Arizona weekly enterprise., 1881-12-03
Arizona Weekly Enterprise
SUNS.

SUNS.
 Fhs Dstdnce from the Edrth to the Sitn md ths FiDcd Stars-The Spaces Fun oT lNDlsH.
 Prof. Richard A. Proctorl
 When we look at the skies on cnlIn, clear night when all the myriads of stars are shining, the least thoughtful mind is impressed with the idea that solemn calm reigns there. One is in- clined to believe that all those suns are in state of perfect rest The astrono- mer sees that they move. They have Several different movements. These, however, are only apparent. The turn ing h 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. It is absolutely noth- 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 30 fur away. The nearest of ll 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 consid- cred the nearest to us is Alpha Ceutauri. think am justified in saying that it is the only one whose distance from the earth is absolutely known. Forinstance, No. 6l of the constellation of the Swan is said to be the second ill distance from us Its distance is said by some to be three times as great as that of the near est star, which lies twenty millions of million < miles from us. An Ameri- can astronomer, Peters, makes it only twice as far. Hence, between the two calculations there is an error of at least ten millions of millions of miles.
 The trouble is that astronomers can not get space enough to work upon No base line of sufficient length can be obtained for the calculation by triangu- lation of such enormous distances. But we know that these stars lie so far away that the sun would be small star be- side one of them. The sun is not a star of the first magnitude, but we shall take him as a specimen star.
 In the first place, the sun lies at 8 dis tance of between 92, coo, 600 and 93, ,O0O,- coo miles from the earth. A train of cars going at the rate of twenty miles an hour would be 500 years in traversing that enormous distance. A cannon ball shot from Krupp gun would be thirteen years, if it could maintain the same rate of speed throughout the entire distance. Even light, which travels with velocity wholly 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 is just as far away from where he seems to be as he can travel in eight and one-quarter minutes, which Is 9.0O0 miles. And this leads us to the important thought that, if gravity travelled at only the same rate, the 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 a tremendous body. If we were on the sun gravity would crush us dat. Its light and heat are wonderful. The electric light has only one-third the average luster of the suns surface. square inch of the suns surface would give 300 times as much, and the entire sun one quadrillion times as much light as au electric light.
 We inquire whence the sun gets his power of making heat. It was once sup posed that the sun was fire. But even if it were of the best burning substance it would be used up in 5.0U0 years. The latest theory is that the suns heat is de rived from its own gravitating power ex erted on its own mass. The suns age i! another question. The age of the eartl proves that the sun must be very old but he should have shrunk more. think the sun is not~what he seems. think the surface we look upon is clouds and that the sun in reality is mucl smaller than the surface we view.