PLUMBING SPACE

Evening Star, Issue 20137, 30 March 1929, Page 9

PLUMBING SPACE

HERTZSPP.UHG’S WORK The Gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society lias been awarded to Professor /Ejnar Hertzsprung, of Leyden Observatory, for his determination of the distance of the Alagelianic Clouds and other pioneering works in stellar astronomy (writes Walter G Bell, in the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’). The Alagelianic Clouds arc wonders of tho Southern Hemisphere. In a region that is one of the most barren in the heavens, two separate luminous, cloud-like masses stand out against the deep blue of tho night vault, visible to the naked eye. Such is their extent that 200 full moons would but fill the area occupied by tho larger cloud; the smaller cloud would need the full moon magnified fifty times to cover it. Although not unlike patches of the Afilky Way adrift, they arc in no way connected with it. Everything for the development of a universe is there; globular clusters, stars, in hundreds just below naked-eye visibility, and others exceedingly faint, spiral, and irregular nebulae, and ill-dcfiued nebulous areas. Nebulae are plentiful in tho heavens, but are exceedingly remote, and, as may bo imagined, attempts to measure the distance of the Alagelianic Clouds by the usual method of parallax—a form of triaugulation—failed. Hertzsprung first put into use, to determine the distance of tho lesser Alagelianic Cloud, a more recent method of spectroscopic parallax - , which employs tho Cepheid variable stars for plumbing space to a much greater depth. Professor Hertzsprung has done othe ; valuable work in .stellar astronomy, notably on giant and dwarf stars and on radiation. A Dane by birth, he was for several years at Copenhagen and Potsdam Observatories as astrophysical observer ; and also held a ehaij at Gottingen University before ho went to Leyden,