THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JANUARY SO, 1928, THE VALUE OF ASTRONOMY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20319, 30 January 1928, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JANUARY SO, 1928, THE VALUE OF ASTRONOMY.

The cabled information that the Smithsonian Institution has completed the instruments for the Observatory at Canberra may prompt a question in some minds respecting the practical utility of astronomy to society. Without a little assistance the average man is scarcely in a position to realise to what extent astronomers and observatories play a part in ordinary life. Like the stars themselves, the scientists who specialise in this branch of study do their work in the darkness and in silence. And doubtless many people wonder what object men have in view in devoting themselves to observing and thinking about the motions and phenomena of the heavenly bodies and even feel inclined to ask wherein the good of it all consists. But the more they look into the subject, and the wider the range which their studies include, the more will they be impressed with the practical usefulness of the science. As a matter of fact, says one of its devotees, astronomy is more intimately connected than any other science with the history of mankind. Chemistry, physics, and tho other branches of study are com. paratively modern, while the actual observation of the heavens has engaged the attention of men from a time prior to the beginning of authentic history. Mankind is placed under obligation to astronomy for two main reasons. The science has been the means of raising • our conceptions of the scale and glory of the universe, and it has made itself of value in the practical service of the race. Every sailor who goes far out of sight of land has to be something of an astronomer. While hi& compass tells him in which directions lie the four cardinal points, it supplies him with no information as to where on the wide ocean he may be, or whither the currents may be carrying him: More than the compass is required to complete the mariner's sense of security. Hence his training in what is called Nautical Astronomy. What is true of I the mariner is also the case with regard to the surveyor. In his work out in the wilds the surveyor must depend on astronomical observations to learn his exact position on the earth's surface and the latitude and longitude of tho camp he occupies. In the past he relied on his knowledge that the earth is round and that the direction of tho plumb-line is, therefore, not exactly the same at any two places. Astronomers and surveyors have now, however, very much more accurate instruments than the plumb-line and the eye, instruments by which the minutest deviation can be measured as well as detected. By the aid of astronomical observations tho greatest distances can be determined with almost perfect precision. Without the practical astronomer it would be impossible to make accurate maps of our own or any other country. Nor would a knowledge of times and seasons have been possible but for astronomers. From the changes of tho moon they were able to find the first month of the year, just as the revolution of the earth round the central luminary has given them the year itself. Wo seldom think of the astronomical origin of the calendars and almanacs that are in daily use in common life. But in olden times there were no almanacs, and time waa learned by patiently observing the movements, or the apparent movements, of the conspicuous stars. The'dates of events in ancient history were found by reference to the chronological cycles of astronomy. Eclipses of the sun and moon were often the only means of fixing the elates of outstanding events. Even now a knowledge of past astronomical phenomena helps us to find out the exact time when ancient events took place. The date of an occurrence that would otherwise be left in obscurity can sometimes be fixed by records that show that it was at or near the time of an eclipse the date of which can be precisely determined. It was pointed out in connection with the foundation of the Canberra Observatory that our fore-

fathers had to regulate their clocks by a sundial, or, it may be, by a mark at the corner of the house or other building, showing where the shadow fell at midday. The method was rude enough, but, worse still, it was not certain. That it is not exactly twentyfour hours between two successive noonc by the sun is known to the scientist, who is, because of his knowledge of the behaviour of the heavenly bodies, able to adjust matters in such a way as to secure practical and serviceable exactness. And so now at Canberra, as elsewhere, an astronomically regulated signal will be used in order to set clocks so that they may be perfectly correct timekeepers, In that way, too, increased exactness is given everywhere to the time on railroads, while increased safety is obtained, and great loss of time is saved to all who make use of them.

After all, however, the greatest debt of the world to astronomy is not on account of its usefulness in the several ways mentioned, but because of the enlarged ideas the science has given us of the universe iu which we live. As an American astronomer of note says, “ The more enlightened a man is, the more he will feel that whatever makes his mind what it is, and gives him the ideas he has of himself and creation, is more important than that which gains him wealth.” The greatest debt the world owes to astronomy is that it has taught us what a great thing the cosmos is and what Ein insignificant part of the whole is the earth. Astronomy has done signal service to mankind by delivering at least civilised peoples from the terrors that frightened men in times when eclipses have darkened the heavens or comets have stretched across the nightly skies. As a learned bishop recently reminded us, astronomy has also contributed to a much enlaiged theology, inasmuch as it is a corrective against theological narrowness and dogmatising. There is much more value than is at first sight apparent in adding to tho equipment at Canberra Observatory instrumental refinements for the purpose of “ measuring the sun’s heat at the surface of the earth ” and. the “ intensity of the sky’s brightness.”