We Shall Soon See Twice as Far Into Space

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 980, 24 May 1930, Page 18

We Shall Soon See Twice as Far Into Space

STRONOMY promises within the next few years'amazing new conquests in the astral regions. Explorers of the

heavens, benefiting by the remarkable advances of science j within the twentieth century, are | about to embark upou the most pre- ! tentious adventure in the history of j mankind—the enlargement of our j physical universe to twice its pres mi. i known dimensions. Eyes of the scientific world are j trained upou the California Institute j of Technology’, which will shortly | possess an astronomical mirror of I fused quartz having a diameter of 200 inches. Largest of all telescopes in the world at the present time is the giant housed within the Mount Wilson Ob- ! servatory in California, with a reflect- j ing glass measuring 100 inches across. ! With this mirror the sun, 92,000,000 j miles away, is “close up.” Five bil- j lion times more distant than the Sun | from Earth is the nebula Andromeda; : and yet heavenly bodies more distant i than this star cluster —750 quintillion miles from Mother Earth —have been studied through the Mount Wilson telescope. With the successful consummation of the fascinating project now under way in a New England laboratory—the construction of a 200-inch disc having a diameter of nearly 17ft and weighing close to 30 tons —the length of human vision will be doubled. Scientists claim that with a 200-inch telescope reflector astronomers will be enabled to look at star groups that are two sextillion—2,ooo,ooo,ooo,ooo,000,000,000 —miles away! The light by which they will be seen, according to calculations of the savants, started on its journey through space 4,000,000 centuries ago! Prof. Elihu Thomson, engaged for years in pioneer work in the fusing of silica glass or quartz sand, is the genius upon whom the astronomical world is depending for achievement of this proposed new marvel of science. In his research work he learned that a mirror made of fused quartz would retain its exact dimensions under any ordinary change in temperature; that it would not require long annealing, as with glass, and from these facts developed the conclusion that a great mirror so made would be ideal for a superastronomical telescope. A special building is to be con-

structed to house the great glass. So great will be the radiation from the fusing furnace that observation of the disc in the making will have to be made from a distance through field glasses. Upon completion it will have to travel from Massachusetts to California by water instead of by rail, since an object 17ft in width would not clear the tunnels and bridges of any railroad in the world. Marvellous is the process of construction involved. Quartz sand is melted in an electric furnace at more than 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit until ft fuses into a rough, heavy mass of desired size and thickness. Upon this base a coating of clear quartz is sprayed and the finished surface ground and polished to obtain the desired curvature and then covered with a thin deposit of silver. So accurate is the curvature that it can be gauged within a few millionths of an inch! Thus man prepares to project himself farther beyond the range of our solar system. What will he find? .Evidence confirmatory of life on other planets? New galaxies not heretofore glimpsed by the eye of man? Other suns and solar systems beyond the gravitational pull of our own golden orb? Surely Venus —26,000,000 miles away —and Mars —35,000,000 miles away—and Mercury—l7,ooo,ooo miles away—will be only next-door neighbours compared to the stars that may be brought within range by a 200-inch mirror. Sir .Tames Jeans, a distinguished scientist, in his latest book, “The Universe Around Us,” says recent measurements show that the nearest stars are at exactly a million times the distance of the nearest planets. He points out that mankind is only in the beginning of space conquests and reminds us that, according to Eistein's original theory, even the 140,000,000 light-years through which we can range with our telescopes form only a small fraction of the whole of space—something like one part in a thousand million.

