A GIANT TELESCOPE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8371, 2 March 1907, Page 3

A GIANT TELESCOPE.

Another wealthy member of the great American Republic has come "forward, and in the name of scientfic research has staked his dollars on the ' building of a giant telescope, writes V our meteorological contributor. The, astronomical world has long been aware of the successes of Professor Ritchey, of Yerkes. His telescopic specula have produced masterpieces of celestial photography, and his greatest effort, a five-foot mirror, i Upon which he has been employed for sitHifie years, has been eagerly looked 161:* Just) as .this is nearing completion we are informed that an even greater light gatherer is contemplated. This, in response to the plea of Professor E. Pickering, the veteran director of Harvard Observatory, is to take the shape of a reflecting telescope of over eight feet in aperture, or, to be exact, its glass disc will be 100 inches in diameter and 13 inches thick, while its weight will be about four and ahalf tons. It is computed to take about four years to construct, and when completed, as we suppose it will be, its location will be the Solar Observatory at Mount Wilson, Cali- > fcrnia, where the fine atmosphere of | that region will be much in favour of its defining powers. The largest effective telescope in America at the time of writing is the Yerkes 40inch refractor. The giant reflsctor, when completed, will possess more than five times the power of this fine instrument, and will exceed the six foot metallic speculum of Lord Ross by about a like amount. There are difficulties of mounting as well as those of figuring the immense speculum, but, given a successful result, then may we expect to be able to explore remote regions of the Universe hitherto sealed to our most ardent searchers, aided by the sensitised plate, which forgets nothing.