LARGEST TELESCOPE IN THE WORLD.
The bequest of the late James Lick, who left 700,000 dollars for the establishment of the most powerful telescope in the world at some point in California, is beginning to bear fruit. The observatory is at Mount Hamilton, in Santa Clara county. It is 4250 feet above the sea level, and commands the entire country within forty miles round. To test the appropriateness of the site, Mr Burnham, of Chicago, remained on the mountain for sixty days, and reports that there were of first-class nights fortytwo, medium nights seven, cloudy and foggy nights eleven. A peculiarity of the vision on Mount Hamilton is that the night, if good at any part, is good throughout. The quality of the vision during the day was inferior to this ; it was clear, but the images of stars, &c,, were not tranquil. Hence only certain observations of the sun can be prosecuted with special advantage here. The indications are that in all observations of stars and planets this is a site better fitted for a new and well-equipped observatory than any other in the world.
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Patea Mail, 4 January 1881, Page 3
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186LARGEST TELESCOPE IN THE WORLD. Patea Mail, 4 January 1881, Page 3
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