But, notable as are the services rendered to science by giant
telescopes, it remains that by far the greater bulk of useful work has
been done by apertures of less than twelve inches in diameter. Indeed,
it may be asserted that most of such work has been done by instruments
of six inches or less in size. After referring with some detail to
this, Denning tells us that "nearly all the comets, planetoids, double
stars, etc., owe their detection to small instruments; that our
knowledge of sun spots, lunar and planetary features is also very
largely derived from similar sources; that there is no department
which is not indebted to the services of small telescopes, and that of
some thousands of drawings of celestial objects, made by observers
employing instruments from three to seventy-two inches in diameter, a
careful inspection shows that the smaller instruments have not been
outdone in this interesting field of observation, owing to their
excellent defining powers and the facility with which they are used.
Pages:
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150