The curiosity to see the heavenly bodies through great telescopes
is so wide-spread that we are apt to forget how much can be seen
and done with small ones. The fact is that a large proportion of
the astronomical observations of past times have been made with
what we should now regard as very small instruments, and a good
deal of the solid astronomical work of the present time is done
with meridian circles the apertures of which ordinarily range from
four to eight inches. One of the most conspicuous examples in
recent times of how a moderate-sized instrument may be utilized is
afforded by the discoveries of double stars made by Mr. S. W.
Burnham, of Chicago. Provided with a little six-inch telescope,
procured at his own expense from the Messrs. Clark, he has
discovered many hundred double stars so difficult that they had
escaped the scrutiny of Maedler and the Struves, and gained for
himself one of the highest positions among the astronomers of the
day engaged in the observation of these objects. It was with this
little instrument that on Mount Hamilton, California--afterward
the site of the great Lick Observatory--he discovered forty-eight
new double stars, which had remained unnoticed by all previous
observers.
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