PEERING INTO SPACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20252, 11 May 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

PEERING INTO SPACE.

COLOSSAL TELESCOPE.

COMING WORLD'S MARVEL

A SIXTEEN FEET MIRROR.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

A mighty telescope, capable of peering four times farther out into the universe than the largest instrument at present available, is about to be constructed in America for research purposes. A gift from the National Education Board to tho scientists of tho California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, this huge instrument will be twico the sizo of tho 100-inch Hooker telescope at tho Mount Wilson Observatory, California, and is expected to take three years to construct, writes Mr. A. 13. Geddes, in tho Newcastle Weekly Chronicle. The monster mirror of this .amazing reflecting telcscopo will measure 200 inches across. Three short.men, each sft. 7in. in height, lying end to end across the mirror would span it. A fair-sized lane could be run clown tho inside of the telescope tube. Tho weight of the mirror will be 30 tons —equivalent to tho weight of 15 fair-sized motor-cars.

Tho mirror will also be unique in that it will be made entirely of fused quartz instead of glass. Tho chief reason for this innovation in telescope making is that glass mirrors have always proved to be subject to changes in temperature. The lens, shaped only for one particular forcus point, would expand with an increase in tomperaturo or contract with a decrease, bending or flattening the curve of the lens to such an extent that the light rays would either fall short of the focus point or bo projected beyond it. Thus would the object observed through the instrument appear distorted and 'out of focus. Direct Study of Sun's Surface. Tho quartz mirror of the new telescope is calculated to be unaffected in this- way and is looked upon as a revolutionary step in the history of reflecting telescopes since it thus eliminates one of'the principal disadvantages of the reflecting type while its advantages over the refractor still remain to its credit.

This new type of mirror will enable astronomers to study the sun's surface directly, a thing never possible before with reflecting telescopes. One of the principal advantages of a telescope of the reflecting typo over the refractor is that the light and clarity of the object observed is not seriously diminished by having to pass through a number of thick glass lenses before it reaches tho eve.

It is calculated that (he new monster aid to astronomical science will reveal to man half-a-biUion stars that lie has never seen before. These he will doubtless require to name or number and place on his wonderful maps which are so complete with the stars ho can see to-day. The .astronomer may, however, find tho job of labelling these new stars too much for him, and simply brand the lot "objects invisible in ordinary instruments" and be content to group them into constellations or confine them within the simple- squares of latitude and longitude for tho convenience of reference. Size of the Visible Universe. The size of the. universe visible,to man with telescopes now available compared with the si7.o of tho earth can bo illustrated by comparing half the area of Scotland (o a minute cubo ono seventhousandth of an inch in diameter. Tho visible universe will bo increased eightfold when the new telescope is ready, and (ho proportion will bo something like twice the size of England and Wales to the cubo already described —a cube which one would never bo aware of did it enter his eye—our much vaunted earth!

Mr. Geddes says:—"The new telescope will, say scientists, enable observers to see stars which do not exist! Or, perhaps it should be said stars which 110 longer exist. Either statement may, however, stem peifectlv ridiculous to (be man in the street. Light travels at a tremendous speed, reckoned to be 186.000 miles a second. But the nearest star to the earth is such a vast distance away that the light from it lakes years to travel from it to us; hence what wo may see happening to, or on, that star really happened years ago. " In spite of what the poets say, stars are not everlasting objects. They live their flaming lives and eventually each has to die out after burning away for millions of years. Even though their lives arc so long the .light from those able-to-be discovered stars have such an inconceivable distance to travel to us that their light is still travelling and still reaching us long- after many of them have ceased to exist. Sun, Moon and Mars. " Not by any means, however, will (he stars claim the entire attention of the new wonder telescope, for are we not constantly wondering about our neighbours, the sun. moon and planets? And Mars, above all—tho Red Planet around which so many rumours have been spun concerning tho possibility of there being people like ourselves there. " According to Dr. 11. N. Russel, of Princeton Observatory, the surface of Mars will be seen so clearly with the new instrument that we will be able to tell 'if tho weather in a certain ,spot is warmer or colder than it was the night previous.' " This scientist also says that a nightly weather map of Mars will bo possible, and that the much-discussed ' canals' and other features will bo examined in groat detail. It is well within the bounds of possibility that man may at last find conclusive proof concerning the possibility of there being intelligent beings like himself on Mars, or any other of our neighbouring worlds."