The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1894-12-28
STRANGE STARS
Some Interesting Discove,,
Astronomers ma

II nonefs.
Are all the stars sunso 4,
to that Question depends NJ y ans
mean by q sun. Recent A. a Wna
some OF the stars are yerv 'a ia
from our sun. MANY Of i. uae
larger, and many, probably ~. .nen
than our orb Of day; but that AZ !; ~
means the only difference. ~ ~ :
wonderfully in their orpan;. auey
condition. Some are intenss,l'0'A
others are comparatively ea;
light OF some is blindinglv br;)
others, OF perhaps equal maaa.a
are obscure. Occasionally the tslal
or the spectroscope, shows tbs s.ese
jectresembling star to ordnaa s y
is in reality a cloud of gas. on ~
swarm of meteors. : pss
But there is one kind of st,,. III,
representatives of which have baaa
covered within the last twentu nv
years that is in some respects II.
peculiar OF all. These are the ah.i
line stars" also called the "Wo,tn
stars" from the names of Messss
and Rayet, who discovered the g..
amples of them. Only fiftv.sa'
these strange stars have vet hear
amid the multitudes Of the skv
In order to understand Their 4
iarity it may be well briefly fl
what the spectrum of star or
sun. is. When beam Of sunliebt
OF starlight, is passed through ! N
or reflected from glass ruled with
lines, ucalled grating, the lirl
spread out into a colored band ~
trum, and ordinarily this speetru]
seen to be crossed with narrow N
lines-the Fraunhofer lines,
Each of these lines owes its erstl
to some particular substance exjs
in the form Of gas or vapor, in II,
mosphere of the sun, or Of the
from which the light under exam|
ton comes. The fact that the
are black indicate that the substa
to which they are due are less ipte|
ly heated than the interior mas
the sun, or star, which they suuo
As the light from within sire
through them, these vaporous
stances absorb the radiations thai
peculiar to themselves, and thus
duce the appearance of black line,
gaps, in the spectrum. 1t is the
ness of spectrum analysis to
tinguish the various substances
elements, such as iron, hydrogen,
that produce the effects just desrc
Now in the case Of the bright
stars, as the name itself indicates
spectrum shows many bright lines
stead of black ones. The meanin
this fact is that the atmospherel
such stars are hotter than their
faces. They might be called star
fire, If we could conceive Of sud
thing. Moreover, they exhibit chal
and fluctuations indicating that
can not be such steady-going bods
our sun is pouring out with no
ceptible variation a certain guar
end intensity Of light and heat md
after month and year after year,
that they would be very uncomi
able, not to say destructive, neigh
for an inhabited planet.
just what is to be thought Of
stars astronomers are not yet prep
to say. Prof. Campbell, who
carefully studied them, reuI
that 'the spectra of the
Rayet stars are not closely rel
to any other known type. We
probably say that the bright lines
chromospheric, owing their orig
very extensive and highly-heated
mospheres, but showing very litts
lation, in constitution and ply
to that of our own sun
Some of the substances that give
bright lines in these stars have mol
been recognized. Hydrogen they
'ess in abundance, and apparently
also, but much of the story that
spectrum tells is still mysten
Are they dying suns, just fiickeri1
extinction, or newborn orbs? y
hey belong to q Indifferent rank I'M
ion from that in which Stands
,reat luminary that makes d.!
or us?-Youth's COMPANION.