Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-04-25
THE GIANT SUN.
tremendous Size and Power OF
Sirius, the Dog-Star.
-. ,tobt Exceeds That of Our Sun,
u,ose Diameter Is But One-Sev-
enteenth of His, Nearly Five
Thousand Times.

I'D If astronomy the above title may
,nnear little strange. For surely our
.ap must be considered giant, giant
n DIE, as Sir John Herschel says, land
liant in strength. but withal benevo-
isrt giant. being the almoner Of the al.
~irbtv. the delegated dispenser to us OF
XXI and warmth, the immediate source
all our comforts, and indeed Of the
,sry possibility of our existence" Is
there then any orb in the heavens su.
,arior to our sun, and more worthy tc
be styled giant?
In comparing things on earth, we look
upon this our planet as giant, relative
10 the size of any thing terrestrial; our
brbest mountains, our deepest oceans,
are but spccks compared with the huge
mass Of the earth. Then look at Jupi.
ter the noblest Of the planets, acting as
Subordinate sun to his system of sat
elites. This globe is hundreds OF times
larger than our world, and it's mass even
eyceeds the combined mass of all the
other planets. Yet vast as is the bulk
Of jupiter. he seems dwarfed into insig-
nifcanee compared with the suns mag
pifcent globe; a thousand Jupiters
would not make up the volume of the
sun nor outweigh his mighty mass. To
speak Of any other orb as being giant
Fun, would seem to imply that there ex-
ITS in the universe globe bearing some
such proportion to the sun as the sun
does to Jupiter, or Jupiter does to our
earth Inconceivable as the idea OF
such globe may be, it is, however,
such a globe that / now wish to de-
scribe As tie late Richard Proctor said;
Mighty as is the globe of the sun,
there is an orb more than thousand
tines yaster Grand as is the scheme
ruled by the sun, and inconceivable as
are the forces exerted by the sun upon
the CRIBS which circle round him, there
is a sun which eXerts forces many times
more mighty on orbs which themselves
| p0Iably exceed our sun in mass and
volume. Magnificent as is the concep-
ton that our sun with its attendant fam
lily Of planets is sweeping through space
sta rate of two or three hundred miles
every minute, the sun of which speak
carries far mightier train through
space at rate many times greater. :"
LOOK towards the south any clear night
during the winter months, and YOU will
sc. low down, star which will imme-
dately arrest your attention, not only
by its superior brightness, but also by
IT pt, Af
hent red, at another green, at another
shlte. Ihls is Sirius, the famous Dog
Har OF the ancients, the most brilliant
star IN the heavens and the largest
Known orb in the universe. 1t is diff
Cult to conceive that this beautiful star
sag globe much larger than our sun: yet
Is TACT that Sirius is a sun many
more times mlghtier than our own. That
splendid star, which even in our most
powerful telescopes appears as a mere
point OF light is in reality globe emit
"Hg 50 enormous quantity of light and
leat that We're it to take the place of
our sun, every creature on this earth
'oulo be consumed by its burning rays.
eflus shining with greater luster
mah any other star, it was natural that
sronomers should have regarded this
a. oelng the nearest of all the fixed"
sAtS' Out recent investigation on the
S'''alceS OF the stars has shown that
"7 nearest to Us is the Alpha Centauri,
s@f belonging to the southern lati-
NueS, though it is probable that Sirius
4oout fourth on the list in order of
S SI For though there are about
.'een or twenty stars whose distances
1--WE oeen conlectured, the astronomer
auo"S that in reality all of them, save
~,ee OF 1our lie at distances too great
NC measured by any instruments we
s4,e aV pres Mt. Astronomers agree in
1iAs the distance of the nearest star
representation of millions of miles;
S eau Is certain that the distance of
-'u> Is more than three and less than
H. ''-leS that of Alpha Centauri, most
49, ABOUT tive times; so that we are
.'ao-y not far from the truth if we
,le distance of Sirius at about a
NJ, 1N'eo million of millions of miles,
vast distance is this which sepa-
Us from that bright star; words
1 cures of themselves fail to convey
W., o't minds any adequate idea of its
0ue character.
IT,. "Ne common example of illus
e,l.s Such enormous distances: 1t is
-'at'a that the ball from an Arm
s Eng hondred-pounder QUITS the gun
- speed of about four hundred
co'S3 per second; now. if this velocity
few w kept up. it would require no
E},n "aa ten million years before the
H. .. 1o''o reach SiriuSl Again, take
H. ,"'i'eSi form of velocity of which
b,,,rl lave any knowledge, light, which
Es ,ss at The RATE OF nearly two hun
H. '"'uSond miles per second, or about
H. million miles minute, yet the
ro.. +u'e OF Sirius is 50 vast that it takes
~ twenty years for its light tc
-. U.s. So 'sat II Sirius was suddenly
f,psin..,v extinct. We should not be az.
Whence, '''0' VII twenty 9'"''
La sue work the astronomer has to
- o'uer to calculate these distances
@s VI The greatest problems he has
[,,H.-' anu the manner of his investi-
Erw''' may not he out of place. By way
w.. u,1S'tation, take room having two
po. s'o"S king in the same direction;
Eto,,.; anu al enc window and select a
~ onleet. say tree, and notice the
h e'oh IN which it stands in relation
H., surroundings; then look from the