The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-06-04
Sirius.

4
every inch of his farm.
Sirius
Sirius derives a certain Importance
from the fact that it is the brightest
DIT the fixed stars. Aside from this it
has many points Of peculiar interest,
and recent researches have brought it
forward in connection
with certain Investigations made at
Green witch on the motion of stars in |
the line of sight.
Most cauSual observers of the hea- |
vens are familiar with the "Dog Star"
shining in unrivalled brightness in the
southern sky through the evenings of |
winter and spring. 1t is in the cons
stellation of the Great Dog which,
with its companion, follows the hun
ter Orion around the sky. Sirius,
Boeyon in CAMS Minor, and BeteJge-
use in Orion, are the angles of a tri-
angle, nearly equilateral, and are thus
readily recognized. The evil influen>
ces which the ancients associated with
the Dog Star,
Whose burning breath
Taints the red aic with fevers, plaques and
are due to the fact that it Is above the
horizon during the hot months of
summer. 1t was supposed to have
very dlreful effect in producing var
ious diseases amorg men and hydro.
phobia in dogs In a large telescope
it is most brilliant object, suggest
ing, however, nothing more serious
than injury to the eye by it's excessive
brightness Sir John Herschel estim-
ates its light to be over three times
that of the average first magnitude
star, and 1924 times the brightness of
| oae of the sixth magnitude.
La the Harvard Photometry," the
publication embracing the results Of
the most systematic measurements OF
stellar brightness ever made, the mag
nitude of Sirius is given as lab. This
means that if the scale OF brightness
were continued below l, through @
and downward, Sirius would be placed
at this figure, or 243 magnltudes
brighter than first magnitude star
Ii the ratios of one magnitude to
another be taken as 213, this makes
Sirius about six times as bright as the
average star of the first magnitude
The next b. ightest star, Campus,
| is never seen in this northern lati.
tude; the next, Arcturus, does not
give more than one third the light OF
Sirius; SO that the Dog Star is easily
the brightest Of the stars. Nor, so faI
as we can tell, is this brightness the
result of nearness. 1t is Very def
cate matter to ascertain anything
about the distance to the stars. Ii
depends on the slight shifting OF
their apparent places due to a
change Ill the location of the earth
Every six months we move to a posi-,
tion 100000 Ct miles away from
the starting point. From this distant
point of sight we might expect a new
view OF the heavens, a new arrange
ment OF the stars among themselves
Yet the nearest of them, so far as w
know, and we have now prett,
good data for knowing, i
changed less than two second
of arc from its original position. 1t j
as if We. standing at the two ends 0
line /, yard long, looked at an objec
over one hundred miles away. Th
nearest star is bright one In tn
southern hemisphere; the next is on
barely seen by the naked eye, in tn
; constellation Cygnus. Sirius il
much farther away thai
either of them. Its PAL
allax is only two-tenths of a second
! that is, if the line from earth to tn
sun were represented by foot, Siriu
on the same scale would be nearl
two hundred miles away. Light tina
requires about eight minutes to com
to us from the sun would be sixteel
years On its journey from Sirius
J The news from the Dog Star is Away
sixteen years old.
What, then, must be the grea
splendor of this star if at such a dis
lance it gives so much light! 1t mus
far exceed our sun in brilliancy. In
, agination may affiX to it retinue o
worlds, planets, and moons, and com
cts, and meteors, of which it is tn
light and controlling force. We ma
argue, with great show of reason tina
ali this energy must have life where
on to expend itself. We may g
so far as to assume that, a
Sirius is more splendid than our SUI
so may Its dependent system be NOR
: intricate and more extended than our;
But across the great void which seq
arates us we may hardly expect eve
to trace, except by analogy, the char
: ter and the details of this system. w
~udN0 oOUuo u1I6CG ofIucuCO uOWON6
of attendant worlds. Many stars hav
motion of their own. After sepaIa'
ing from the problem all the change
which are only apparent-that is, du
to the motion of the point of observe
tion-there remain certain move
ments which represent real motto
of the stars in space. This motion
changing their positions among eac
other, and altering the confguratio
of the heavens. The Dipper is chang
ing its shape. The pointers will i
course of time not point to the Mort
Star. Arcturus is believed t.
have moved in the sky over
distance to the moons diameter sine
, the first recorded observations. Sil
lus, too, was motion; but after seve
raj decadesrof observation it was foun
that this motion was not straight
but that the great sun shifted irregu
ldrly from side to side as it advanced
These variations, it was found, coul
be accounted for on the supposition @
satellite which revolved around Sir
JUS in an orbit. The direction CT tn
satellite was computed and followe
in the tables as readily as it could
Seen.