Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1881-10-27
DISTANCES OF THE. STARS.

entists who acknowledged the mo
ton of the earth-there we're some
who refused to accept the PROPOSE
tion-fancied the system of the
world as a structure confined to the
limits of Saturn's orbit, distance
from the central sun equal to 1O9,-
900 times the diameter of the earth,
or about S2O,000.OO0 miles. The
stars were fixed to the surface of a
sphere at distance little beyond
that of Saturn. Outside of this
there was generally thought to be
unoccupled space surrounding the
universe. The discovery of Ura>
nus in 1885, completely destroyed
this girdle formed anciently by the
orbit of Saturn. At single bound
the frontiers of solar influence were
carried back to the distance of T.
! 700, 100000 miles from the centre
of the system !; that is to say, far
beyond the space the stars had been
imagined to occupy.
The discovery of Neptune in
1916, again carried back these lim-
its to distance that hitherto had
been thought appalling. The Or
bit described by Neptune is traced
at distance of more than $780,
100000 miles from the sun. But
the attractive power of this immense
star extends far beyond this dis
tance. Beyond the orbit of IRA
nus, beyond the path hidden in
gloomy distance and slowly traced
by Neptune, the cold wastec Of
space are lighted up by comets /;
those swift, dishevelled wanderers
through the hea7ens which dash
headlong into endless flight, retrac-
ing their course whenever some at
traction allures them, and carried
by an eccentriclty having no paral-
lei among other heavenly bodies,
fall into parabolic and hyperbolic
orbits. Some of these remain COM
pletely under the control of the
sun. They do not fly from system
to system, but, nevertheless, recede
to distances which surpass by far,
those of Uranus and Neptune. Hal
leys comet is one Of these. 1t pen
etrates space to distance Of more
than three thousand millions OF
miles from the sun. Such is the
comet of 1911 which moves off to
distance of nearly forty thousand
millions of miles. Such again is
the comet of 1850, whose farthest
distance from the sun is placed at
eighty thousand millions of miles.
At that vast distance the sun ap-
pears no larger than star like
Sirius. Still the influence of the
powerful monarch of our system Is
.eit. The comet hears his voice.
1t turns back toward him, and re-
traces its path to bathe itself in the
rays of our mighty luminary, after
a Journey that has required more
than forty-four centuries TO accom-
ylish, its entire orbit comprising
$500 years.
These numbers, great as they are,
can hardly be compared to those
which express the distances Of the
stare. In establishing these dis
tances the base of the triangle with
which they are connected has been
the diameter of the earth. But in
our efforts to measure the distances
of the stars this small base has to
be abandoned. Happily for our
correct judgment Of the extent OF
the universe we are able to find a
base extended enough to find the
distances OF a few of the stars. The
earth in its revolution around the
sun forms a circle, or in fact an ell
lipse, which has diameter of near
ly two hundred millions of miles.
ibis is our new base line.
Since the revolution of the earth
is annual, it is found at any mo-
ment we choose to select, at q
point opposite to that where it was
found six months before, or to that
where it will be found six months
later. In other words, the distance
of the earth from any point in its
orbit to the point at which it will
! be fonnd in six nicnths is nearly
two hundred millions of miles. The
procedure then in measuring the
distance of star from the eartI,
consists i'll making a minute obser-
vation of the position Of the star at
an interval of six months, or rather
during the entire year, and seeing
if the star remains fixed, or if il
suffers slight displacement from
the earth in its motion around the
sun. If it remains fixed, we con-
clude that its distance from as il
lmmeasurable, or in other words
that two hundred millions of miles
are as zero when compared to the
vast interval that separates the
earth from the star. If it is dis
L IL