The sky was divided into zones, and astronomers were invited to
measure the positions of all the stars in these zones. The observation
of two of the northern and two of the southern zones were undertaken by
American observatories. The zone from +1 deg. to +5 deg. was undertaken by the
Chicago Observatory, but was abandoned owing to the great fire of 1871,
and the work was assumed and carried to completion by the Dudley
Observatory at Albany. The zone from +50 deg. to +55 deg. was undertaken by
Harvard. An observer and corps of assistants worked on this problem for
a quarter of a century. The completed results now fill seven quarto
volumes of our annals. Of the southern zones, that from -14 deg. to -18 deg. was
undertaken by the Naval Observatory at Washington, and is now finished.
The zone from -10 deg. to -14 deg. was undertaken at Harvard, and a second
observer and corps of assistants have been working on it for twenty
years. It is now nearly completed, and we hope to begin its publication
this year. The other zones were taken by European astronomers. As a
result of the whole, we have the precise positions of nearly a hundred
and fifty thousand stars, which serve as a basis for the places of all
the objects in the sky.
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