Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-06-10

marked as highly characteristic OF an
extensive and we'll known class Of stars
termed variable stars" or stars va
riabie in their brightness and conse-
quent visibility through periods OF
time, extending in the different cases
from few days TO many years. and
occasionally. it is believed, to several
centuries. Thus the star termed by
astronomers Argol. or Persei, varies
in brightness from the second to the
fourth magnitude, and back again. in
the short period OF two days, twenty
hours and forty eight minutes. Lyrf
varies from the third to the fifth mag
nitude, and comes back to the third
again, in xix days and nine hours.
Omicron, or Mira Ceti, varies from the
second magnitude to complete invisI-
bility, and reapPears and comes up to
the second. magnitude again in three
hundred and sixty -four days. Argus
varies from one of the very brightest
Of the stars Of the first magnitude in
the whole heavens down to a most in
considerable one Of the fourth magni-
tule, and blazes ont again up the first
magnitude in about forty-six years !;
while r. Gopher varies from the fifth
magnitude down to the eleventh mag
nitude, or visible only in a very pow
erful telescope, and returns to the
fifth which is visible TO the naked eye,
in about seventy three years. Now
these stars, no matter how much they
may vary in brightness, are no more
lost and persisted in space when they
fade away and disappear to US, than
our sun is when hid from our view at
night by the intercepting body Of the
earth. Neither are they moved out
Of their Gxity of place nor deprived
of any of their mass or gravitation-
governing power over their attendant
planets, any more than our sun Is,
when, at times, now known to be pc
rioaic and subject to law, his bright
surface is dimmed by many dark spots.
Hence, the simplest supposition to ex-
plain the observed phenomena Of the
star iifty-ffth of Hercules is, that it
is one Of those variable stars" in
which case it still undoubtedly exists
in its own place, and will again ap-
pear TO view there at some future
time. But mere telescope details can
effect only the few: while the gener-
al public is rather thirsting for a
taste OF some good big star which all
can see. Was there not such star,
they ask, brighter than any of the
orbs which We have before us now, to
be seen once in the constellation Of
Cassiopeia; and did it not burn and
blaze though several years in varied
colors, Just like a world on fire, and
then disappear and leave its place alb
soIutely vacant 49, Such a star was
certainly seen by all the northern
world in 1873 and 1874, but not pre-
viousl y to that until, at least, You
ascend the stream Of time to 1864,
when temporary apparition of the
same sort appeared in the same part
Of the sky ; and again the same thing
is reported in history to have occur
red in the year 945 \. D. So that
here again We have merely an extreme
case of variable" star, with an in
tense though short lived maximum OF
light and long continued minimum.
But so far from being now-because
ITS minimum is below human visibility
"A lost, lapsed or destroyed star, it
may be, and probably is, going on in
ITS own place according to laws which
1t has followed in the past, and will
continue to follow for countless mil
hons of Years, without a moments
cessation at any time. And in fact
the sequence OF the numbers 945.
l"G4, 1879, lead astronomers to ex-
re't IT'S reappearance AT some time
previous TO lS9O. And if it does
shine forth again at that time, and
prove itself in the scientific world TO
lie "a variable with period of more
than three hundred years, it will not
only get the nature OF its light we'll
examined by spectroscopic analysis,
hut will strengthen that variable
star explanation" for the benefit of
many other temporary stars with still
longer periods OF time, and longer
We lay advissdiy, because only one of
their maxima Of brightness is known
10 have been witnessed vet through
all the human period. Such were the
intensely bright star in Serpen,arius
IN 1904 A. D.; the bright star in
Scorpio in 900 \. H.: another in
Aquila in SIS \. n. and still anoth.
er in $50 A. u rot to say anything
OF the still more celebrated and classic