The music of the spheres

by Florence Armstrong Grondal

The moon is considered to be a matured globe, evolutionally old, and it has even been referred to as being nearly dead. Lacking, air, water, life and even the diversion of sound, it surely is at least in but a semi-conscious stage, as worlds go. Mars is also called an old world, but Mars has air, its snow-caps melt in sheets of water, and we view the colors which mark its seasons, across a distance of 50,000,000 miles. The moon looks as it is, seared and old. There have been many theories advanced to explain the abundance of its craters and their peculiar construction, but some modified form of the volcanic action is the only tenable one. No one theory has as yet met with universal approval.

A great telescope with a 100-inch lens has lately been erected at Mount Wilson, near Pasadena, California. The telescopes which have mirrors, like this one, are called reflecting telescopes. The largest reflecting telescope before the one now mounted on Mount Wilson became available, was the splendid instrument at Little Saanich, Victoria, B.C., which has a 72-inch mirror. A telescope in which the light rays pass through a series of lenses fixed in a long tube pointed directly at the object is called a refracting telescope. The Yerkes telescope at the University of Chicago is an unusually fine 40-inch refractor.

With the greatest of telescopes the moon may be brought to within 60 miles of the earth and a lunar object a mile or so in diameter is easily discernible. The imagination is entranced. All success to astronomers!

[PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY]

