USA > California > History of California, Volume V > Part 17
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In the summer of 1913 a party under the leadership of Mr. A. K. Angstrom, supported by the Smithsonian Institution, observed the intensities of nocturnal radia- tion from the Earth to the sky, and other radiation effects from the summit of Mount Whitney, from Lone Pine, and from an intermediate station. At the same time a party from the Weather Bureau, under the leadership of Mr. W. R. Gregg, observed atmospheric conditions above the summit of Mount Whitney with the help of captive balloons. Through the cooperation of the Weather Bureau and Director Abbot five sound- ing balloons, each carrying an automatically-recording pyrheliometer and auxiliary instruments, were sent up
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from the summit of Mount Whitney on five successive days. All five sets of instruments were recovered and their records were readable. One balloon carried the instruments to the height of 50,000 feet above sea level, where the result for the intensity of solar radiation was in excellent agreement with the results secured at low-level stations.
All of the recent expeditions to Mount Whitney were vitally indebted to Mr. G. F. Marsh, a public-spirited citizen of Lone Pine, who was the principal factor in constructing and maintaining the trail to the summit, under conditions difficult in the extreme.
The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889, whose shadow-band extended east-northeasterly across north- ern California, in approximate latitude +39° was extensively observed. There were well equipped expe- ditions from Harvard College Observatory at Willows, under the direction of Professor William H. Pickering; from Washington University Observatory at Norman, under Reverend Father Charroppin; from Carlton College Observatory at Chico, under Professors Pearson and Wilson; and from the Lick Observatory at Bartlett Springs, in charge of Astronomer James E. Keeler, assisted by Astronomer E. E. Barnard and other mem- bers of the staff. Many members of the Amateur Photographic Association of the Pacific Coast, under the direction of Professor Burckhalter, observed the eclipse phenomena successfully at Cloverdale, and many other amateur observers were located at other points. Clouds interfered with the work of several parties, but numerous excellent photographs of the corona and prominences were secured.
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The interest in astronomical subjects existing among the public in California and adjoining states was revealed at the time of the eclipse, and the Astronom- ical Society of the Pacific was organized shortly after the eclipse occurred, in order to develop that interest. The energy and organizing ability of the first president of the Society, Edward Singleton Holden, gave wide- spread membership to the Society. Five meetings per annum are held on the average, and twenty-five octavo volumes of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific have been issued. Early in the history of the Society, Mr. Peter Donohoe provided funds for awarding a bronze medal to the discoverer of each unexpected comet. Eighty Donohoe medals have been awarded to date. Mr. Alexander Montgomery gave the sum of $2,500 to endow the library of the Society. Miss Catharine Bruce endowed the Bruce Gold Medal, with a gift of $2,500. Bruce medals have been awarded under unique conditions to eleven astronomers in seven nations. Mr. John Dolbeer and Mr. William Alvord each bequeathed $5,000 to the endowment fund of the Society.
The summit of Mount Wilson, located a few miles northeasterly from Pasadena, altitude 5,886 feet, was occupied by a Harvard College Observatory party, under the direction of Messrs. E. S. King and Robert Black, from 1889 to 1891, as a part of the search, in both hemispheres, for an observing station possessing excel- lent atmospheric conditions. The principal instrument was a 13-inch equatorial refractor. Photographs were obtained of the major and minor planets, of the Moon
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and of other objects. The station "was then aban- doned owing to the impossibility of getting at that time a title to the land."
In the late 1880's Mr. Spence of Los Angeles under- took to provide the University of Southern California with a 40-inch refracting telescope. The University's Year Book for 1890 stated:
"THE SPENCE OBSERVATORY .- The crown disc for the 40-inch glass is now in Boston, and Mr. Alvan G. Clark is ready to begin the work of grinding and finish- ing this part of the glass. The flint disc is not yet complete but is being moulded by Monsieur Mantois of Paris, and will be ready to ship to this country some time during the winter."
Shortly following the publication of this statement Spence died, and the University authorities found that available financial resources did not justify them in proceeding further. In 1893 the discs of glass were purchased by Mr. C. T. Yerkes as the first item of equipment for the splendid Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago.
