The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-18
The Glory Of Sirius. Surprising
Even the %splendor Of Our
Great Sun.
Two Hundred Times as Large as
tho Brilliant Orb OF
Earth's Day.
Some ef tbs Companions Of slrius-Not
Friendly With Them, Keeping
Far Away.

II facing the south, wo raise our eyes to
the starry heavens any night this week we
cannot fail to see on tho meridian a very
brilliant star, intensely white, with a
sapphire tings. It ia Sirius, the leader of
the host Of heaven, a glorious object. far
exceeding our sun in size and splendor.
1t is the leading brilliant in CAMS Major,
and though elassed as a star of ths first
magnitude, gives four times AZ mnoh
light d any other star visible in our lati-
tuas. 1t would DO natural to infer that
this star Is nearer to us than its COM
panions. Such ia not the caae. Several
smaller stars are nearer to us than the
brilliant orb that holds = place in the
heavens at 4 distance Of at least 10000
times our distance from ths sun.
II is so far away that light II twelve years
in spanning the distance. The flashing
light that now zones from the star il twelve
years old, and il it were this night blotted
from the aky it would continue to shine
there for twelve years toscomo. Its dinnen,
sions have been approximately measured,
and it il found to be a magnificent sun, at
least 200 times AZ large As our sun. Inc
qualiIiss in its motion were long obnerved,
and were attributed to the action of a COM
panion., But no one succeeded in detscting
the distu1bing.elemsnt until 1862, whom the
son Of Alvan Clark, the famous telescope
maker, in testing a powerful new instru-
msnt turned it upon Sirius, and heheld a
tiny point near this star that proved to be
the long looksd-fsr companion. Sirius be-
longs to the highest order Of stars, known
a. white stars. It's color has changed. for
Seneca described it AZ ruddier than Mars,
and Ptolemy classcd it with Antares. 1t
has boon seen with the naked eye il broad
sunshine, and il il brilliant enough to cast
: shadow.
Taking Sirius AZ a starting point. we
will explore some Of the leading stars and
considerations in the vicinity. An hour
past the meridian, above and to the right
of Sirius, il the finest constellation in the
heavens. the superb Orion. Its outlines
are easily traced; an elongated parallelo-
gram of four bright stars, q row of three
stars in the center and an oblique row
running from tho central band form the
framework. The poetic imagination of
the Greeks surrounded and Intervene with
this starry framework the gigantic stature
and majestic proportions Of Orion. bran
dishing a club in his right hand and hold
ing in his left y lions skin for . shield.
B%etslguese and Bellatrix, the two upper
stars of the parallslogram, shine brightly
on his shoulders; Rlgol and Saiph, tho
two lower ones, sparkle OH his left
font and right knee. The three stars
in the center form his belt and the obliqne
stars mark his sword. SO striking are the
outlines Of this constellation that when it
has once been traced it can never be for
gotten. Not only does it take the lead, but
it is equally noteworthy for the telescopio
interest attached to it and for the number
and richness of ita astronomical %ouriosi-
ties. #"s@.# as
Orion is visible ali, over the habitable
world, for the center ig' midway between
the poles of the heavens and directly over
the equator. The three stars in the belt
measure three degrees in width, and may
thus serve as a measuring-rod for somput-
ing the distance between different stars.
This constellation contains the most fam
Qua nebula in the heavens, q nsbula which
some can even see with the naked eye.
Around the central star in the sword is q
hazy cloud speck. When a powerful tel
escope is turned upon it a wondrous trans
formation takes place-the great nsbula
of Orion springs into existence. The
cloudy patch becomes a huge monster,
with opsn mouth and branching horns.
Within the open mouth a trapeZium- of
stars ID revealed. and white spiral forms
of ghostliko indistinctness fill tho field of
vision. Telescope and spectroscope have
exhausted their powers in seeking to solve
the mysterious formation Of this wonder Of
the skies.
Eighty stars may be counted in Orion
visible to the naked eye, while thousands
are revealed in the telescope. Many Of
these are double, triple, and even multi
plo stars, tho ~components developing
every contrasted color Of the rainbow and
bearing witness to the inconceivabls rich
ness and profusion Of creative power that
not only produces systems ruled by q
single sun. btt mingles with them other
systems, whore two. three, four, or even
moro suns revolva about each other in cir
ouits that takes thousands of years to COM
plete.
If now we turn our eyes to a point in the
sky 26 degrees northeast of Sirius and
about the same distance east of Betelguese
a bright white star will appear. It is
Procyon, the leading. brilliant in CAMS
Minor. It shows to skillful observers sim
liar violence of disturbance to that of
Sirius. II was hoped that some of the
great telescopes recently constructed
would reveal in a like manner the COM
panion of P%rocyon. 1t will help to i'm
press the relative position of Sirius, Betel-
guess and Procyon in the memory to note
they form II large equilateral triangle.
Looking % degrees north of Procyon two
bright stars four and ons-half degrees
apart may be seen. They are Castor and
twin stars in the constellation
Gemini. The upper and brighter of
the two is Castor. OF ths first magnitude.
It is the brightest double star in
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