ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.
"DISCOVERING THE UNSEEN." Mr. R. A. Mclntosh, F.R.A.S., opened the 1940 season of the Auckland Astronomical Society in the science lecture hall of the Auckland University College last evening. Professor P. W. Burbidge presided. "The astronomer has to discover objects before they are seen," declared the lecturer. The existence of the planet Neptune was arrived at purely by deduction, and the recent discovery of Pluto, the smallest of all the planets, at an enormous distance from the sun, was a similar achievement. No one has ever seen our galaxy, with a length of 150,000 light years, yet we know its peculiarity of form by studying other island universe. ' It seemed incredible-that we .should be able to postulate the appearance of the earth as it would look from the moon and other planets, but this has been successfully accomplished. In all departments the astronomer had reached the solution of celestial phenomena purely by deduction. The lecture was illustrated by a number of appropriate slides.
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Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1940, Page 22
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165ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1940, Page 22
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