Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-01-17
Our Vast Universe May be Only in Its
Infancy and Not in Its Dotage.
Discoveries Made by the SpeetrOscope
Shed New Light on the Siderial
Heavens.
Some Orbs 100000 Times Larger
Than the Earth and $4,000
Times Heavier.

I
/ that astronomical discoveries have ever
raised is whether planets reyove IN the
! light Of all or any OF the millions OF stars
scattered through space. 1t has been
! demonstrated that many, and probably
most Of the stars are suns greater 10y faI
! than our sun as glyers of both light and
/ heat Mr. L.0ckyer's speculatlons as to
| the meteoritic origin of the celestial bodies
may lead us to think that many OF the
/ stars are, as yet, merely clouds OF nieteors
and not tiny solar bodiesi bat TINS does
/ not alter the fact that their luminosity
exceeds the sun S or that, no matter what
their present condition may be. they Will
ultimately reach stage OF development
| closely resembling that of the sun. If the
! stars are meteor born, 50 Is the sun. And
! if the greater majority OF the stars are as
/ yet only condensing swarms OF meteors,
| then we are led to the most interesting
conclusion that the universe, taken as
whole, is in its infancy rather than ITS
adolescence, much less Its dotage.
! 1t is common to hear people SPEAK OF the
| possibility of the stars being inhabited.
! This can only be granted upon the suppol-
| ton that the inhabitants dwell on planets
revolving upon the stars, for modern
studies of the sun have completely upset
I Herschel's idea that the heat and light of
! the solar orbs come to US from an envelope
of very clouds surrounding a cold and hab-
/ liable globe 1t is not easy to resist the
single argument, from analogy IN favor OF
the existence of such planets especially If
we admit that the same laws OF develop
ment which produce our solar system are
in operation throughout space. Recent
discoveries of spiral nebul@, closely resem-
bling in aspect some of the stages OF exist
ence through which the suns system must
once have passed if the nebular hypoth-
esis is well founded, greatly strengthen
this view of the case The phenomena Of
double and multiple stars not only furnish
evidence of the extension of the law OF
gravitation to other systems, but demon
strate the existence of stellar assemblages
whose members sustain to one another re-
/ lations similar to those which bind our
/ planets to the sun
/ Still there has been hitherto no dis
covery of any body that could properly be
called planet revolving around any OF
the stars. The wel-knowi double stars
are simply pairs of suns, each shedding its
/ light and heat upon the other, while both
revolve around their common center Of
gravity. In the case of triple stars we
! find something Glossy analogous to the
phenomena presented by the sun, the earth
| and the moon. The moon reyolves around
| the earth. and the earth, carrying the
moon with it, reyolves around the sun.
| Just so in. a triple-star system we behold
enc star revolving around another, and the
! two together revolving around q third.
! The resemblance goes even further, for
the smallest star of the three reyolyes
around the second in size, and that IN its
! turn around the largest Another step,
however, and the analogy breaks down, Tor
/ the earth and the moon are Opaque bodies
simply rejecting the light of the sun,
while all the members of Il tripe-star sys-
TEN are solar orbs. Moreover. the earth
and the moon are practically almost IN
! fnitesimal in magnitude as compared with
the sun, while the smaller stars in the
! triple systems are comparatively large
bodies. In the matter Of distance, too,
there is a wide difference, the components
of multiple stellar systems being generally
separated from one another b. far greater
distances than that of the earth from the
sun,
But some recent discoveries are calculat-
ed to awaken the hope that we shall
eventually obtain at least partial solution
Of the question of the existence Of planets
in the sidereal systems, says the New
York Sun. The spectroscope, which has
achieved so many wonderful things for the
astronomers, has again proved their friend
in this case. and, aided by photography,
has detected the existence of double stars
so close that no telescope could possibly
o., ~ 2 l,1g AiGr 4 D9
some OF the stellar doubles thus discovered
consist Of luminous star and a non-Mmi-
nous one We have but TO adopt a differ
ent phraseology, suggested by analogy,
and these strange couples are presented
to our minds as sun and planet.
Perhaps the most remarkable OF these
interesting doubles Is the celebrated star
Algoi, the periodic variations of whose
light have been known and watched for
/ centuries. Professor NOgel spectre
sc0pic Investigations indicate that There
is dark body revolving around the star
in period of less than three days, AID at
"a distance of about 3 $50 600 miles, Ac-
cordirg to computations based upon the
data obtained by Nogel the diameter of
! Algol is |, 10000 miles, or $4,000 miles
greater thar that Of our sun, while he
diameter OF llS strange tbiu Ndiil'AF VI
satelite. is $4,000 miles, being 10000
miles less than the suns. But the denslt
Of these huge bodies is singularly slig ht'
so that their combined mass is only two
! thirds ~ great as that Of the sun. From
this it Is easy to see that the dark member
Of the system, the planet if we may SO call
ii. l. more than million times as large as
the earth, and about 50 600 times as
heavy. There is one consideration. indie
pendent Of its slight density. which would
| seem to dispose Of the possibility that
this STRANGE planetary consort Of AIS d
can harb0r living beings
Another star that has a close companion.
which. although itself invisible. reveals it's
presence by the effects Of it, attraction up
ia it, brilliant neighboz, Il splca the
leader Of the constellation Eigor and one
/ Of the most beautiful stars in tbe heavens.
Here there Is no such eclipsiDg Of the
light of Spica by the dark attendant as oc-
ours with Algol, and the data thu, obtain
"a is far less complete than those Of the
/ last-named star. il would seem. however,
that In this instance also Che planet. if
4 planet it be, Is Of enormous deminslons
/ and rsvolyes very close to its primary the
/ dis nee being estimated at from 5000 90
/ to 1 100000 miles bigel the splendid