The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-04-18
AWONDERFUL STAR.
You Must Look Quick You Would See It
in the Sunset Sky.
New York SUM-

Low IN the west, half h1d0en ID Che
evening twilight, there may be seen Just
now star that 800 years ago earned for
itself the name of mira" the Wonderful
And It's behavior at present seems to JUS
tify its name. It is in the constellation
of the Whale, and is known to astrono-
mers as Omicron Ceti. It is only visible
now for brief period after sundown,
when it may be seen hanging just above
the verge Of the horizon, under Jupiter
and the Pleiades. Its red color distin-
guishes it. although higher up there is
another reddish star in the same constel-
lation. Last winter the spot which this
star occupies was absolutely vacant 70 the
naked eye. But a telescope showed that
faint star was glimmering there. Since
then that star has blazed up thousand
fold in brightness! Now it shines with a
ruddy hue, suggestive Of vast and fierce
confagration. In few weeks, probably,
it Will have faded, but in. the mean time
the progress of the seasons will have
buried it In the suns rays, and when it
emerges in the east next summer no eye
Will be able to see it again without teles-
copic aid. For few days yet 'the Mar
Sol VI buo w Go4O 14oJ w SItoS0AA3oo w
tween 7 and 7,30 o'clock in the evening.
An opera glass may be needed to show it
clearly in the bright twilight.
What renders this wonderful variable
star particularly interesting at present is
the fact that it is now brighter than it
usually is at its maximum, and that the
period of maximum his been delayed for
several weeks. According to the calcu-
lations of the astronomers, it should have
been an its brightest on Feb.l7. But it
has continued to grow more brilliant since
that time, until it has become several
times as bright as it was them.
Yet these facts would possess but small
degree of interest outsidethe observatories
if we did not know something Of the di-
mensions of the star Mira and OF the sig
nifcance Of the changes which we behold
in it. Mira is sun, and when it blazes
up, as It IS now doing, it must suddenly
pour forth a quantity of heat thst il con-
centrated upon the earth at close quarters
would melt it and turn it into a hot cloud.
When Mira is faintest it IS of less than
the ninth magnitude; when brightest it
has been known to equal a star OF the first
magnitude. That happened in l779, when
it was as brilliant as Adebaran. At such
a time it emits 1000 times as much light
as it does when at minimum; 1900 times
as much heat, too, probably. Now when
it is near the third magnitude it is 800
times as bright as it was two or three
months ago. The complete cycle of change
that this wonderful sun runs through
averages about eleven months. But for
more than two thirds of that period it re-
mains faint and invisible to the naked eye.
Its Frightening begins suddenly, and it
usually gains light faster than it subse-
quently fades. As it brightens, the blood
color characteristic of its light when at a
minimum changes to an orange red. It's
spectrum then reveals the tremendous
nature of the change that Mira is under
going; it becomes filed with vivid lines
which indicate that the vaporous envelope
of the star has caught fire, so to speak,
and is burning with inconceivable inten-
sity, hydrogen In particular flaming high
above the other elements. According to
Mr.. Lockyer's hypothesis these phenc
mena are produced by the repeated COLI
around one another in elliptical orbits.
But more probable view of the matter
would seem to be that Mira is an expir-
ing sun, surrounded with a partially
cooled envelope Of metallic vapors whose
absorption almost extinguishes its light
except, at intervals, when there comes an
outbreak of the bent up forces within, or
heat eruption, which bursts the shell
and fires the surrounding gases to daz
zhng lncandescence.
If we knew just how far away Mira is
We could tell how it compares in size with
our sun. We do know, however, that it is
probably larger sun than ours. We may
fairly assume that its parallax is not
more than one-third Of second, which
| would make its distance from the earth
over $4,000 times greater than the dis
tance of the sun. If it really is as far off
as that, then, when it flames with the
brightness of a first magnitude star, it
must be pouring out eight times as much
light as the sun gives forth. But when
it is at its minimum its light can be only
one two-hundred-and-fftieth Of the suns
| light. And in either case the intensity OF
its heat probably accords with that OF its
light.
Surely we cannot suppose that there
are inhabited worlds revolving around
such sun as that. But worlds may be
there that were once inhabited. Did any
prophet forewarn them of time when
their day-making sun would become a
destroying furnace, and their elements
would dissolve with fervent heat?-GGr.
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