The observatory of Napa College, established about 1890, was supplied with an 8-inch Clark-Saegmüller refracting telescope. When this institution closed its career, about 1895, the telescope was purchased by Santa Clara College.
The observatory of Santa Clara College contains the 8-inch refractor described above, mounted in 1900; a 6-inch photoheliograph, mounted in 1907; a Hilger- Evershed 3-prism spectroscope; and auxiliary instru- ments. The Director, Father Jerome Ricard, S. J., observes the Sun in search of sun-spots and faculæ, to
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serve as the basis for his own long-range predictions of short-period changes in the weather of the Pacific states. It should be noted that Santa Clara College possessed a 4-inch telescope, with altazimuth mounting, as early as 1860.
The Lowe Observatory, constructed in 1894 by Mr. T. S. C. Lowe, on Echo mountain, a shoulder of Mount Lowe, north of Pasadena, belonged originally to the Mount Lowe Railway Company, later to the Pacific Electric Railway Company, and is now the property of the Southern Pacific Company. Its altitude above sea level is about 3,500 feet. The principal equipment consists of a Clark refracting telescope, aperture 16 inches. This instrument had been the property of Dr. Lewis Swift, in Rochester, New York, where he had discovered 960 nebulæ and nine comets. Coming to Echo mountain as the first director of the Lowe Observatory, in 1894, at the age of seventy-four years, Dr. Swift continued his searches during six years, add- ing 230 nebulæ and five comets to his discoveries. He resigned in 1900 and was succeeded by Professor E. L. Larkin, whose energies have been devoted principally to writing popular articles on a very wide variety of subjects.
The International Geodetic Association decided, in 1898, to establish four observing stations widely dis- tributed in longitude, but on the same parallel of lati- tude (39° 08' north), to make systematic observations of the same selected stars, as a basis for studies of the latitude-variation problem. These stations, located in Japan, Italy, Maryland, and at Ukiah, California, were identically equipped with "Zenith" telescopes of 414-
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inch aperture. Later, the Russian government joined in the work by equipping and supporting a similar sta- tion on the Oxus River, and the Cincinnati Observatory which happens to lie in the same latitude, assumed a share. The Ukiah station has been in continuous existence, with the following observers:
Frank Schlesinger .. 1898-1903
Sydney D. Townley 1903-1907
James D. Maddrill 1907-1912
William F. Meyer 1912- -
The observational data are sent to Potsdam, Germany for study by the Geodetic Association.
There is a small observatory at the Mare Island Navy Yard whose work is confined to time determinations. For many years the results were restricted to the needs of the navy and to dropping the time ball on Telegraph Hill (now on the tower of the Fairmont Hotel), San Francisco. In recent years the United States Navy, in California, as elsewhere in the United States, supplies accurate time signals to the Western Union Telegraph Company, which in turn distributes them widely as commercial matter. The officer at present in charge of the Mare Island time service, Professor T. J. J. See, has devoted his leisure most assiduously to the investi- gation of many important problems in theoretical astronomy and geology. His extensive volume, "Researches on the Evolution of the Stellar Systems," treats especially of the so-called capture theory of the origin of the planets and the satellites of the solar system.
The Mount Wilson Solar Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington owes its inception to Pro-
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fessor Langley's recommendation, in 1902, that the Institution should establish and conduct a solar obser- vatory at a very high altitude. It seems certain that Langley's proposal reflected his appreciation of Mount Whitney as an observing station. He had in mind a station considerably higher than the summit of Mount Whitney, in Mexico or South America. Other astro- nomical advisers of the Institution emphasized the scarcity of well equipped observatories in the southern hemisphere and the resulting arrears of astronomical knowledge as to the southern sky, and recommended that provision be made also for the suitable advancing of astronomy in the far south. The trustees of the Institution appointed a committee consisting of Direc- tor Lewis Boss, Dudley Observatory, Albany, New York, Director George E. Hale, Yerkes Observatory, and Director W. W. Campbell, Lick Observatory, to investigate these subjects more fully, and to consider the question of suitable sites for such observatories. The committee appointed Astronomer William J. Hussey of the Lick Observatory to test the atmospheric conditions on several mountains in southern California, at one station in Arizona, and at a few points in New South Wales, and to observe also the general conditions which would affect the administration of observatories in those localities. The committee reported, in 1903, in favor of a solar observatory, including a 60-inch reflecting telescope, to be located preferably on Mount Wilson, and of an observatory for the solution of certain definite and pressing problems, to be located at some point in the southern hemisphere as yet unselected.
