Observatory Bulletin, volumes I to VII -; and in a few special volumes.
The investigational work of the observatory has been exceedingly fruitful. The great telescope has surpassed the expectations of those who planned it; and its ener- getic use throughout the whole of every good night in the quarter century of its existence has enriched astro- nomical science in unexpected ways. Lack of space prevents more than a brief reference to the leading discoveries made and results obtained, but the following list comprises those which will be of greatest interest to the general reader.
I. To the four bright satellites of Jupiter discovered by Galileo in 1610, the Lick Observatory has added three satellites. The fifth satellite was discovered by visual observations with the 36-inch refractor in September, 1892. It revolves around the planet once in II hours and 57 minutes, and is probably about one hundred miles in diameter. The sixth satellite was discovered by means of photographic observations made with the Crossley reflector in December, 1904. It revolves around the planet in 251 days, and is difficult to see. The seventh satellite was discovered with the Crossley reflector in January, 1905. Its period of revolution is 265 days, it has not been seen in the most powerful telescopes, and is known only from its photographic images.
2. Twenty-nine comets have been discovered. Nineteen of these were unexpected, and ten were periodic comets whose return had been predicted.
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3. The first great successes in photographing comets and the Milky Way were made here. The unequalled Lick series of comet photographs has taught us more as to the structure, formation and dissolution of comets' tails than had been learned in all previous time.
4. About 4,400 double star systems have been discovered. These are stars which look single to the naked eye but which the telescope shows to consist in each case of two stars in mutual revolution around their center of mass. Many of the stars have been found to be triple, and a few of them quadruple. A syste- matic survey, extending from the north pole of the sky as far south as atmospheric conditions permit, including all stars down to the ninth visual magnitude, is nearing completion. It has been found that one star in every eighteen, on the average, is composed of two or more suns visible in the 36-inch refractor.
5. Irregularities in the motions of the first magnitude star Procyon had led the celebrated German astronomer Bessel, three-quarters of a century ago, to predict that Procyon had a companion sun revolving around it. This companion was discovered with the Lick telescopein 1896.
6. Spectrographic observations of stellar motions, made at Mount Hamilton and at Santiago, Chile, have shown that our Sun and its system of planets, satellites, etc., constituting the solar system, is traveling through space, with reference to the general stellar system, at a speed of about twelve miles per second. The direction of this motion, as determined by the spectograph, toward the boundary line between the constellations Hercules and Lyra, is in good agreement with previous ideas on the subject.
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7. It is the prevailing belief of astronomers that the stars have been formed through the operation of evo- lutionary processes and that a study of their spectra enables us to arrange them approximately in the order of their effective ages. The blue stars are considered to be in early life, the yellow stars in middle life, and the red stars in old age. The Mount Hamilton and Santi- ago spectrographic observations of stellar motions have shown that stars effectively young are traveling slowly, middle-aged stars more rapidly, and old stars more rapidly still; that is, that the velocities of the stars increase with their effective ages. The average space velocity of the young stars is about eight miles per second, and of the old stars about twenty-two miles per second. Our Sun, which is middle-aged and travel- ing twelve miles per second, is one of the slow-moving stars of its class.
8. The observations made principally at Mount Hamilton and in part at Santiago, Chile, have estab- lished that those nebulæ known as planetary nebulæ are traveling through space, in various directions, with average speeds even higher than the average speeds of the stars. It had previously been supposed that these nebulæ represented a stage of existence antecedent to the stellar stage. The high velocities of these objects have created the opinion that they have more probably been formed from stars which have been overtaken by catastrophes, such as collisions with other celestial ob- jects. The very extended nebulosity in Orion, on the contrary, is traveling with extremely low velocity, and affords no reason for changing the prevailing view that such nebulæ are representative of ante-stellar existence.
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9. The North Pole Star was found to be a triple star, in 1899, by means of spectrographic observations. Two of its members are invisible in our largest telescopes. The bright star and one invisible compan- ion revolve around each other in a little less than four days; and these two, forming a binary system, revolve around the center of gravity of themselves and the other invisible body in a period of fifteen years or more. The first magnitude star Capella was discovered to con- sist of two stars revolving around their center of mass in 104.1 days, the two nearly equal components being inseparable in our largest telescopes.
