Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-06-02
Astronomical Progress.


I'VE have but entered the vestibule of
our acquaintance with the universe"
says Camille Flammarion. MAY there
not exist among the planetary races
psychic bonds whereof we are as yet ig-
norantT
Well, we will give it up, that last part
of the problem. But the latest achieve
ments in astronomy give reason to hope
that many things now seemingly impos-
sible may become as easy as making an
egg stand on end was TO Columbus, when
we once know how it is done. The best
that has been accomplished by sstrono-
mers in many q year is the finding out
how to get the physical constitution Of
star. Photography has come to the
aid Of astronomy in accomplishing mar
wells. A star is viewed through a tele-
scope. Its light is made to fall upon q
prism. This prism separates the rays.
They fall as a colored ribbon upon q
screen beyond and the ribbon is photo
graphed.
Optical chemistry discovered some
years ago that each substance known to
man makes, when it burns and its blaze
is passed through prism, ribbon of
light peculiar to itself, which never va
ries. II at times other rays are mingled
with those of this ribbon or spectrum it
shows that other substances have been
mixed with the first one. BY compar-
ing the ribbons or spectra formed on the
screen by the different substances known
on our earth with the spectrum formed
by the light Of a given star astronomers
can determine the constituent elements
Of that star.
Some time ago it was found at the
Harvard observatory that the rays of
the spectra were double in case Of GER
tain stars. This led to the wonderful
discovery that certain stars in the far
off universe have other stars revolving
about them with rapidity that is al
most inconceivable to us. Sometimes
the twin star is so far away that its
light cannot be seen by us through any
telescope yet invented, but we know the
star is there from its spectrum. As
tronomers have even been able to cal
culate how long it takes these stars to
revolve about one another. Sometimes
star visible through the telescope dis
appears altogether at regular intervals
and appears serenely in the heavens
again. In this case the star goes into
eclipse behind dark star. Algol, the
fiery orb in Medusa, has been found to
be double star of immense size, the
twins being composed of one white sun
and one totally dark one. The two fly
about each other in 2 days, 20 hours, 4s
minutes, SO seconds.
Another great double star is the one
called Menkalinan, near the White Ca
| pelia. These twins waltz around each
other at the dizzy rate of $3.50 miles a
minute. This double sun is 800, 900 times
as heavy as our earth. 1t travels well
for large body. In many cases both
stars are light, as with Mizar in the con.
stellation of the Dipper. These revolvt
more slowly, performing their journey
in l04 days.
The above discovery in regard to tn,
spectra of double stars may be consid
cred perhaps the most important on,
made in astronomy in years. Another
however, is almost equal to it. That is
that by the same two boons to astrono
mers, spectral analysis and astro-pho
Biography, it is possible to ascertain
whether star is approaching earth Oh
receding from it. These two achieve
ments, together with the fact that W,
are constantly obtaining more and NOR.
powerful telescopes, constitute the mos
important results Of astronomical wori
| in the past few years.