Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][ocr errors][merged small]

NOTICES FROM THE LICK OBSERVATORY.

PREPARED BY MEMBERS OF THE STAFF.

THE NATIONAL OBSERVATORY OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

In 1870 Dr. B. A. GOULD arrived at Cordoba, in the Argentine Republic, bringing with him some of the appliances necessary for the establishment of the National Observatory.

Owing to delays of various kinds, many of which were due to the Franco-German war of 1870, the meridian circle was not in position till 1872. The two years, 1870-72, were spent-and well spent-in the formation of the Uranometria Argentina, which shows the brightness and position of every star visible to the naked eye in the southern heavens; that is in about of the whole sky.

This work was done by Messrs. THOME, ROCK, DAVIS and HATHAWAY under the direction of Dr. GOULD and according to plans which he had matured since 1858. The scale of magnitudes adopted was the same as that employed by ARGELANDER in making his Uranometria Nova (1843) which contains the positions and brightness of all the lucid stars (3256 in number) visible at Bonn. ARGELANDER'S faintest star was 6th magnitude. It was found that stars of less than the 7th magnitude could be seen in the clear sky of Cordoba, and in fact the Uranometria Argentina contains 8198 stars of the 7th magnitude and brighter, while 2451 stars fainter were observed but have been excluded. Of these 10,649 stars more than 46,000 observations were made. The work was done in the most thorough manner and will remain a classic always. It was published in 1879.

As soon as the meridian circle was installed (1872) it was at once set to the work planned by Dr. GOULD. This was first to form a catalogue of standard stars (32,448 in number) and second to form a catalogue of zone-stars in the regions south of ARGE

LANDER'S zones and north of the (unpublished) zones of GILLISS, that is in the region 31° to - 65° (73,000 stars in all).

[ocr errors]

This work was completed, so far as observation was concerned, in 1881.

The following observations had then been made:

For the standard catalogue

For zero stars

For stars in the zones.

121,000

14,000

105,000

240,000

About half of these were made by Dr. GOULD himself, assisted by various observers. Dr. THOME took a leading part in this work, also, from the beginning. The catalogue of zone stars was published in the year 1884 and the catalogue of standard stars in 1886.

These three great undertakings were thus brought to a successful termination, and the Cordoba Observatory has given us data for the southern sky which is comparable in amount and in several respects superior in accuracy to the corresponding data for the northern. Besides these principal works, other series of scarcely less value were carried on relating to the observations of comets and asteroids, to the determination of geographical positions, to the observation of variable stars, to the photography of star-clusters, to South American meteorology, etc., etc.

The results of the work of the Cordoba Observatory were thus quickly put in the hands of astronomers. The data upon which these results depended were to be printed in the annual volumes. Dr. GOULD resigned his position in 1885 and Dr. THOME was appointed in his place, and the work of publishing these annual volumes fell upon the latter, as well as the carrying out of a plan of Dr. GOULD'S for making a complete Durchmusterung of the southern sky, which should contain the position and brightness of every star brighter than the 10th magnitude. These annual volumes have been prepared and the last of them (Vol. XIII) is now in the press. The preface to this volume has just been received and it is printed below, as it marks the termination of what may be called the first period of the activity of this great observatory.

It was founded in 1870 through the active interest of Dr. SARMIENTO, President of the Republic. It has been willingly and generously supported by successive congresses from that time to this.

The programme of its work was carefully laid down by

Dr. GOULD and has been loyally followed by Dr. THOME. These gentlemen have been faithfully assisted by many observers, usually North Americans.

Science has no country and the priceless results which have been attained belong to the whole world. Yet it is permissible to rejoice that it is to American astronomers, Gilliss, Gould, THOME and their assistants, that many of the chief advances in our recent knowledge of the stars of the southern sky are due; and this much can be said while giving the fullest credit to the labors of other astronomers in the southern hemisphere.

The preface written by Dr. THOME follows, and I hope that the work of which it treats will be even better appreciated because of this slight introductory note which I have written.

EDWARD S. HOLDEN.

Preface to Volume XIII of the Cordoba Observatory Publications. BY J. M. THOME, Director.

"With the present volume, the publication of the separate determinations made in the years 1872-1880 is completed, and they are now embodied in permanent form, secure against all temporal vicissitudes. This labor has been carried on uninterruptedly for the past six years, during which period seven volumes have appeared. The time and labor required in the revision have been very great, no pains having been spared to secure accuracy in every case of doubt, and I now have reason to believe that, after making the corrections indicated in the lists of errata accompanying each publication, the entire series of fourteen volumes will be found nearly perfect.

It is for me a source of sincere congratulation that I have been able to perform this service. These results were obtained only after many years of rude labor, unfailing energy and vigilance, and it was due that they should be published with loving care. Having been associated with the Observatory from the beginning, occupying the nominal Directorship during the progress of these observations for periods amounting to more than two years, and having contributed a larger part to the formation of these Catalogues than any other assistant, there was no one, probably, who could have so intimate a knowledge of the requirements for their proper publication after Dr. GOULD, to whom they owe their origin.

Meanwhile, the regular programme of observations has been continued uninterruptedly with good results, in spite of many vexatious and disheartening occurrences and malicious combinations. The chief object has been the extension of the Southern Durchmusterung from the limit to which it had been carried by the lamented Dr. SCHÖNFELD. This we have succeeded in doing as far as to the parallel of 42°, and we have made in that region (22° to 42°) more than a million observations, representing over 300,000 positions and magnitudes of stars and nebulae to the 10.0 magnitude inclusive. These observations were begun at the end of the year 1885, and the first installment of Results has been given to the printer. We have, besides, obtained something more than 30,000 determinations of stellar positions upon the meridian, a large series of observations of comets and of the minor planets, numerous latitude and longitude determinations, and some fine long-exposure photographs with the new telescope by WARNER & SWASEY.

It is a grateful pleasure to acknowledge here to the illustrious men of science of every nation the generous aid and the unvarying interest shown by the National Government in the affairs of the observatory during the momentous occurrences of the past few years and the actual crisis of the present. In spite of the clouds that hang over this noble and generous people now, the Nation is destined to emerge triumphant, in a few years, and to again assume the leadership, morally and physically, among the Governments of South America.

My especial thanks are also due to the distinguished astronomers Dr. AUWERS, of Berlin, Dr. GILL, of the Royal Observatory of the Cape of Good Hope, and to my venerated chief, Dr. GOULD, for their generous encouragement and advice.

The present volume contains the observations made during the year 1880 for the General Catalogue. The number of separate determinations was 33,837, giving the mean places of 10,923 stars. For all of these, four microscopes and eleven transit threads were employed, except for the time stars, in which case seventeen transits were recorded.

The dimensions of the volume almost entitle it to the rank of a General Catalogue, and the results for the month of December, alone, when 5938 determinations of positions were made, would

« PreviousContinue »