IO. In the same manner about two hundred and fifty spectroscopic binary stars-stars apparently single in all telescopes but proved to be double by means of the spectrograph-have been found at Mount Hamilton and Santiago. It may be stated with absolute confi- dence, that one star in every four naked-eye stars, on the average, is in reality composed of two suns in mu- tual revolution around their center of mass; and there are good reasons for believing that observations to be made in the next decade will show at least one bright star in every three, on the average, to be double. Double suns have been proved to be so numerous by means of the spectroscope that the question is seriously discussed, "Is our solar system, consisting of one great star and many small planets revolving around it, in reality an average or prevailing type of stellar system, or does it represent an extreme type?"
II. A study of the orbits of spectroscopic binary stars has established that the component stars in a sys- tem whose spectrum indicates early age are relatively
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very close together, requiring very short periods of revolution, and that the orbits are nearly circular. In systems whose spectra show them to be of greater and greater effective ages, the distances separating the com- ponents are successively greater, on the average, and their orbits are more eccentric. The observed facts on the subject are fully confirmative of existing mathe- matical theories of the evolution of double-star systems.
12. The Crossley reflecting telescope established for the first time the tremendous advantage of this form of telescope in the photography of certain classes of celestial objects, such as nebulæ, star clusters, etc. To possess reflecting telescopes became at once the ambition of many observatories and astronomers. Reflecting telescopes more powerful than the Crossley are now in use by, or under construction for several of the leading observatories. It is through the use of these instruments that some of the most striking advances of present day astronomy are made.
13. Before the Crossley reflector was in use about 10,000 nebulæ had been discovered at various observa- tories. A few dozens of these were known to be spiral in form. The Crossley photographs led to the dis- covery of many hundreds of additional nebulæ in the extremely small part of the sky covered by the photo- graphs. It was a simple matter to calculate that cer- tainly 120,000 and possibly half a million nebulæ await discovery whenever time can be spared for the Crossley reflector to undertake this work. These photographs led to the unexpected discovery that the majority of the nebulæ are of spiral form-undoubted evidence of their rotation.
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14. The extensive series of photographs of the minor planet Eros and surrounding stars, with the Crossley reflector, led to a new and accurate determination of the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
15. The following total solar eclipses have been successfully observed by expeditions whose expenses were defrayed by the friends whose names are recorded:
1889, January, in northern California, by the University of California
1889, December, in French Guiana, by Regent Charles F. Crocker
1893, in Chile, by Regent Phoebe A. Hearst 1898, in India, by Regent Charles F. Crocker 1900, in Georgia, by Mr. William H. Crocker 1901, in Sumatra, by Mr. William H. Crocker 1905, in Spain and Egypt, by Mr. William H. Crocker 1908, in Flint Island, South Pacific Ocean, by Regent William H. Crocker.
On the basis of Regent Crocker's further generosity, an expedition is organizing to observe the eclipse of August, 1914, in Russia.
Numerous technical results concerning conditions existing in the outer strata of the Sun, in the solar corona, and in the Sun's surroundings were obtained at these eclipses, but reference must be limited to only three subjects.
(a) The extensive and unique set of large-scale photographs of the solar corona recorded for the first time the wonderful structure of the inner corona and furnished invaluable evidence bearing upon the question of the origin of the coronal streamers.
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(b) The spectrographic results, combined with those secured by other institutions, have gone far to establish that the parts of the solar corona nearest to the Sun consist chiefly of incandescent particles and gases which radiate their own light to us, whereas the outer parts of the corona consist principally of small particles of matter which send us reflected and diffused sunlight.
(c) It had long been an eclipse problem to search for a planet or planets nearer to the Sun than Mercury, whose attractions upon Mercury were responsible for the unexplained discrepancies in the motion of that body. The Lick eclipse results are substantially final to the effect that no undiscovered bodies of appreciable size exist in that region. It is quite possible that small bodies will some time be found there, but they must be so small in combined mass as not to disturb the motion of Mercury appreciably.
16. It has been shown that the new stars appearing in recent years, that is, stars which suddenly shone out where previously no stars had been known to exist, have been converted into nebulæ, and later, in many cases, into extremely faint stars of apparently normal condition. As a consequence, the most probable theory of new stars is that they were originally so faint as not to have been included in star catalogues; that they later passed through extensive clouds of resisting mate- rials such that the collisions on the star surfaces caused sudden increase in brilliancy; and, after passing through the resisting media, that they reverted slowly to their original state.
17. Many thousands of extremely accurate positions of the stars have been secured with the meridian circle.
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The results, issued in three volumes, are important contributions to studies of the apparent motions of the stars on the surface of the celestial sphere.
