The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25


dimensions of Sirius by this means.
Bright as the Dog-star appears to the
naked eye, in the telescope it appears as
a mere point of light; and even in the
largest telescopes constructed, though
its light is greatly increased, definite
disc or outline, as is seen in the planets,
is quite undiscernible; for if the power
of a telescope was sufficient to ''raise
disc on the star, it would be almost an
impossibility to distinguish it, owing to
it's great brilliancy: for as Sir William
Herschel tells us, when Sirius was about
to enter the field of view of his forty
feet reflector, 1.-The light resembled that
which announces the approach of sun
rise;' and when the star was in the field
of view sit appeared in all the splendor
of the rising sun, so that it was impos-
sible to behold it without pain to the
eye."
Now, if astronomers could measure
the disc of Sirius, they could from that
determine it's distance and measure its
dimensions; but as no outline is appreci
able, they resort to comparing the light
received from this star with that which
we receive from the sun, and by this
means they are able to form some con-
clusion as to it's probable size. After
the most careful comparison of the
light of Sirius, the sun and other stars,
astronomers agree in fixing the volume
of Sirius as exceeding our sun nearly
five thousand times, and his diameter
as exceeding our suns seventeen times,
so that the diameter of this giant orb is
probably no less than over fourteen mil
lions of miles,
To the philosophers and scientists of
the last century, it must have appeared
incredible that at any future time scien-
tific discoveries would have enabled US
to tell with certainly the composition of
the stars. Yet during the last fifty
years the science of spectrum analysis
has so far advanced, as to give us unde-
niable proof of the existence of certain
elements in the sun and also in the
stars, similar to those with which we are
acquainted on earth AS DR.. Higgins
says: eve now need not teach our chill
dren that little coup,et Twinkle,
twinkle. little star, how l wonder what
you are! because we really know: we
have in the place of wonder, knowl
edge" Of this method Of ascertaining
the composition Of distant body by it's
light, it is sufficient here to remark that
it is due to the fact that, when ray of
light has by means of the spectroscope
passed through a glass prism, it is
spread out into broad band comprising
all the cOlOrS of the rainbow. This
band or spectrum is in the case of the
sun and other similar bodies crossed by
a number of fine dark lines, which cor
respond to the various elements present
in their constitution. Now, if certain
gases, such as hydrogen or sodium, be
burnt and their spectra examined, lines
similar to those in the suns spectrum
will be found: and if the two are COM
pared, the presence or absence of such
elements IN the sun may be inferred.
BY this means of spectrum analysis it
has been found that the sun contains
large number of terrestrial elements, in
Guiding hydrogen, iron, sodium, magne-
SUM, zinc, lithium, copper, oxygen and
many others; of these, the first four
mentioned have been discovered in
Sirius: and doubtless most of the others
exist also, as the spectrum of this star
resembles that of our sun in all essen
tial respects, though it can not be OBJ
served under the same favorable con-
ditions.
By means of the spectroscope a very
wonderful discovery had been made re-
specting Sirius. Astronomers has no
ticed that this star was in rapid motion
through space, as it was found that year
by year it was changing its position in
the heavens, traversing in about fifteen
hundred years space equal to the ap-
/ parent diameter of the moon, at a veloci-
ty of no less than twenty miles per
second. Of course, by actual observa-
ton the only motion capable of being
detected would be that which was square
to the line of sight, so that although
Sirius appears to us to move across the
heavens, he may really be travelling in
slanting direction, either towards or
from us. No one would ever have ex-
pected to be able to tell whether a star
was approaching to or receding from US,
yet even this seemingly insolvable prob
lem has of late years been accomplished
by the spectroscope. DR.. Higgins, our
greatest authority on this subject, hav-
ing identified certain lines in the spec
trum of Sirius as those of hydrogen,
found on comparison that these were
displaced in such manner as to indi-
cate that the star was receding from US.
1t has been estimated that this recess
sion combined with the thwart motion
of twenty miles per second, gives as the
actual movement OF Sirius in space
speed of about thirty-three miles per
second.
These, then. constitute some of the
cn1ef Items OF information about Sirius
al present within our knowledge.
There seems to be no reason to doubt
that. in common with other suns he has
bis system of planets circling round
him after the manner of our own sun;
and what system! Vast as ours ap-
pears, 1t is dwarfed into insignificance
compared with a system whose ruling
orb IS five thousand times larger than
that which does duty for us. There
seems also no reason to doubt that these
planets are intended to be the abode of
lie; 1t may be that at the present mo-
ment none of them present any signs of
lie; but think we may safely infer
without improbability, that each one of
those worlds has destined period in it's
development during which, life, similar
10 mat which now prevails on our planet.
would be in existence. What world
such one would be. in size perhaps not
inferior to that of our sun, himself