The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-03-29
A WONDERFUL STAR.
1t Is Visible for Brief Time in the
Western Sky.

New York sun.
Low in the west. half hidden in the even
a star that three hundred years ago earned
for itself the name OF Mira" the Wonder
full. And its behavior at present seems TO
justify its name. 1t is in the constellation
Of the Whale. and IS known 20 astronomers
as Ornicron Ceti- 1t is only visible for
a brief period after shutdown, when IL may
be seen hanging just above the verge of the
horizon, under Jupiter and the Pleisdes-
Its. red color distinguishes IL, although
higher up there is another reddish star In
the same constellation. Last winter the
spot which this star occupies was absolute
ly vacant to the naked eye. But a tele-
scope showed that faint star glim-
mering there. Since then that star has
blazed up a thousandfold in brightness.
Now IL shines with a rudy hue. suggestive
of a vast and fierce conIiagration In a
few weeks, probably. il Will have faded.
but in the meantime the progress OF the
rays, and when IL energies in the east next
summer no eve Will be able 10 see il again
1.-The Marvel of the Whale" may be dis
cerned between and 7:30 O'Clock in the
evening An opera glass may be needed to
show IL clearly in the bright twilight.
What renders this wonderful variable star
that it is now brighter than II usually is 1T
its maximum, and that the period OF max
imum has been delayed for several weeks.
According TO the calculations OF the astron-
omers ii should have been at its brightest
on Feb. II. But it has continued TO grow
more brilliant since that time, until IL has
become several times as bright as II was
Yet these facts would possess but small
degree of interest outside the observatortes
If we did not know something OF the di-
nifcance of the changes which we behold in
it. Mira is a sun, and when IL blazes up,
as IL is now doing, IL must suddenly pour
forth a quantity of heat that II concen-
trated upon the earth at close quarters
W WSaa m Mes of less not than the
ninth magnitude; when brightest IL has been
known 10 equal a star OF the first magnitude
That happened in I77s when II was az
admits 1000 times as much light as IL does
when SIot at at minimum 1000 times as much
the third magnitude il is three hundred
times as bright as IL was two or three
months ago. The complete cycle Of change
that this wonderful sun runs through aver
ages about eleven months. But for more
than two-thirds Of that period IL remains
Frightening begins suddenly, and IL usually
gains light faster than Ii subsequently fades.
AS IL brightens. the blood color Character
to an orange red. Its spectrum then reveals
the tremendous nature OF the change that
vivid lines which indicate that the vaporous
envelope Of the star has caught fire. so 10
ihfensity d hydroeen In parcuar famns
high above the other elements According
TO Mr.. Loclxyers hypothesis these phenom-
produced by the repeated collisions
of swarms Of meteors revolving around one
another in elliptical orbits. But a more
probable view Of the matter would seem TO
be that Mira is an expiring sun, surrounded
with partially cooled envelope OF metallic
vapors whose absorption almost extin-
guisheS its light except, at intervals, when
there comes another outbreak Of the pent-
I'D forces within. or a heat eruption. which
bursts the shell and fires its surrounding
gases to a dazzling incandeScence.
II we knew just how far away Mira is we
could tell how il compares with the size OF
our sun. We do know, however, that il is
probably a larger sun than ours. We may
fairly assume that IT'S parallax Is not mere
than one-third of a second. which would
make its distance from the earth over $780,
900 times greater tran the distance Of the
sun. If il really is s far OF that then,
when il flames with the brightness OF a
first-magnitude star. IL must be pouring out
eight times as much light as the sun gives
forth. But when IL is at its minimum it's
light can be only one -fif-
tieth of the suns light. And in either Csc
the intensity of its heat probably accords
with that of its light.
Surely we cannot suppose that there are
inhabited worlds revolving around such a
sun this. But worlds may be there that
were once inhabited. Did any prophet fore
warn them of time when their day-mak-
ing sun would become a destroying furnace
and their elements would dissolve with fer
vent heat?