18. Very extensive observations of double stars, comets, planets, and satellites have been made.
19. A large number of orbits have been computed for visual double stars, spectroscopic binary stars, comets and asteroids.
20. Extensive additions have been made to our knowledge of the spectra of nebulæ, comets, new stars, and stars of special interest; the results being of a higher order of accuracy than those previously obtained under less favorable conditions.
21. Important studies of the spectra of spiral nebulæ and star clusters were inaugurated.
22. An atlas of the Moon was made in the first years of the observatory's existence, on the basis of photographs obtained with the large telescope.
23. The motions of approach and recession of about 1,500 naked-eye stars, distributed over the entire sky, have been observed with the 36-inch refractor at Mount Hamilton and the D. O. Mills reflector at Santiago. These data have been utilized in the solution of many important problems concerning the stellar system. We have referred to some of the results in preceding paragraphs: The motion of the solar system through space is about twelve miles per second; certainly one bright star in every four, on the average, though appearing single in the most powerful telescopes, is in reality a double star; the velocities with which the stars travel through space are functions of their effective ages, the speeds increasing as the stars grow older.
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These observations have shown, further, that the scale of the universe is about fifty per cent larger than former estimates had made it; that is, the brighter stars are, on the average, approximately fifty per cent more distant from us than we had thought.
24. Spectroscopic observations at Mount Hamilton and on the summit of Mount Whitney have shown that the atmosphere of Mars is of low density, probably much less dense at the surface of Mars than the Earth's atmosphere is at the summit of the highest peak in the Himalaya mountains. These observations have estab- lished likewise that the quantity of water vapor in the atmosphere of Mars above, say, a square mile of its surface, must be very slight as compared with the quantity of water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere above an equal area. In particular, these observations do not prove that Mars has no atmosphere and no water vapor; they merely prove that the quantities of these elements are relatively small as compared with the quantities of the same elements on the Earth.
James Lick's gift of a great telescope and observatory announced in 1874, and the frequent reports of progress made by the builders, created wide-spread interest in astronomy, especially in California. The many observa- tories, public and private, established in California in fol- lowing years, owed their inception chiefly to this interest.
The Davidson Observatory, the personal property of Professor George Davidson, was erected in Lafayette Park, San Francisco, about 1879. It contained a 6.4- inch Clark refracting telescope, which was used to observe the total solar eclipse of 1880 on Santa Lucia Mountain, several partial solar eclipses, the 1882 tran-
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sit of Venus, star occultations and comets, and to make drawings of the principal planets. In the late 1880's the question of variation of terrestrial latitudes was prominent, and observations at widely-separated sta- tions were urgently called for. As a labor of love, Professor Davidson undertook the observations of lati- tude pairs of stars at this observatory. Between May, 1891, and August, 1892, he secured for this purpose 5,308 observations on 283 stars, and he made an addi- tional series in 1893-4. His results were in good agree- ment with those obtained at European, Atlantic coast and Hawaiian stations. The Davidson Observatory was dismantled several years ago.
The Chabot Observatory, located in Lafayette Park, Oakland, was given to the city of Oakland by Mr. Anthony Chabot in the year 1883. It is under the con- trol of the Oakland School Department. It has been used liberally for theinstruction of students and public, by the first director, Mr. F. M. Campbell, and by the second and present director, Mr. Charles Burckhalter. The equipment consists of an 8-inch refractor, a 4-inch transit instrument, clocks, meteorological instruments, etc. Recognizing Director Burckhalter's ability and enthusiasm, the board of education in 1913 authorized the purchase of a 20-inch refracting telescope and accessories, to be mounted outside the city limits, for research duty.
The Berkeley Astronomical Department of the University of California is a strong factor in the history of astronomy in California. On the initiative of Professor Frank Soulé, head of the Department of Civil Engineering, the legislature of 1885 appropriated
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$10,000 for the erection of a Students' Observatory on the University campus. The original equipment con- sisted of a 6-inch equatorial refractor, a 3-inch Davidson meridian instrument, sextants, chronometers, precision clock, spectroscope and other auxiliary apparatus. Several other small telescopes and suitable protecting buildings were added to the equipment in 1903-4. Instruction began in 1887, chiefly along the lines of engineering and geodetic astronomy. Dr. Armin O. Leuschner was asked in 1892 to conduct the astro- nomical courses, and a few years later he was placed at the head of the Berkeley Astronomical Department, as Director of the Students' Observatory. Coincident with the development of the teaching side, Professor Leuschner conducted research work on the theory of orbit determinations, and developed a process of his own, known as the "Short Method," which possesses great value. The inspiration radiated to his associates on the teaching staff and to the students through these investigations and their application to a great number of comet, asteroid, and satellite orbits, has been the chief factor in building up a great school of astronomy, both graduate and undergraduate. Director Leusch- ner's chief associate is Professor Russell Tracy Crawford. Cordial cooperation exists between the Lick and Berke- ley astronomical departments of the University in all subjects of mutual interest. A considerable number of astronomers now holding important positions in various institutions of learning received their principal astronomical instruction and training in the Berkeley and the Lick astronomical departments of the University of California.