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In April, 1904, the Carnegie Institution made a grant of $15,000 to improve the trail to the summit of Mount Wilson, to mount, shelter and use a horizontal reflecting telescope loaned by the Yerkes Observatory, and to make further tests of the conditions on Mount Wilson (altitude 5,886 feet). Dr. George Ellery Hale was appointed director of the Mount Wilson Solar Observa- tory. In December, 1904, a further grant of $150,000 was voted for construction and maintenance during the year 1905. These and similar grants up to the present time amount to approximately $1,500,000. About two- thirds of this sum has thus far been expended on equip- ment, including the construction of a very difficult road from the foot to the summit of the mountain, and the remaining third for maintenance and salaries.
The principal instruments on Mount Wilson are as follows:
A 60-inch reflecting telescope, equipped with secondary mirrors for converting it into the Newtonian and Cassegrain forms; with a variety of spectrographs adapted to the brightness of the stars under investiga- tion; and with other auxiliary apparatus.
A horizontal reflecting telescope, aperture 24 inches, focal length 60 feet, fed by means of coelostat mirrors, and supplied with spectroheliographs, etc., for detailed study of the Sun's structure. A mirror of 145 feet focal length is also available to adapt the scale of the solar image to the atmospheric conditions and to the requirements of the problem in hand.
A "tower telescope," in which the coelostat mirrors on the top of a tower receive light from the Sun and send it vertically down through a lens, aperture 12
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inches and focal length 60 feet, to form an image near the surface of the ground, at the top of a "well." The well, 30 feet in depth, contains spectrographs mounted vertically in such positions that their slits, at the top of the well, are in the focal plane of the lens on the summit of the tower.
The tower telescope just described proved so advantageous that a similar telescope, 150 feet high, supplied with a well 75 feet deep, suitably equipped with coelostat mirrors, lenses and spectrographs, was constructed in 1910. The lens on the tower supplies an image of the Sun about 17 inches in diameter, and the large-scale spectrograph in the well enables exceed- ingly minute details of the solar image to be subjected to powerful analysis.
In 1906 Mr. John D. Hooker of Los Angeles gave to the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory the sum of $45,000 to provide the principal mirror of a 100-inch reflecting telescope. The Carnegie Institution accepted the gift, and assumed the obligation of providing the telescope mounting, dome, and auxiliary apparatus, and of maintaining it in use.
A unique feature of the Solar Observatory consists in the maintenance of a physical laboratory, whose principal function is to assist in the interpretation of phenomena observed in the Sun and stars; in contrast, more or less sharply defined, with the policy of other observatories in leaving many problems of interpreta- tion for solution by existing physical laboratories. The physical laboratory of the Solar Observatory is
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extensively equipped with the most refined and power- ful instruments of their class, and has been exceedingly fruitful of results.
The mountain station is used to secure the astronom- ical observations, nearly all of which are photographic. The photographs are measured, the computations are made, and the results are studied and prepared for publication, in Pasadena, where the administrative offices, measuring and computing bureaus, the phys- ical laboratory, and the extensive shops for the manufacture of instruments are located.
A second departure from existing practice consists in the manufacture of essentially all of the instrumental equipment, excepting lenses, prisms, diffraction gratings and other highly specialized optical parts, and the more massive parts of instruments, by the Observatory itself. In this connection we mention especially the great number of silver-on-glass mirrors sixty inches and smaller in diameter. The silver-on-glass mirror for the 100-inch reflecting telescope is now under construc- tion in the optical shops of the Solar Observatory.
