The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1881-05-10
WOODSFELD, MONROE COUNTY, OHIO TUESDAY, MAY TO- 1881

IA /, MAI w, 1901.
THE SUN AND HIS BROTHER
SUNS.
The Distance from the Earth to the
Sun and the Fixed Stars.
Prof. Richard A. Proctor in N. Y. Tribune.
When we look al the skies on a calm,
clear night, when all the myriads of stars
are shining, the least thoughtful mind is
impressed with the idea that a solemn
calm reigns there. One is inclined to
believe that all those 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 man..
ufactory where a mass of machinery is
in motion, where there is scene of
great energy and noise. 1t is absolutely
nothing 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 are 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 consid-
cred the nearest to us is the Alpha Gen.
tauri. I think am justified in saying
that it is the only one whose distance
from the earth is absolutely known. For
instance, the constellation of the Swan
is said to be the second in distance from
US. Its distance is said to be three
times as great as that of the nearest
star, which lies twenty millions of mill
ions of miles from US. An American
astronomer, Peters, makes it only twice
as far. Hence between the two calcula-
tons there is an error of OF least ten
millions of millions of miles.
The trouble is that astronomers can
not get space enough to; work npon.-
No base line can be obtained of sufi
cient length for the calculation by trian-
gulation of such enormous distances
But we 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 specimen. As, in the last
lecture, the earth told US the history of
planet, so the sun can tell US what will
be the history of the star. Sirius is far
larger than the sun. He lies at least
four times as far away from the earth as
the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. 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 sixty four times the
light of that star. He also gives two
hundred times as much light as the sun.
If from a square mile Of Sirius we get
the same amount of light as we do from
square mile of the sun, then he must
be two hundred times as lFge as the
sun. If, then. we are to take our sun
as sample Of the great suns that are
scattered broadcast through space, let
US carefully consider him.
In the first place the sun lies at dis
tance of between 100000 and 93.-
600, 900 miles from the earth. A train
Of cars going at the rate OF twenty
miles an hour would be 500 years in
traversing this enormous distance. A
cannon ball, shot from Krupp gun,
would be thirteen years, if it could
maintain the same rate Of speed through
out the entire distance. Even light,
which travels with velocity wholly be-
yond conception, takes eight and one
quarter minutes in reaching US. Hence
the sun is not in the place where be
seems to be. He is just as 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 the important thought that il gravity
travelled at only the same rate, tue whole
solar system would be thrown out of
gear. The planets would have their
paths so widened that they would not
get the right amount Of heat and light
from the sun. Hence gravity traverses
distance at rate infinitely greater than
the velocity of light.
The sun is tremendous body. II
we were on the sun, gravity would crush
us fiat. Its light and heat are wonder.
full. The electric light has only one
third the average luster Of the suns sur
face. A square inch Of the SUMS sur
face would give three hundred times as
much light as an electric light. We in
quire whence the sun gets his power of
making heat. 1t was once supposed
that the sun was fire. But even if i!
were of the best burning substance il
would be used up in 5000 years. The
latest theory is that the suns heat is de-
rived from it's own gravitating power
|exerted ON its own mass. The suns
age is. another question. The age oi
the earth proves that the sun must be
very old; but be should have shrunA
more. I think the sun Is not what be
seems. think the surface we look up
on is clouds and that the sun in reality
is much smaller than the surface which
| we view