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The observatory of the College of the Pacific was established in the year 1885, on the basis of gifts by Captain Charles Goodall and David Jacks. There are a 6-inch Clark equatorial, a 3-inch Davidson meridan instrument, and accessories. This observatory has the distinction of having turned the careers of two pro- fessors in the College of the Pacific, who were more or less incidentally placed in charge of the astronomical department, in the direction of practical astronomy: R. G. Aitken and H. D. Curtis, now astronomers on the staff of the Lick Observatory.
The observatory of Mills College, erected in 1887, is used for purposes of instruction. It contains a 5-inch refracting telescope whose lens, of English make, was presented by Reverend J. H. Wythe; a small transit instrument; an 8-inch reflecting telescope, also the gift of Mr. Wythe; and many minor items of equipment.
In succeeding years, privately-owned telescopes and observatories, on a modest scale, became quite numer- ous in California. It is not practicable to list them, but we may select for mention those belonging to and used by Reverend J. H. Wythe in Oakland, Mr. Charles Burckhalter in Oakland, Mr. William M. Pierson in San Francisco, Mr. F. G.Blinn near Oakland, and Miss Rose O'Halloran in San Francisco. In recent years Dr. Edward Gray of Eldridge, California, and Mr. E. L. Forsyth of Needles, California, have made commend- able observations of variable stars with small telescopes. No attempt is made to list the many small telescopes in California, belonging to individuals and institutions, which have been used merely to "look through," in contradistinction to use for serious study or instruction.
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The researches of Professor S. P. Langley, at the Allegheny Observatory, on the quantity and quality of the Sun's radiations to the Earth were seriously affected by our atmosphere, and especially by its water- vapor and dust contents. Langley felt that his results should be checked and extended by means of observa- tions secured at both the base and the summit of a high mountain located in a pure and dry atmosphere, and in a latitude fairly far south to give high altitude to the noon sun. Mount Whitney, elevation 14,500 feet, the highest point of land in the United States, met all these conditions. The country on the east side of the mountain is so precipitous that the village of Lone Pine, only twelve miles away, is all but 11,000 feet lower than the summit; and the summer skies are remarkable for their purity and dryness. Through the generosity of Mr. William Thaw of Pittsburg a well equipped expedi- tion, conducted by Professor Langley, who was assisted by James E. Keeler and others, occupied stations at Lone Pine (altitude 3,760 feet), at Mountain Camp (altitude 11,600 feet, on the floor of the deep gorge imme- diately west of Mount Whitney), and on the summit of Mount Whitney (altitude 14,500 feet), in the period July-September, 1881. The results bore importantly upon the question of the absorption of solar radiations in their passage through the Earth's atmosphere; but, while the atmospheric conditions were excellent, the full value of the summit station could not be utilized because of the lack of a protecting shelter for the observers.
The favorable opposition of Mars in August- September, 1909, led Director Campbell of the Lick
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Observatory to plan for spectrographic observations on Mars and the Moon from the summit of Mount Whit- ney, to determine, if possible, the extent of the Martian atmosphere and of its water vapor. At the same time, Langley's successor, Mr. C. G. Abbot, Director of the Smithsonian Institution Observatory, desired to meas- ure the heat radiation of the Sun from the summit of Mount Whitney. To enable both programs of observa- tions to be carried through, the Smithsonian Institution built a three-room shelter of stone, steel and glass on the summit of Mount Whitney in July-August, 1909. The Lick Observatory expedition, equipped and supported by Regent William H. Crocker's generosity, secured the spectrographic observations of Mars as planned. The Smithsonian Institution likewise secured the desired observations of the Sun, in August and Septem- ber, 1909. Mr. Abbot conducted another expedition to Mount Whitney in 1910, in continuation of the same research.
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