The Red Cloud chief., 1880-07-15
The treat star DISEASES.

- Ut104 S&03 AkYeo8<S8
The method Of hndingthe distance Ct
the stars. or stellar p~zrailax. Is o a
the interesting problems OF modern As
,ronomy. In the DAYS Of old the stars
were supposed 10 aold the ssne posi-
ton in regard To each other from age
TO age and were. therefore. called txed
stars, To distinguish them from the plan
cts. Nothing can be further from the
truth The telescope shows ,ha; the
stars are in constant motion. but that
the rate Of motion il 50 slow tha, thou
sands Of years must elapse before the
eve can perceive the change. Some
stars are coming toward u. and some
are receding from IL. The sun. whtch
Is only n star. Is moving with al the
planets in his train. Our earth. which
IS but An atom among atoms. Is whrl-
iny. no one knows whittier, through H.
limitable space. Even the serene hesv-
en- above Us i, this same space pcryad-
ed by an infinitely subtle ether. whose
particles are seething and surging like
the waves Of the stormy sea The mo-
ton 81 the stars once established. IL must
follow that some of them are nearer 10
Us than Others. and very persistent and
painsiaking have been the efforts 10 ind
out which of the shining suns Of space
are u nearest neighbors.
Success has, however, crowned pa
tent labor. Among the fifty million
stars that glimmer ia the ornament,
there are about a dozen stars visible in
our latitude that have a parallaN rang
ing from a tenth 10 half a second. IL
would be natural To suppose hat the
brightest stars are the nearest, but this
is far from being the case. The nearest
star in the northern heavens i a double
star Of the fifth magnitude in the Swan.
known as 81 Cygni. The brilliant 81
RUS is nearly twice as far away. The
nearest star in the whole heavens il
Alpha Centauri, "A bright star near the
south pole. This has a psrallaX of
nine-tenths Of a second. and il twice a.
near As any other star. Its distance Is
computed as more than two hundred
thousand times our distance from the
sun. or twenty millions of millions Of
miles. IL such he the uncomfortable dis
tance separating US from the nearest
star, what idea can the finite mind
form Of the immensely Of space inter
vening between us and the more re
mote?
Vigorous work is now being done in
stellar p~arallax by what is called Bes-
sells method. A star with proper mo-
ton. or one that has been found To APP
proach or recede from the sun. is Sc
lected. and its position is compared
night after night by means Of the mi
crometer with other small stars in the
vicinity having no proper motion. and
therefore presumed 10 be farther away.
The star with proper motion will change
its position in regard tn the more re-
mote ones when observed from differ
ent parts of the earth's orbit. Some
interesting and intricate work Of this
kind has been successfully completed at
Mr.. Seagrave's private observatory by
Mr.. Waldo and Mr.. Seagrave. The
problem was To determine the parallax
of a star called Theta Cassiopea. This,
by measuring its position and distance
from two small stars in the vicinity;
was found To be less than one-tenth of
a second. These enthusiastic astrono-
mers worked upon the problem from
the first of September, 1873, to the frs,
of November, 1879. During that time
they made measurements of each star
on one hundred and twenty nights. A
trained eye, keenpercep,ion and mathe-
matical precision, as well as patience
and persistence, were involved in the
solution of this delicate and intricate
problem. These are the means by
which astronomy has won its most
brilliant triumphs. and those who
would become practical astronomers
must give their nights to observation
and their days to study.-ProUidence
Or. ~ Journal.