The Grenada gazette., 1888-01-28

!, Now, Sirius is one Of 4 fam,,v ., -.
which, though not distinguishable. s,' !,
: ~ least, not ver7 obviously distineuisi
aole' ron other suns by their appea,
aneA can be easily dlis.inruisheifS iSIi' :
means Of that wonderful instrument !
re,eatch' the spectroscope. To Il
NAKED eye the stars Of the same fhmil,
- Sirius present a steely whitenes:
very easily to be distinguished from En-,
creamy even rather yellowish white a
tae stars which resemble our own ann
Sirius Vega. Affair and other starr nd, .
the tirst magnitude present this steel,
Or Dluish-white tint, but It Is recopniss'
oie also In many stars which arc not 3,
the first magnitude. or even Of the sec,
ond. !he spectroscope. however. give,
tne only trustworthy evidence by which
the stars Of this class arc to be distin.
guished. The light Of Sirius, sifted
out oy the spectroscope. is remarkable
ior the great strength and breadth
Of the dark lines Of hydrogen-in
other words, the four particular tints
which @ hydrogen is capable of emit
ting, and, therefore, Of absorbing. arr
SO strongly absorbed by the hydrogen
around Sirius as to show that that
hydrogen is much greater in quantity
and is much denser than the hydrogen
around our sun. There is no mistak.
ing evidence of this sort. 1t is what
we might have expected in the case of
sun much larger and much more
massive than our own. II we had
recognized it in Sirius, without know.
ing, as we do. that Sirius is much
larger than our sun, we might have
inferred the superior size Of Sirius
from this popularity alone. How
much more certainly, however, do we
recognize the force of such evidence.
when We find it corresponding with
what We had already learned other
wise! Now, out of six hundred stars
observed by Sccchi with the spectros-
cope, half were found to present
'hc peculiar spectrum with strong lines
of hydrogen. indicating an extensive
envelop of this gas, much dcnser than
the hydrogen round the sun. Among |
these three hundred stars, some, like |
the tirst-magnitude brilliants Affair
and Vega, are known to be very much
larger than our sun. We may safely
infer that every one Of these stars (haif
Of the total number observed by Sec
chi) are Of this larger class, so much
larger than our sun, as we find from
The typical case of Sirius, that we are
obliged to set them in separate class.
Thus, then, there is family or system
IT giant suns superior to our own in
glory, In size. and doubtless in might
'lso. II we, apply to these bodies the
'ame kind of reason which has been al.
eady applied to the planets, and has
'esn confirmed by their'aspect, we in
er that these giant suns have much
onger stages Of -sun-life; and that, on
he whole, they are much younger than
'ur sun, so far as development is con-
'erned, having, in fact, passed through
much shorter portions of their much
onger lives.
! may add that discovery recently
made, seems to show that for centuries
We have had evidence, whore VIC
hould certainly have little expec ted
O. find it, respecting the giant suns.
t has been found that among the me-
eoric visitants of our earth are some
which arrive with velocities so great
hat even the mighty attractive energy
I Our sun, is not able perceptibly to
liter their courses, while the swift I
ush of our earth upon her course :
round the sun is almost as rest COM
ared with the tremendous velocitics '
nth which these bodies enter the solar r
ystem. As a shower of rain is af- n
scted in apparent direction by our 5
notion through it in carriage. .
s q shower of bullets from long n
ange rifles would not be, so meteors II
ordinary velocities, to 80, 40, SO. or n
ven 1000 hundred miles per second, ?
re affected in their apparent course o
, the rush Of the earth through them '
t . rate tof lSl miles per second. .
Tut now metcors have been dis J!
overcd and classified which rush into q
he solar domain with such velocities n
hat the carth's motion in her orbit Is q
y comparison as nothing. For three u
r four months in succession, largely
hough the earth changes the direction u
I her motion in that time, these mete- v
rs come from the same apparent d. u
sction, or, in technical terms, have n
.e same apparent radiant on the IL
slestial sphere. Regarding ordinary
Ieteors as having had their velocities
nparted to them by the sun, or by the
liant planets. as have, I think, shown
, be probable. whence else can these
xtra swift n,eteors have derived their
mazing velocities but from the giant
,nsp Strange If it should come to be /;
roved by steady mcteoric inflow from G
nohanging directions that the giant d
,us &, %l,o Gor,, onornv NJ fhoi, oarlv =