ITEMS OF INTEREST August 14, 1909 ISSUE

ITEMS OF INTEREST

The third largest reflecting telescope in the United States is on its way from Cambridge, Mass., where it was made, to Flagstaff, Ariz. It is designed especially for planetary photography and will first be used in photographing Mars when the planet will be nearest the earth next month. The mirror is of forty inches clear aperture, seven inches thick, and weighs nine hundred and seven pounds. It was made from one piece of glass and has a focal length of eighty-one feet four inches. By means of a convex lens an equivalent focus of 1,050 feet may be secured. The mirror is mounted in a cell of unique design, constructed of zinc and iron in such a way that it maintains a uniform diameter at all temperatures.

Postmaster General Hitchcock is endeavoring to improve the appearance and quality of the United States postal card. Postal cards are row manufactured under a private contract which has yet five months to run, but already bids have been invited and opened for furnishing them to the department for four years from Jan. I. Seventy-five million cards must be turned out each month. It is the desire of the postmaster general to change the printing on the cards, and possibly the color of the paper, so that they will compare favorably with the postals of the other countries composing the Universal Postal Union.

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