Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-09-11
FACTS ABOUT THE sum.
Not so Large - It Seems When Com
paced With Aroturus.

paced with Arcturus-
There are three well-defined classes
Of stars. judged by the quality OF hght
they yield. In the first class are the
clear white and blush white stars like
Sirius and Vega
These are supposed to be the hottest
stars and the most luminous in proper
ton to the extent of their surface.
Then there are the golden yellow or
pale orange stars. OF which Arcturus
and Capella are fine examples.
These have begun to cool. Finally,
we have the deep orange and red stars
like Aldebaran and Antares. These
have advanced still further in the
cooling process.
Now the spectroscope informs us
that our sun belongs TO the orange or
Arcturus type, and if we could view it
from distant space we should see
lovely star OF pale golden yellow.
The question arises, then, how far
would our sun have to be removed in
order to shine with a brightness no
greater than that OF ArcturusP
According to Mr.. Maunder il would
have to be removed to 140, 900 times
its present distance, or about half the
distance between us and Alpha Cen
tauri.
But Arcturus is IL, 500, 600 times as
far away as the sun, and If our sun
were placed at that enormous distance
its diameter would have to be eighty
two times as great in order to give n
| light equal to that received from Arc
turus.
l hesitate to present such figures,
says writer in Scientific American,
implying magnitudes far beyond any
to which we have been accustomed,
yet they are but the logical deductions
Of observed facts.
In other words. upon Mr.. Maunder't
reasonable assumption, Arcturus muS,
be gigantic sphere $50. 600 times
larger than our sun, with q diameter
of 20, 900, 900 miles, or more than large
enough to fill the entire orbit of mer-
curry. To make this contract clearer
let us institute a simple comparison.
Jupiter is larger than all the otheI
planets and satellites of the solar sys.
tenn.
The sun is little more than I, 900
times larger than Jupiter; but Arctur-
us, if our information is correct Is
500 900 times larger than the sun.
BY the side OF such majestic orb
our sun, grand and overwhelming as
it is in our own system, would dwindle
to an insignificant STAR
Contemplating world SO vast, en-
dowed with such mighty energies, and
rushing with such resistless force
through the great deeps of space, we
cannot resist the questions: Whence
came this blazing worldp Whittier is
it bound? What is its mission and
destinyp
Is it simply visitor to our sideEeal
galaxy, rushing furiously through it
like cometp 1t is being constantly
fed and enlarged by the worlds ID en-
counters and the meteoric matter it
gathers up in its wonderful Journey
What would be the effect il it CHANGED
to pass through the nebule of star
clusterp Was the new star which sud
denly blazed forth in the nebulm Of
Andromeda in 1876 due to q similar
caused
AS this mighty aggregation OF attrac-
tive energies sweeps along his celestial
path, thickly bordered with stellar
worlds, how many of those worlds will
yield forever to his disturbing forcesp
How many will be swe~ved from
their appointed courses by his frre-
sistible power? How many win plunge
into his fiery bosom and be swallowed
up as pebble is swallowed up by the
ocean,