Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-05-01
THE COLORED STARS.
Solar systems wherein Our Un.
known Cousins have Green, Red,
or Blue sunlight.


One who has never closely watched the stars
is apt to suppose that they are all OF one color.
In fact, there are more colors among the stars
than among precious stones, and If most OF the
he will find, on looking further, that there are
others which can with equal fitness be hkened
to rubies, emeralds, or sapphireS. This fact
assumes new interest when Ii Is remem oered
that the stars are really suns and that many of
them are demonStraOly much larger than our
sun, which at their distance would be invisible
light, but the worlds lighted by some OF the
cOlored stars must have green, or red, or blue
sunlight. In some Of the double stars we see
two suns OF different colors, which, 1t may be
inferred, alternately shed their light on the
worlds dependent upon them.
Among the stars visible to the naked eye
this diversity of color Is not so conspicuous as
among the telescope stars Sir John Her.
schel, when at the Cape of Good Hope with
his big telescope, found cluster of stars OF so
many colors that they resembled casket Of
in sweeping along the Milky Way will find
colored stars of marvellous beauty. Some are
as red as drop OF blood; some orange hued
some green; some of the various shades OF
blue: some purple, and some OF unnamed hues
difficult to describe. The cOors of stars are never
so striking as when seen contraSted in some of
the doubles The commonest combination is
OF yellow star with blue or green one.
beautiful specimen OF this class, suitable for
small telescope, is Abireo In the Swan The
larger star Is orange yellow, and the smaller of
an an intense intense blue. With magnifyng power of
beautiful. The star Mizar, in the middle OF the
handle of the Great Dipper is an easily-sepa-
rated double whose component stars are white
and e1nerald-a splendid object The star
Beta. In the Scorpion, the most brilliant con-
S'ell8tton In the summer sky, IS double, the
coiors being white and lilac. The great star
Antares, on the Scorpions Heart, is red, and
powerful telescope reveals, within distance of
three seconds, a small intensely green star.
This green star was discovered by Gen.
ffaI,x Of
osculated by the moon. just a the great red
star was hidden behind the moons edge, the
little green fellow, which had been invisible in
inc glare OF It's pig nelgh0or, appeared 1or a
very famous double star Is the brilliant
Rigel. the second In rank of the magnificent
congregations of suns comprising the constel-
latiOn of orion. The large star Is white and the
small one sapphire blue. 1t requires good
telescope Of three inches aperture to show the
small star. power OF at least $50 diameters
should be used. In the double star r. Leporls,
pure white star is seen, combined with
brilliant crimson one. Epsilon BoOteS which
Admiral Smyth named Pulcherr1mum, on ac-
count OF its great beauty, consists OF two stars,
green. They are close together. and a power
of at least 200 On a three-inch telescope is re-
quired to satisfactorily separate them. Eta
CaSS1Opeia is a double, composed OF yellow
and bright purple star. Cassiopeia contains
several other doubles Of contrasting colors
that are worth looking at, the most beautiful
Delng sigma whose cOmpOnentS celOrS are
flushed white and indigo The splendid Aro-
turus, which shines with a rudy yellow light.
has little companion star OF a lilac or pink
ish hue. Castor, one of the celebrated. twin
stars in Gemini, consists OF two close stars of
nearly equal size one white and the other
green1sh. In the glorious cluster called the
Sword Hand of Persius, where the telescope
shows stars clustering as thickly as swarming
bees, several different cOlOrS may be detected
Among the naked-eye stars remarkable foe
their color. Sirius is white, but In certain con-
ditionS OF the atmosphere 1t flashes almost all
the colors of the rainbow. In the days OF Ptol-
Harp. is white, with strong tinge OF blue; AL
debaran, in the Bull, is rOSe-colored; Bete-
guese, in Orion, is tOpaz-hued; Capella is
lOW-N y ,CID