Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1894-04-26
HOW FAR Is THE Sun
NEWLIGHT WHICH HAS BEENTHRowN
ON THE PROBLEM.

survey ss the foahuEleh ISland5-The Dis
tsnce to the Sun Is Something Like Nine
ty-five Million Miles, More OF Less.
A little new light has recently been
thrown ON the problem of the distance
of the sun. This is the great yardstick
Cf astronomy. For more than century
every effort has been made to ascertain
the distance as accurately as possible,
Methods direct and indirect have been
employed Considering tine fact that the
knowledge thus sedulously pursued can
serve no utilitarian purpose, the gener-
Gus expenditure in the pursuit does
credit to the intellectual aspirations OF
the human race From the time OF Cap
tain Cooks expedition to the Society is
lands to observe the transit Of Venus III
1869 until the present day millions OF
dollars have been spent in this effort to
drop a sounding line to the sun
Copernicus believed that the sun was
not more than 5000, 600 miles away
There were philosophers before the
Christian era who knew as much as
that. For several years past we have
been assured that the distance could not
be far from 92, 800, 900 miles But al
most a century ago Laplacs assumed a
parallax for the sun which gave almost
exactly that distance. Since his time
various astronomers have attacked the
problem, and their results have varied
from $1,000, 900 to 80, $50, 600 miles,
the difference between these extreme es-
Inmates being nearly as great as the en-
tire distance was believed to be by the
founders of astronomy.
Yet these facts carry no challenge to
the soundness of modern astronomical
methods or the substantial correctness OF
the results attained by them. The dis
tance of the sun is not yet known with
absolute accuracy, for the same reason
that the height of Mount st. Elias or of
Mount Everest has not yet been exactly
ascertained But the limits of error are
known, and in the future we shall not
see estimates of the suns distance vary
ing by millions of miles. If a series of
wires should be cut, each agreeing in
length with one of the recent measures
of the solar parallax, and all should then
be stretched from the earth toward the
sun, every one of them would end in the
sun, though none might stop precisely
at its center.
As to the recent light upon this prob
lem, it is furnished by the results of OBJ
by the United States coast sur
yey at the Sandwich Islands to deter
mine the constant of alteration of the
stars. By this is meant the amount of
that the stars undergo in
of the fact that we are look
ing at them from globe which is not
still, but is moving in an orbit
around the sun at the rate of about lSi
miles in second. Light travels 1885,,
$50 miles in a second The ratio of the
velocity of the flying earth to that of
light measures the displacement in the
position of the stars that is called their
alteration. But, manifestly, if we can
learn precisely how far the earth travels
in a second, we shall know just how
long its orbit is We know that the earth
takes one year, or, more exactly, 81, 558,-
$50 seconds, to go once around that or
bit. If, then, we can find out with rig
orous accuracy how far it goes in sec
ond, we can at once calculate not only
the length of the orbit, but the distance
Of the sun, which depends directly upon
the size of the orbit. Of course allow
ance must be made for the fact that the
orbit, instead of being a circle, is an
ellipse, and that consequently the ear.h's
rate of travelling varies little But
take care of that
Now, we have seen that the displace-
1ishes means of determining the ratio
IF the earth's velocity in its orbit to the
Known velocity of light If that aberra-
ion is accurately measured, it must
give, by simple calculation, the veloc-
ty of the earth and the distance Of the
he Sandwich Islands is slightly smaller
han previous measurements had made
t. 1t amounts to 20. 433 seconds of arc
This gives for the average velocity OF
he earth in its orbit IS. 4562 miles i'll
iecond, and for the distance Of the sun
y, 709, 900 miles The distance derived
rom the observation of the transit of
Venus in 1874 was about $40, 900 miles
ess than this, while that calculated
rom the transit of 1882 was about 190,-
100 miles greater. But Laplace's value
# the solar parallax, adopted by him in
.799, gives distance differing by only
80, 900 or 90, 900 miles from that shown
" the calculation based on the new
constant of alteration. So Laplace was
nearer to the truth than many
# the later astronomers have been.
1t is evident that the final solution of
he great problem has not even yet been
obtained. There is an uncertainty of
perhaps as much as 100, 900 miles still
emaining Since the distance of the
un forms base line for calculating the
distance of the stars, an error of 100, 000 |
niles in that base line would make
Inference of nearly 80, 600, 600, 900 miles
n the calculated distance of the nearest
lxed star in the sky. 1t is for the as
of the future, thea, TO deter
nine the real dimensions of the uni
'erse, if they can. For our part, we |
must be content to know that they are |
reat almost beyond the power Of math
matics to express and certainly be-
ond the power of imagination to con-
Narxy Vo,-lr Sr1u
On Pixies Peak.
''The officer in charge of the United
states signal service station on the top |
f Pixies peak has rather lonesome
ime of it, especially in winter" said
dajor C. P Leonard of Colorado. He
ives in low, fiat building made of
tone, which is anchored and bolted to
he granite bowlders. During the winter
months he has no connection whatever
With the rest of the world, as it is i'm
ossible for human being to ascend to
is station and just as impossible for
i'm to go down.
"Snow is his only water supply, and
ven in the heat of summer there is al
rays enough within few feet of his
oor to furnish all the water needed.
lis official duties are light, requiring
II