The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-05-12
THE SUN AND HIS BROTHER SUNS.
The Distance from the Earth to tho Sun
and the Fixed stars.


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When we look at the skies on calm,
clear night, when all the myriads ofstars
are shining, the least thoughtful minds
impressed with the idea that solemn
calm reigns there. One is inclined to
believe that all these suns are in state
Of perfect rest. The astronomer, how
ever, sees that they move. They have
several different movements: These,
however, are only apparent. The turn
ing of the earth upon its axis and its
movement around the sun cause these
movements to appear. The astronomer
recognizes the stars as in one sense still
or fixed. But the star depths are full of
noise and tumult. Go into some manu-
factory where mass of machinery is in
motion, where there is scene of great
energy and noise. 1t is absolutely moth
ing compared with what is going on in
the depths of space.
We are able to understand this when
we know that the stars are so far away.
The nearest of all the stars lies at such
distance that our own sun, set beside it,
would seem to be an ordinary star of the
second magnitude. The star which is
considered the nearest to us is Alpha
Centauri. think / am justified in say
ing tnat it is the only one whose distance
from the earth is absolutely known. For
Instance, No. 81 Of the constellation of
the Swan, is said to be the second in dis
tance from us. Its distance is said by
some to be three times as great as that of
the nearest star; which lies twenty
millions of miles from u.s.. An
American astronomer, Peters, makes it
only twice as far. Hence between the
two calculations there is an error of at
least ten millions of miles.
The trouble is that the astronomers can
not get space enough to work upon. No
base line can be obtained of sufficient
length for the calculation by triangula-
ton of such enormous distances. Butwe
know that these stars lie so far away that
the sun would be small star beside one
of them. The SUN is not a star of the
first magnitude, but we shall take him as
a specimen star. As, in the last lecture,
the earth told US the history of q planet,
so the sun can tell us what will be the
history of the star. Sirius is larger than
the sun. He lie,'at least four times as
| far away from the earth as the nearest
star, Alpha Centnuri. That star removed
to the same distance from us would shine
with only one-sixteenth of his light.
But as he is four. times as large he shines
with W sixtYsfoar ieiines the light oftthat
star. .He alsogiyss, two hundred times
4 as much light as the sun. If from a
square mile of Sirius we get the same
amount of light as we do from q square
mile of the sun, then he must be
two hundred times as large as the sun.
IF then we are to take our sun as a SAM
|ple of the great suns that are scattered
broadcast through space, let US carefully
consider him. -. -
In the first place the sun lies at a dis
tance of between 92,000,000 and 93,000,-
600 miles from. the earth. A train of
cars going at1theIate of twenty miles an
hour would be 500 years in traversing
that enormous distance. A cannon ball,
shot fromya Krupp gun, would be thir-
teen years, if it could maintain the same
rate Of speed throughout the entire dis
tance. Even light, which travels with q
velocity beyond conception, takes eight
and one-quarter minutes in reaching US.
Hence the sun is not in the place where
he seems to be. he isjust rs far away
from. where he seems to be as he can
travel in eight and one.quarter minutes,
which is 5000 miles. And this leads us
to ths important thought that if gravity
travelled at only the same rate, the whole
solar system would he thrown out of
gear. The planets would have their
paths so widened that they would not
get the right.Jamount of .heat-and light
from the sun. Hence gravity traverses
distance at the rate infinitely greater
than the velocity of light.
The sun is a tremendous body. 1t ne
we're on. The sun gravity would crush us
fiat. It's light and heat are wonderful.
The electric light has only one-third the
average lustre of the SUMS surface. a
SQUARE inch of the suns surface would
give three hundred tirnesaas much, and
tie eMsire sun one quadrillion times as
much Tight. We inquire whence the
sun gets bis power of making heat. Itwas
once supposed that the sun was fire.
But even if it were of the best
burning substance it would be used
up in FIVE, thousand years. The
latest theory is that the SUMS heat is de-
rived from its own gravitating power
exerted ON its own mass. The sums age
is another question. The age Of the
earth proves that the sun must be very
old; but he should have shrunk more,
I think the sun is not what he seems. |
think the surface we look upon is clouds,
and that the sun in reality is much
smaller than the surface which we view.
Richard d. Proctor.