He expected that in the course of a few weeks he would be able to give
some new information about the planet Jupiter and its moons, and Saturn
and its rings. He hoped also to give a fuller description of the hills
and valleys on the desolate surface of the moon.
Unfortunately his hopes will not be fulfilled for a long time to come.
But eight days after the first peep had been obtained through the great
glass, a very unfortunate accident happened in the observatory.
The elevating floor of the telescope gave way, and fell forty feet, to
the bottom of the dome.
Two astronomers had been observing the stars the entire night, but
happily they had left the building just before the accident occurred. As
good luck would have it, the great telescope was also uninjured, but a
great deal of damage was done to the building.
It is estimated that it will take the whole summer to tear out the
wreckage and make the repairs.
During that time the telescope cannot be used. This is a great
disappointment to the scientists.
We told you of the labor entailed in the grinding of a lens.
Mr. Alvan G. Clark, the man who made the great glass of which we have
been speaking, has just died.
He and his father and brother had devoted their entire lives to the
making of telescopes, and made many of the famous glasses of the world.
The great glass at the Lick Observatory, which measures thirty-six
inches across, is of their manufacture.
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