In accordance with a third departure from previous practice, provision is made for the temporary employment of specialists, wherever their permanent connections may lie, to come to Pasadena and Mount Wilson for the application of their methods or special instruments to the work of the Solar Observatory. Professor J. C. Kapteyn, of the University of Groningen, Holland, has taken a leading part in planning the pro- gram of observations for the 60-inch reflector, in order that the results may bear efficiently upon the problems of the structure of the universe, which he has long been
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investigating; and several physicists of this country and Europe have assisted in the applications of minor instruments and in the study of observations secured.
The principal members of the staff are:
George E. Hale, Director
Walter S. Adams, Assistant Director
Frederick H. Seares, Chief of Computing Bureau
Arthur S. King, In Charge of Physical Laboratory G. W. Ritchey, Optician
Charles E. St. John Ferdinand Ellerman
Francis G. Pease
Harold D. Babcock
Arnold Kohlschütter
Adrian van Maanen
In addition, there is a large force of assistants, com- puters, draughtsmen, instrument makers, machinists, and helpers. The present staff numbers about sixty, not counting laborers engaged in construction work on the summit of the mountain.
The resources of the Solar Observatory are devoted principally to those lines of research which promise to bear most efficiently upon the problems of sidereal evolution. Special attention is given to the study of our Sun, the one star that is near enough to us to be observed in considerable detail. Many results of very great value have already been established, and the future is of rich promise.
The results of the investigations are published, principally, in the Astrophysical Journal, and re-issued
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as Contributions from the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory. A few of the most important conclusions are here set down briefly.
I. Very comprehensive studies of sun-spots, flocculi and other features of the Sun's surface have led to correspondingly valuable detailed knowledge, and to the announcing of a general theory of sun-spots.
2. A sun-spot is the center of a local magnetic field, and is probably an electric vortex caused by the revo- lution of negatively charged particles. The strength of the magnetic field decreases with increasing heights in the spot strata.
3. There is a connection between the variations of terrestrial magnetism and changes in the solar activity, as indicated by the flocculi. The intensities of sun- spot fields are too weak to account for magnetic storms observed on the Earth.
4. Evershed's discovery that the principal vapors of the chemical elements flow outward from sun-spot centers and tangential to the Sun's surface has been confirmed and extended, and the principal features of what may be called the circulatory system of sun-spots now appear to be well understood. The velocities of vapors flowing outward from sun-spot centers increase with distance below a neutral level, whereas the velocities of gases flowing inward increase with distance above this neutral level. The materials observed, in effect, to be flowing outward in the lower levels and inward in the higher levels do not of themselves form the
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vortex system. The actual vortex is deep seated, the outflow in the lower observed strata being a portion of the upper part of the vortex, while the inflow of the higher gases and vapors is a secondary effect.
5. By means of their lines in sun-spot spectra the effective relative levels of the vapors of twenty-seven chemical elements have been determined. The dark lines of calcium proceed from the highest levels observed and next lower is the stratum which forms the red ab- sorption line of hydrogen. In general the heavy ele- ments occur in the lower strata of the solar atmosphere.
6. The Sun is a magnet whose poles are near the Sun's poles of rotation, and whose polarity-with ref- erence to north and south-agrees with the Earth's magnetic polarity. The vertical intensity of the Sun's general field at the poles is estimated at fifty gausses. This is .of the intensity of the strongest sun-spot field observed, and about eighty times that of the Earth's field.
7. By virtue of the large scale of the solar image, 1,200 bright lines in the chromospheric spectrum have been photographed, without an eclipse, and their wave-lengths agree well on the average with those of corresponding dark lines in the general solar spectrum.
8. Photographs of the more prominent spiral and irregular nebulæ, owing to the great scale and mechan- ical perfection of the 60-inch reflector, are of the highest excellence. It has been found that great numbers of nebulous stars are associated with many of the spiral streamers.
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9. Photographs of the principal star clusters have revealed unexpectedly great numbers of stars in these objects, by recording stars fainter than those photo- graphed with smaller reflecting telescopes. For exam- ple, the number of stars observed in the Great Cluster in Hercules is of the order of 30,000.
10. The 60-inch reflector is an admirable instrument for visual observations of planetary surface features. The observations of Mars show that the surface is a mass of details, but afford no evidence that a geomet- rical system of slender and straight "canals" exists.
