CAWTHRON OBSERVATORY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 21 May 1914, Page 6

CAWTHRON OBSERVATORY

TESTS FOR A SITE. A meeting of the Scientific Branch of Ike Nelson Institute was held on Monday evening, when Mr T. Field took the*chair and a large number of members were present. Mr F. G. Gibbe gave a full account of Mr Evershed's visit to Nelson* and of recent developments in connection with .the Cawthron (Observatory. The- following is a brief resume of. Mr Gibbs's remarks.

Mr Evershed's chief method of investigating the suitability of the various localities as possible sites for the observatory was by, projecting- aw eightinch image of the sun upon a piece of white cardboard by means of a telescope. The edges * of the projected linage were then closely examined, and according to the amount of steadiness displayed, marks were allotted from to five. Simultaneous observa were taken every half-hour by Mr Evershed and his volunteer assistants, who were posted with their telescope? at different positions. The results showed that nearly all the sites exam in ed near Nelson gave perfectly satisfac tory resulps, and therefore there was r wide range of. choice. In all probabili ty the site -would not finally be de cided upon until a lai-ge number of ad ditional observations had been taken One very marked. feature of the Nelsor rites- was that the seeing remained fair Iv uniform throughout the whole day. At all the observing stations in othei parte of the -world, the seeing is good for only a couple of hours in the early morning, and perhaps for a short time again in the late afternoon. The continuance of good teeing throughout the day at Nelson is an advantage of great importance. With regard to the future, Mr Evershed and Professor Hale were corresponding with the chief makers of as ♦ronomical instruments and equipment on behalf of the Caw£hron Observatory, and some of the parts that took longest to make had already been ordered. Plans of the chief buildings and equipment as recommended by Professor Hale were exhibited and explained to ■fch* meeting. The next important step would probably be the appointment of a Trust Board, in whose hands the management of the Observatory would be placed. When a Director had been appointed he would probably complete the investiga- i tions begun by Mr Evershed as to * the j best site for the Observatory, and ther> supervise the erection of the building and instruments. An interesting discussion followed •upon the address, after which the chairman announced that at the next meeting, to be held some time in June, Mr Wofley would read-a paper dealing with the Government Bulletin on the geology of the Dun Mountain district.