HELPING ASTRONOMY

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18062, 7 March 1923, Page 8

HELPING ASTRONOMY

Possibly one day there may be a o'reat astronomical observatory in New Zealand, and Astronomy will then no more be neglected, as lias been the case in. the past. To-day’s cable news tells us that the United States lias New Zealand in view for a high pmver observatory. Now, that may not mean very much, and then again it may mean a very great deal, lor the United States is lavish in its lifts to scientific research. Theheavens of the Southern Hemisphere are wondrous liamc-s oi. mvriad constellations, stars without number dimly showing lo the naked eye, with thousandsmillions - wai ting to be picked up” by the higli-power telescope.

Condition,« in New Zealand for astronomical research are better than in the southern poi’tion of the United States; Wellington’s big hills are more valuable than the observatory on America's Mount Hamilton. Ii America does happen to favour us., the ■New Zealand Government will have cause to feel somewhat ashamed of itself for its neglect of astronomic science. To-day, too few people look outside the Earth. We all have experienced the feeling of infinitesimal size on a clear night, when the moon is shining, when Mars and Venn's are able to be seen, when every star testifies to the existence of a million worlds of a size that is far greater than that of the Earth. With small telescopes we can discern the continents and dead sea bottoms of the Moon—yet, in the whole of Hew Zealand there is not one telescope by which observers can work and calculate successfully. The bursting into flame of a “new” star, the count-loss changes in, appearance ox terrestrial bodies, eclipses, comets, should be watched carefully from these far Antipodes. It is to be hoped sincerely that the United States will give us the means of assisting our tiny hand of ISFew Zealand astronomers in pursuing their valuable studies.