Will the new telescope solve the mystery of Mars —those canals that have been the subject of so much conjecture, and whether the great red planet is dead or alive? Within the last few months Mars has been swinging “close” to earth—only 50,000,000 miles away—and astronomers have been hoping to get a new line on the Martian canals and the melting polar caps. Observations during the last decade have led many

astronomical authorities to agree there must be some form of life on Mars, until now there are few who insist that such a supposition is "impossible.” Dr. William Pickering not only holds that Mars is inhabited by intelligent beings, but insists the Martians have been attempting for some time to communicate with the Earth. Dis covery of the canals was made by the Italian astronomer. Schiaparelli, and Dr. Percifal Lowell, of Harvard, has held for twenty years to the theory that these canals were artificially constructed by the inhabitants of Mars and indicated the presence there of an intelligent race with a civilisation far in advance of our own. Mars was within ,15,000,000 miles of Earth in 1924 and will not be as close again until 2347 A.D., but perhaps, in the meantime, the giant 200-inch telescope will reveal within the next two or three years more about Mars than

man lias been able to learn in the last 300 years. Another sphinx—the "Man in the Moon”—may have to yield his secrets before the übiquitous eye of the new telescope. Once upon a time —not so long ago—the mystery of the Moon had been solved. He was just a dead, cold planet, his pock-marked face covered with the craters of volcanoes that had ceased spouting very long ago. But now science is not so sure the Moon is cold and dead, nor that those furrows on his placid face were inflicted by raining meteors, as some held. One who inclines to the view the Moon is not altogether lifeless and inactive is Dr. William Pickering. Silvery effects observed upon the peaks and within the shadows of the lunar orb are to this Harvard savant evidences of ice and snow in processes of melting and freezing, and the "variable spots” observable at times indications of organic life resembling a form of vegetation that flourishes while the sun shines and withers when the night falls. If one accepts the theory held by I many, then the Moon is not only in-

■ active but airless as well. aUhtm-c ouce had an atmosphere. A moth- ! Jules Verne, airplauing to the M<x» ' could never return, for his mach-J would not iift off the surface « Earth’s satellite. Waldemar Kae«c ffert says: ’’Because of its small «hT the gravitational pull of the Moot J only one-sixth that of the Earth. Yo could jump over a barn on the Moocarry six times as much as on -h. Earth and run six times as fast.’’ Some time soon we may know mo--about the "Man iu the Moon.” Three hundred years ago, when Galileo turned the first telescope upon hint his face was brought within 10,9*5 miles. The big reflector at the Moo; Wilson observatory reduced this ti I 100 miles, and now a mirror that tc; bring- that pallid face as close as V | miles! And what about Venus, the ’’Etco. ing Star,” twin of the Earth, wj.j. plenty of light, heat and water! ft is 30,000.000 miles nearer the Sc than Earth and. because life is ct , existent with heat and water, it ha, | been the assumption of many gC j tll . tists that surely there must be Up ■ of some kind on Venus. Perhaps the new telescope will bpowerful enough to pierce the ve : that Venus wears constantly. Thi~ veil has been assumed to be steac clouds resulting from the effects o: j blistering heat of the Sun upon the watery content of this planet Whereas life on Mercury might b? annihilated ty the blazing inlerno o! ; the Sun's heat. Venus might be far ; enough away to shelter life; just as men on Earth manage to live in thbaked desert areas of the Sahara. Perhaps the new telescope will re J veal more about the reported nintii planet, revolving outside the orbit ct Neptune. That new star clusters and mor; “milky ways” may be discovered with the new telescope seems an inevitable conclusion. The nearest stars, such as Proxima Centauri, at? 25,000,000.000.000 miles away, or 477 light-years—the distance that lgti, travelling at 186,000 miles a secoLt takes 4.27 years to traverse. Fanhc away are such stars as Sirin N 51,000,000,000,000 miles, or 8.65 Ugh: years away. Yet, remote as is Sirre-. science is able to tell us that this “Dog Star” has nearly twice the sue; ' temperature and its luminosity jj i about 26 times that of the sun, which i would make the star’s diameter 5i per cent, greater than that of the ser. It has nearly four times the sou's volume, but only 2.45 times its weigh;

Astronomers Make Ready to Double the Physical Universe with Marvellous 200-inch Telescope ... Sun, Moon and Planets Are Only “Next-Door Neighbours” Now.