This work is now being carried through the
southern hemisphere on a large scale by Thome, Director of the
Cordoba Observatory, in the Argentine Republic. This was founded
thirty years ago by our Dr. B. A. Gould, who turned it over to Dr.
Thome in 1886. The latter has, up to the present time, fixed and
published the positions of nearly half a million stars. This work
of Thome extends to fainter stars than any other yet attempted, so
that, as it goes on, we have more stars listed in a region
invisible in middle northern latitudes than we have for that part
of the sky we can see. Up to the present time three quarto volumes
giving the positions and magnitudes of the stars have appeared.
Two or three volumes more, and, perhaps, ten or fifteen years,
will be required to complete the work.
About twenty years ago it was discovered that, by means of a
telescope especially adapted to this purpose, it was possible to
photograph many more stars than an instrument of the same size
would show to the eye. This discovery was soon applied in various
quarters. Sir David Gill, with characteristic energy, photographed
the stars of the southern sky to the number of nearly half a
million. As it was beyond his power to measure off and compute the
positions of the stars from his plates, the latter were sent to
Professor J.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162