II. With the 60-inch reflector and attached spectro- graphs the radial velocities of 372 stars of apparently uniform motion, chiefly helium stars, have been deter- mined. The radial motions of 61 stars whose paral- laxes and proper motions are known have also been measured, and twenty of these have space velocities exceeding 62 miles per second. Ninety-nine spectro- scopic binary systems have been found in the progress of the radial velocity determinations.
12. The classic researches of the law of the solar rotation made in Sweden by Dunér a generation ago have been greatly extended at Mount Wilson, confirm- ing Dunér's results in general, but establishing appar- ent departures in many details which promise to assist greatly in the interpretation of conditions existing in the Sun's atmosphere.
13. The spectrum of the Milky Way has been photo- graphed. The greater part of the light utilized comes from stars whose spectra resemble that of our Sun.
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14. Much work has been done to determine whether light from the stars is absorbed appreciably in its pas- sage through inter-stellar space. This investigation has led to the development of a new method of measuring the distances of the stars.
15. Many investigations are being conducted with a view to determining the arrangements of the stars in space and the relations of great groups of stars to each other.
16. Extensive and elaborate studies have been made in the physical laboratory as to the effects of varying temperatures, pressures, magnetic fields and other factors on the spectra of the principal chemical elements. In many cases the results have been applied to the interpretation of solar and stellar spectra.
The late John D. Hooker, of Los Angeles, made a gift to the Yerkes Observatory for an expedition to the summit of Mount Wilson in 1904-5, enabling Professor E. E. Barnard to secure an admirable series of photographs of the Milky Way, especially of the more southerly parts of the Milky Way.
The observatory of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington has maintained a branch observing station on Mount Wilson, within the lands controlled by the Solar Observatory, in charge of Director C. G. Abbot, since 1905. It is utilized during the summer months for making measures of the solar radiation, the radiation from the sky, from clouds, etc., for comparison with and in support of researches made at Washington, on
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Mount Whitney, and during two summers in Algiers. Mr. Abbot's observations have determined the average intensity of solar radiation to the Earth, the variation of solar radiation intensity as a function of the spot- tedness of the Sun, and have made it exceedingly probable that the solar radiation varies, in irregular periods of from seven to ten days, as much as eight or nine per cent.
While excellent instruction in the elements of astronomy has been given in Stanford University, notably by Professor Hussey, 1892-5, and by Professor Townley, 1907 - the authorities made no provision for an observatory. Chiefly through the efforts of Mr. A. G. Atkinson, a 6-inch reflecting telescope is in process of construction in the shops of the Engineering Department, and a suitable dome has been built.
The Frank P. Brackett Observatory of Pomona College, the gift of Llewellyn Bixby in honor of his instructor, was constructed in 1908. It contains a 6-inch refractor; a 3-inch transit instrument; a hori- zontal photographic telescope of six inches aperture and forty feet focus, fed by a coelostat mirror, for spec- trographic observations of the Sun; and much auxiliary apparatus. The department of astronomy, in charge of Professor Frank P. Brackett, maintains a local astronomical society, and issues a journal of astronomy, as aids to the development of astronomical interest in the college and community.
The possession of powerful instruments, the great number of clear days and nights, the purity and steadiness of the atmosphere, the enthusiasm of the
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astronomers, and the favorable governmental condi- tions maintained for the observatories, give easy explanation of the fruitfulness of astronomical investi- gation in California. It has been said that the degree of civilization attained by any nation may be estimated from the provision made by its government and people for the study of the stars. Surely the future of Cali- fornia promises much as the abode of man and for the advancement of astronomical science.
W Cs Campbell
THE AGRONOMICS OF CALIFORNIA
T HE term agronomics is a new coinage referring to climate, soil and cultural operations as applied to crop production. Aside from cultur- al operations the three factors which make for success in crop production are a proper temperature, suitable soil, and an adequate moisture supply for the particular crop to be grown. Practically the whole problem in agronomics is involved in securing a perfect harmony between the plant and its environment, the term environment including both climatic and soil factors. This, however, is not a treatise upon how to produce crops in California, but a presentation of the several natural features of the state which contribute to her well renowned agricultural standing.
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