The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-10-19
THE STAR ARcTuRus.
the King OF Suns, More Than Half a
Million Times Greater Than our sur

Garrett +. Serviss, the Astronomical io,r.
nalist, has lately given some valuable infor.
NATION as to the latest discovery concern.
ing the great star Arcturus, which according
TO the latest calculations is no less than
10,5O0.0O0 times as far away from the earth
as the sun Is. Mr.. Serviss saws: You know
that the light OF star or Of the sun varies
inversely as the square Of the distance. II
the sun were twice as far away as ii is now
we should get one quarter as much light
from It, Careful comparisons have shown
that Arcturus actually sends to the earth
about one twenty-billionth as much light as
the sun itself. But If the sun were removed
10000 times as far as 1t now is, 1t would
shine as star no brighter than Arcturus.
Yet Arcturus is 10. 100000 times as far awav
as the sun. Dividing that by 100000 we get
the number 50, which may be taken as a
measure Of the diameter Of Arcturus as com.
pared with the diameter of the sun. The SUMS
diameter Is 666, 900 miles, and therefore, the
diameter OF Areturus must be about II COO.
600 miles and its circumference 224. OOO. Goa
miles! In bulk 1t is 551, 600 times as great as
Arcturus, having 50 times the diameter NJ
IN sun, must shine, Ii every point on 1t is as
bright as corresponding point on the sun,
OLA times as brilliantly as the sun does be-
cause the surfaces of spheres vary as the
squares OF their diameters. Such q globe as
near to us as our sun is would fill half the
sky, but we could never exists In such prox-
unity to so tremendous sun as that. If the
| earth could be moved through space toward
Arcturus. or II it could fall to Arcturus. as it
would probably do but for the protecting
| arm that is extended by our own sun at close
| quarters, the spectacle that would be pre-
sented to its inhabitants as they approached
that great star would be of Undesirable
magnifcence.
When we had arrived within something
less than 8,000,0 100000 miles of Arcturus its
| light and heat would be equal to that which
we get from our sun at a distance of only
$3.50 1000 miles. When we got as close to it
as the distance Of Neptune from the sun the
gush OF its heat would begin to be upbear-
able; at the distance of Jupiter from the sun
1t would smite the earth with the resistless
energy OF its radiation. The forests would
Durn, the ocean would rise from their beds
In vapor, the very ground would smoke, and
before we could approach as close as the
| earth Is to the sun the whole globe would
| have been melted, Ii not dissipated In vapor.
Arcturus is truly king among stars, and our
sun, great and brilliant as he is, If dropped
| into the blazing philosophers OF Arcturus,
| would be instantly swallowed up, and the
| only visible evidence of its fate would be a
sudden flash, and then, perhaps, a quickly
vanishing blot on the brilliant surface of the
great star, where the downward rush of the
doomed sun had swept In a breath of cooler
vap0r from above.
But 1t is worth while stopping a moment
10 consider the effects of the gigantic at
traction OF such gigantic body as Arcturus.
IF we suppose that Arcturns could be an
inhabited world. it is natural to speculate on
the tremendous size of its Inhabitants Vol
talre in his 'MicrOmegas', tells story of an
inhabitant of planet belonging to Sirius.
or the dcg star, who was SO large that when
or ha nnHfta 6.a
through its oceans without wetting his
ankles. but the astronomers have shown that
the probability as to the size of the inhabi-
tants OF these great orbs Is just the other
way, that because they are large their CRAWL
tation must be so great tnat their inhabi.
tants. instead of being proportionately large.
would Re exceedingly small. If, however,
we suppose that the size Of an inhabitant of
Arcturus should correspond with that of
the globe upon which he dwells, he would be
the otherhand, small In proportion to the
size of that globe. and the general opinion
of astronomers Is that he would be small
rather than large. then he would be only
eighth one-thousandth of an inch tall. But,
unless we are to agree with Herschel, who
thought that even the sun might have living
inhabitants under the crust of blazing clouds
by which it is surrounded, we must assume
that 1t would not be possible for any living
being to dwell upon the star Arcturus."
"Doesn't Arcturus have a great MANY
planets to which ours is very small affair? ?"
"Arcturus may have great family of
planets pr0p0rtiOned In size to the tremen-
dous size of the star itself. If that gigantic
sun has its planets on the same pr0portionate
scale as our system, then planet belonging
to Arcturus and corresponding in compare
tive size and place to the earth would be
GOT, 900 miles In diameter and 10000 900 miles
around. or half as large as the sun itself. but
Its distance from Arcturus would be enor-
nous as compared with the distance of the
earth from the sun. A planet corresponding
to Jupiter would be more than 000, 900 miles
in diameter, and over 22,000,000 in circum-
ference. Think how very small its inhabi-
tabts would have to be in order to stand
the force of its gravitation."
but we would rather think of the natives
OF ATcturus' planet as being very large"
well. although all scientific probabilities
are in favor of their being small In proper
ton as their worlds are large, yet it is inn
possible for us to say that nature may not
have provided In such cases for the existence
Of people proportioned for the size of the
globes on which they dwell Little mi
croscopic creatures few hundredths Of an
inch In hight would scarcely be suited to the
conquest and development of mighty worlds
as large as or larger than our sun itself,
that's fact. Let us suppose. then, as being
more accordant with our own ideas of the
fitness OF things, that the inhabitants of
these big planets bear some proportion to
the globes which are their homes. 1t does
not follow that they should walk upon two
legs and move perpendicularly as the in
habltants OF the world do. Mature could
readily provide for the Introduction of INTEL
ligence, the comprehension of wit and humor
among creatures having no legs at all and
crawling on the face of their planets as DIR.
Whewell imagined that the inhabitants OF
the plants Jupiter might do"
What sort of atmosphere DO you think
the ATcturian breathes?"
"A variation in the atmosphere of these
planet might lead to wonderful variety In
Ine wolKings and forms OF life upon them.
IL won't DO Tor us to assume that our atm os-
phere OF oxygen and hydogen is the only
one capable OF supporting life. There might
be q thousand forms of vegetation more won
derful. more beautiful than anything exist
light of Arcturus and of some Of the other
stars is 10 itself an indication that there must
be great variation In the forms and condi-
lions OF life existing within their rays.
Ihat has always been a point Of disagree
ment between those who have speculated on
one side or the other upon the question of
life In other worlds. Some insist that there
can be no intelligent life except in bodies
like those OF man, but the broader view, and
the one that seems to me far more probable
ana reasonable, Is that there can no more be
limit to the forms land constitution of the
bodies In which life may be contained than
there Is limit to the number and variety of
the heavenly orbs themselves.
GU know That In recent years astrOnom-
ers have been able to place the different
stars into ranks or orders according to their
spectroscopic composition. Our sun be-
longs to a certain order, the dog star to an
other, and Arcturus to still third. But
there is also progression from one order to
another. We cannot assume that the sun
has always been, and will always remain,
as we now see it, 1t will get either hotter
or colder, we cannot as yet tell which. The
probability is that 1t will get hotter. Sirius,
the dog star. is hotter than the sun, because
It IS not surrounded as the sun Is with a
consist probably of iron and other metals re-
duced by the tremendous heat there to the
condition OF gas or vapor.
Arcturus, on the other hand, has a dem
ser ana deeper cloud of these vapors sur
rounding 1t than Is the case with the sun,
AT the same time there are Indications of an
| intense heat glowing beneath the yapors. SO
that II 1t Is true that the progress of SIMS is