Volcano Peak as Science Station

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18009, 20 November 1926, Page 17

Volcano Peak as Science Station

30,000 Miles Search for Ideal Site. TUNNEL IN CRATER. travelling 30,000 miles, Dr C. G. Abbot, of the Smithsonian Institute, has discovered what is believed to be an ideal site for a new astronomical station. The institute has been searching for the best site in the Eastern Hemisphere to erect a solar radiation station, and after this enormous journey a spot has been discovered in the crater of a volcano in South Africa. A “Daily Chronicle’’ representative was told at Greenwich Observatory recently that the institute wishes to expand its knowledge regarding the effects of solar radiation of light, heat and other effects on the earth.

One particular point of interest is the effect of the sun on weather conditions here. Had it not been for the wild tribes in the neighbourhood of Khojak Peak, seventy miles north-west of Quetta, this mountainous region would have been chosen for the statio, because sky conditions are superb. Dr Abbot, in his search for the ideal site, went into the Sahara Desert, and across Egypt, and also visited Mount Sinai. Finally he came to Mount Brukkaros, in South-West Africa, 200 miles south of Windhoek, and twenty miles from the railway- a lonely enough spot for anv scientific expedition. Windhoek is the capital of Damaraland, lately German South-West Africa, now a British manate land. The mountain is an isolated peak 5300 feet above the sea and 2000 isst above a great plateau. The astronomers will find a brilliant sky, and the heavens at this point can be observed very clearly. Sometimes there is no rain for ten months at a time. At the top of the mountain, which is of volcanic origin, is a crater, and in this crater a tunnel is to be excavated for the bolometer, the instrument which is used for the measurement of solar radiation. Messrs W. H. Hoover and F. A. Greeley, two astronomers frmo the Smithsonian Institute, are going to take charge. They will live in a cave on top of the volcano. Active co-operation of the South African authorities has already been obtained. Mr A. Dryden, the Public Works Inspector of South Africa, is tsupervise the building of-the new st tion.