The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-24
Of S|DEREAL% CUR|OS|T|ES.
nhe Reasons Why Variable Stars
May Appear and Then Van
ish Again.
Ia Which Catalogue Are the Sun
and the Earth Which We
Inhabit.
The Cobwebbod bottle Of tho Alchemist
Superseded by the speotrosoops
Tube of tho Chemist

TAc Cobwsbbed hottie Of tho Alchemis
superseded by tho spectroscors
Tube of tho Chemist
iwrittcn for The HELENA INDEPENDENTLY
r7O SPEAK ABSOLUTELY, ALI
NJ stars arc variable. They have al
pI0 commenced existence; their high
and heat will in time be e1hausted; the
will become extinct, aud others will shin
forth. On the list Of variable stars W
must inscribe them all, our " sun, on
own earth.
Tho most ancient reliable observation
which W possess Of the condition OF tn
heavens go back only over Q period OF .,oU
years. This 10 but . inconsiderabls inter
val in the history Of the universe, ana ye'
IL 10 sufficient TO bring into evidence Ger
tain stars which occupy centuries OF time
in Observation-Disclosures oscillations OF
brightness too great to be explained be sup.
posing that there have been errors OF calcu'
lation.
But there il also another class OF stars
which vary rapidly and often on a vast
scale. which oscillate with = range OF four
or Ave degrees of magnitude. or even more.
either regularly or irreRularly, seeming to
b. ruled BY = more or less constant pc
xiodicity.
These are sidereal curiosities Of a special
kind.
Several explanations Of theae variations
in brightness and of these sudden appear
anccs and vanishings suggest themselves.
In some cases the changes appear to be
due 10 4 rotation of the star on its axis,
bringing alternately before Ne lumlnuus
and dark regions Of surface.
In other cases the changes may be pro-
duced by the passage OF a planet or a I'll
Of matter before the stars inminou o'sk'
which ID then more or less collapsed.
Or, again, there may be some phenome-
non similar to the periodicity of our own
solar spots but far more intense and rapid,
far more strongly marked than in the case
Of our sun.
Of which her hands are full, certainly holds
in reserve other explanations of variable
ness" which the progress of science will re-
veal to us in the future.
When in the silence Of midnight We are
watching the starry sky nothing could be
more difficult to accept than the idea that
in the immensity of that infinite space all
10 dead and motionless. That life and ac-
tivity, which are developed in our own svs-
tenn, must reign there also. TIC dissipate
n uncertainty it is enough to consider the
variable stars. In them We have proof of
an immense and eyer-permanent activity.
Phenomena sueh as they offer in tho midst
OF the stability of the starry sphere are too
strange not to excite the attention of the |
learned and the study of the variable stars
has become widespread. Several of the
most important ones can b. observed by
49, n<hnpn MN be ~n~1r~;-I |
In the sky with the aid of a simple opera
glass. The greater proportion of them can
be followed and observed At their maxi
mum BY means OF instruments Of ordinary
power. They are, in fact, easy objects OF
observation.
lativs turn of mind nave been interested in
various theories concerning the stars.
Glimmers of modern scientific fact shine
forth from many OF these crude old Ruesses
and experiments. At n time some
French alchemists were moved by the very
singular idea of shutting a ray from the
star Sirius into Il bottle, and then keeping
the bottle in a dark cellar a long succession
of generations. They knew that, accord
ing to an Egyptian tradition, the rays of
thei great dog-star had the property of
changing int gold some said 1t took place
after passing a thousand years in a bottle,
while others set the time at the end of the
<csooo JSAAD "a sAS "a SAO
cQulnoxes.
Happily for the progress Of the sciences,
Astrology has given place to astronomy and
alchemy to chemistry. ~
Nowadays We know precisely how to shut
up q ray from Sirius, not in q bottle, but in
the tube of the spectroscope. And, from
the analysis of this ray, we know that that
splendid star, the finest in the sky in the
long winter nights, contains sodium, mag
nesium, iron and hydrogen. but no gold or
silver, and the hopes of modern alchemists
for slchemists still e1ist-have small
prospects of fulfllment.
Yes, the light of Sirius has been analysed.
This star, of still greater volume and bril-
liancy than our sun, rides in the heavens at
q distance of 80, ia, DOC, 600, 600 of leagues
from rs. A ray from Sirius can reach us
only after travelling, without interruption,
for twenty-five years. at the rate of n, 900
sagues a second. And yet this i'm mense
abyss has been crossed by the flight of its
light, and this light, being Analysed, re-
yeals the presence of such and such mate
rails in this snn, and the absence of such
and such others.
the planets were related to the degree, of
their light. Saturn. scarcely visible, was
named Phenon, the one who appears; Ju-
piter, Phaeton. the shining one; Mars.
Pyrois. Of the color of fire; Mercury, Still
bon, the sparkling ons; and Venus was
CaiAca L 0ospAoA dAu lIuClIeE, DOLn mean
ing the light bearer. She was also called
Caliste, the most beautiful one. She was
also called the Evening Star and the Morn.
ing Star, because OF her special position.
beckmann proves that it was a common
practice among oil peoples of the orient.
from whom the Greeks and Romans bor-
Towed it. to give to the planets, as soon 81
their proper movement WAS known, the
names OF the dlvlnltles revered among each
people.
Jablonski says on this subject: ::The idea
shat each planet was the residence of a god
or that they were tho gods themselves arose
from tie lnvnrlAble usage found original in
all nations of worshipplngt the sun, BY reason
OF its beneficial aud necessary influence on
all terrestriai bodies. This custom
naturally gave rlsO to another. In the
cnuIEe OF time "non hbrOes - whn
had lnmortalIZcu their names bv great ser-
vice to mankind-received divine honorp, il
was quite a simple thing to select for their
abode celestial bodies such as the moon and
the planets"
1t Is difficult TO say precisely what repu-
lated tho distribution Of the diyinities
among the planets, and why a certain
planet WAS dedicated to such Il god and NOT
to another.
1t is natural, however, to think thu. the
first OF the gods by right took the most
brilliant of the planets, Jupiter: that the
fair and sympathetic Venus il enshrinea in
the evening stal that Mars. god Of warfare
Rnd OF bloodshed. WAS assIRned to the red
planet; that Saturn. or kronos, the god of
time. personifed ths longest revolution of
tho most distant planet known; that the
god of thieves and Of commerce., Mercury,