Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-06-03

THE method OF iindingthe distance 81
the stars, or stellar pafullax, Is one OF
tho interesting problems of modern AS
tronomy. In the days OF old the stars 4
were supposed TO hold the same posi-
tion in regard TO each other from age
20 age, and were, therefore. called fixed
stars, 60 distinguish them from the plan-
cts. Nothing can he further from tho
truth. The telescope shows that the
stars are In constant motion, but that
the rate Of motion is SO slow that thou-
sands OF years must elapse before the
eyc oaa parceiVa tho ohankel Some
stars are coming toward us, and some
are receding from us. The sun, which
is only q star, Is moving with all the
planets in his train Our earth, which
is but an atom among atoms, is whirl-
ing, no one knows whittier, through IL
limitable space. Even the serene hoav-
en- above us is this same space pcrvad-
ed by an infinitely subtle ether, whose
particles ara seething and surging like
the waves of the stormy sea. The mo-
tinn OF the stars once established, II must
follow that some Of them are nearer to
us than others. and very persistent and
palnstaking have been the efforts TO find
ont which OF the shining suns of space
re our nearest neighbors.
Success has, however. crowned pa
tient labor Among the dtty million
stars that glimmcr in the ornament,
there are about dozen stars visible-in
our latitude that have a parallax rang
ing from a tonth To half q second. IL
would be natural to suppose that the
brightest stars are the nearest, but this
il far from being the case, The nearest
star in the northern heavens Is double
star Of the fifth magnitude in the Swan,
known as 6i Cygni. The brilliant Si-
rius is nearly twiceas lar away. The
nearest star in the whole heavens Is
Alpha Centauri, "a bright star near the
south pole. This has n parallax of
nine-tenths of u seeonds and is twice as
near as any other star, Its distance is
computed rs more than two hundred
thousand times our distance from the
sun, or twenty millions Of millions OF
miles. II such be theinconeeivabled dis
tance separating us frOnathe nearest
star, what idea can thaa Unite mind
! form of the immensity II space inter
vening between us and tho more re-
motep
Vigorous work is now Being done in
stellar parallax by what is called Bos-
sells method. A star with proper mo-
tion, or one that has been found TO APP
proach or recede from the sun, is se-
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 TO be farther away
! The star with proper motion will change
/ its position in regard TO the more re-
I mote ones when observed from differ
/ ent parts of the earth's orbit. Some
! interesting and intricate work of this
4 kind has been successfully completedat
| Mr.. Seagrave's private observatory by
! Mr.. Waldo and Mr., Seagrave. The
, problem was to determine the parallRX
OF u star called Theta CassiopeW. This,
by measuring its position and distance
from two small stars In the vicinity;
was found TO be less than one-tenth OF
second. These enthusiastic astrono-
mers worked upon the problem from
the first of September 1878, to the tirst
| OF November, 1879. During that time
they made measurements Of each star
on one hundred and twenty nights. A
trained eye, keen perception and mathe-
I matical precision, as we'll rs 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 triumplis, and those who
would become practical astronomers
must give their nights to observation
and their days to study.--troUidetscc
/ (R. ~ JottrHal,