Acrisius—a-crish'-e-us
Ægean—ee-gee'-an
Ægeus—ec'-juce
Æsculapius—es-cu-la'-pe-us
Albireo—al-bi'-re-o
Alcyone—al-si'-o-ne
Algenib—al-ge'-nib
Algol—al'-gol
Alioth—al-i'-oth
Almach—al'-mach
Alnilam—al-ni-lam'
Alnitak—al-ni-tak'
Alpha Centauri—al-fa sen-ta'-re
Alphard—al-fard'
Alpheratz—al-fe'-ratz
Altair—al-tar'
Alwaid—al'-waid
Ambrosia—am-bro'-zhia
Amphitrite—am-fe-tri'-te
Andromeda—an-drom'-e-dah
Andromids—an-drom'-ids
Antares—an-ta'-rez
Aphrodite—af-ro-di'-te
Aquarius—a-qua'-ri-us
Aquila—ak'-wi-la
Aratus—ara'-tus
Arcas—ar'-cas
Archimedes—ar"-chi-me'-des
Arcturus—ark-tu'-rus
Ares—a'-rez
Argonauts—ar'-go-nawts
Ariadne—a"-ri-ad'-ne
Aries—a'-ri-es
Arion—a-ri'-on
Aristarchus—ar"-is-tar'-chus
Aristillus—ar"-is-til'-us
Asterope—as-ter-o'-pe
Astræa—as-tree'-ah
Atlas—at'-las
Atergatis—a-ter-ga'-tis
Auriga—aw-ri'-ga
Aurora—aw-ro'-rah
Autolycus—au-to-ly'-cus
Bacchus—bac'-cus
Bellerophon—bel-ler'-o-fon
Berenices—ber"-e-ni'-ces
Beta Centauri—be'-ta sen-ta'-re
Betelgeuse—bet'-cl-gooz
Boötes—bo-o'-tez
Caduceus—ca-du'-she-us
Canopus—ka-no'-pus
Canis—ca'-nis
Canes Venatici—ca'-nez ven-at'-i-si
Capella—ca-pel'-la
Castor—kas'-tor
Cassiopeia—cas"-se-o-pee'-ah
Caucasus—caw'-ca-sus
Centaurus—cen'-taw-rus
Centaur—cen'-tawr
Ceres—ser'-reez
Cepheus—se'-fus
Cerberus—cer'-be-rus
Cetus—se'-tus
Chaos—ka'-oss
Chromosphere—kro'-mo-sfer
Chimara—ki-mee'-rah
Chiron—chi'-ron
Constellation—con-stel-la'-tion
Coma Berenices—co'ma ber-a-ni'-ses
Copernicus—co-per'-ni-cus
Cor-Carolli—kor-kar-o'-li
Corona—ko-ro'-na
Crete—cre'-te
Cyclops—si'-clops
Cycnus—sik'-nus
Cygnus—sig'-nus
Danae—dan'-a-e
Dadalus—ded'-a-lus
Danaides—dan-a'-i-deez
Deimos—dei'-mos
Delphi—del'-fi
Diana—di-an'-a
Demeter—de-mee'-ter
Deneb—den'-eb
Delphinus—del-fin'-us
Dolphin—dol'-fin
Doerfel—doer'-fel
Draco—Dra'-co
Electra—e-lek'-tra
Elysian—e-lizh'-e-an
Erechtheus—e-rek'-thuce
Eridanus—e-rid'-an-us
Etanin—et'-a-nin
Eurydice—u-rid'-i-se
Europa—eu-ro'-pa
Formalhaut—for'-mal-o
Galileo—gal"-i-le'-o
Ganymede—gan-i-mee'-de
Gassendi—gas-sen'-di
Gemini—jem'-i-ni
Gorgons—gor'-gons
Hades—ha'-deez
Hecatoncheires—hec-a-ton'-sheires
Helicon—hel'-i-con
Hellespont—hel'-les-pont
Hercules—her'-ku-leez
Hesiod—he'-she-od
Hesperides—hes-per'-i-dees
Hesperus—hes'-pe-rus
Hyades—hi'-a-deez
Isis—i'-sis
Janus—ja'-nus
Juno—ju'-no
Jupiter—ju'-pe-ter
Leda—le'-dah
Leonids—le'-o-nids
Maia—ma'-ya
Markab—mar'-kab
Medusa—me-du'-sa
Merope—mer'-o-pe
Minotaur—min'-o-tawr
Minos—mi'-nos
Mintaka—min'-ta-ka
Mirfak—mir'-fak
Mizar—mi'-zar
Naxos—nax'-os
Neptune—nep'-tune
Nemean—ne-me'-an
Nebula—neb'-u-la
Nebulæ—neb'-u-lë
Oceanus—o-see'-a-nus
Ophiuchus—o-fi-u'-kus
Ossa—oss'-sah
Orion—o-ri'-on
Orpheus—or'-fe-us
Parnassus—par-nas'-sus
Pegasus—peg'-a-sus
Pelion—pee'-le-on
Perseus—per'-se-us
Phaethon—fa'-e-thon
Phœbus—fo'-bus
Photosphere—fo'-to-sfer
Phlegethon—fleg'-i-thon
Phœbe—fee'-be
Pirene—pi-re'-ne
Pleiades—ple'-ia-deez
Pleione—ple'-io-ne
Pluto—plu'-to
Polaris—po-lar'-is
Pollux—pol'-lux
Prometheus—pro-me'-the-us
Proserpine—pross'-er-pine
Prœsepe—prë-se'-pe
Procyon—pro'-cy-on
Regulus—reg' u-lus
Rigel—ri'-gel
Sagittarius—sa-jet-ta'-ri-us
Saturn—sat'-urn
Schickard—schick'-ard
Scheat—she-at'
Sirius—sir'-us
Tartarus—tar'-ta-rus
Taurus—taw'-rus
Taygeta—tay-ge'-ta
Thuban—thu'-ban
Tycho—ty'-cho
Uffizi—oof'-fid-ze
Urania—u-ra'-ne-ah
Uranus—u'-ra-nus
Vega—Vee'-ga
Venus—Vee'-nus
Vindemiatrix—vin-de"-mi a'-trix
Zeus—zuce

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LITERATURE CITED

Text Book of Astronomy—GEORGE C. COMSTOCK; D. Appleton and Co., New
York, 1903.

Descriptive Astronomy—FOREST RAY MOULTON; American Technical Society,
1923.

Popular Astronomy—SIMON NEWCOMB; American Book Co., New York,
Cincinnati, Chicago, 1892.

Manual of Astronomy—CHARLES A. YOUNG; Ginn and Co., 1904.