New-York tribune., 1896-03-29
DETECTING OZARK STARS
ONE OF AsTRONOMY'S ASTONISHING
REVELATIONS.
>, srr CONFIRMS AN OLD SUSPICION REGARD
INp 20 OTIfivcn;-AN EXQUISITE FIh'h 'r
MATHEMATIcA. WORK

rn FEE CONFIRMS An OLD SUSPICION hE'AH''-
txo 20 oruIrcn:-Av EXQUISITE PIECE OF
MATHEMATICAL WORK.
Nothing IN the material universe perhaps. SO I'M
rres.es the mind OF Intelligent, and reverent man as
-, ,i,l,ud. Of stars revealed 10 his eye even with
out optcal aids Such tales do they tell OF me IN
o,,,,es q, svace and time, Yet the number grows
.nor,nou.ly when the telescope Is called INTO P"y,
and each time a more powerful glass ~ oo"S""'"
sfiu further acceSsons are made to the a'reau! 'P
mailing array Bat. besides 'his cou"'"SN '','"''
hos, m. astronomers tell us. there are INDICATIONS
y, v. other orbs how numerous II Is Impossible 10
co,,ec,ur. which cannot be seen at all Just now
the star known as 80 Ophiuch' Go 20 IN 'he con-
s,eia,ion O, Ophiuchus) l. attracting h'''"'o" ~
tho scientific world because OF It's Contributions
o,,- s,ock OF knowledge and speculation on ''''' '"'
jcct. - u ,,,
h,tgh,er stars been determined. ana so ciose - INC
watch still kept that many Of them nave oeeh 'o"nu
- ,oyo a Gradual motion through the heavens In
soma cases this progress is In one direction o''S' III
others there IL n more or less r"su''' "o''s "
Z, m. body under scrutiny were proceeding III an
o,,, Viewed almost edgewise from the ear'"' '"o
total amount OF shifting from side 70 S'de may ho'
coyo, n greater angle Of vision than ponduiuHi
,s.,,, ,h,cc or four Inches at tho distance or n
uo rom tho eye: but perfect are the insrn-
,,.n,s ana 80 refined the mathematical me'hooS e''
Moved that this erratic behavior OF cer'a'" S''s "
n,o,en heyond a doubt. and the amount OF 'he
wandering approximately ascerta'hea !" many
MILF COMPANIONS OF SIRIUS AND ALGOI"
u.,, a century or more ago. for instance Besse'
concluded from evidence OF this kind that s'rius 'he
aog .tar the holy Of Isis. had an ihVisloe c'''
panon, and that the pair revo'ved arouhu com.
NON centre OF gravity placed somewhere between
,hr Yaara afterward. In 1862 Clark the Amer
g., te,..cope maker) finally discovered the disturb
,ng agent II was family luminous oro' WV" "
the mn ss but only ten-thousandth par' u '"' "s"
n, sirius The star spica has similar compah'oh'
d,mly perceptible under favorap'e c'rc"m''0s'
reese, announced that Procyon too. was douo'e OF
Mnarv ~ the same character. but no one mas ever
vet been able TO discover the attendant ORB.
m. ~ the best known OF dark stars Is the huge
attendant OF Algol. the winking Demon oi '"e T'"
Until a very few years ago the sole ihte'eS' ~
tachlnu to A,gol proceeded from the varap'ii'y !"
q. lvht Al Intervals OF little less than three
aays II begins to grow dim, changes enough !"
,hro. bours for the untralned observer TO see the
diN.ronce and then within the next three hours
recoyers It's full brllliancy II IL now coheeeu 'h"'
this phenomenon. which puzzled the ancieh's IN
expressiby IL really partial eclipse OF the orsh'
hodv bv a dark one associated with II. and there
49,, . d,ven ar more other variables which are re-
garaed as bInares of the sort But new
fact regarding Algo, was discovered three or Tour
,.ar. ayo DIR Seth T.. Chandler. OF Cambridge
Mass detected Irregularities In the conduct or THIS
star TO satisfy him that there wac a third body
a,ao dark In the combination. and his opinion has
| heen accented by other astronomers without dis
| nute Although can see but one ORD, therefore
oven with n powerful telescope. Agol Is as truly a
triple star as Gamma Andromedae. all three OF
whose componens are visible. 1t Is just such con-
clus,on that ia now reached In regard TO 10 Ophuch
| lonR known binary.
This star now rises shortly before midnight and
in situated about 2a degrees north OF the celestial
| equator The larger OF the visible components has
! n magnitude Of 49, and the smaller 66 The former
IN therefore a rather faint naked-eye star. The lat
ter could be seen with a good field glass II alone
| but a more powerful instrument IL needed to sepa-
| rate them, especially when. as now, their motion
| about the common centre brings them almost to-
| Rether on a line drawn from the EARTH Both are
| now Of the same hue. pale yellow. although the
| secondary has been described In tho past being
| white with an inclination 10 red," rose colored"
| and even violet" And the system Is 30 far away
from rs that It's light takes twenty years to reach
| the earth.
| STRANGE CONDUCT OF A BINARY STAR.
| But how was the third member Of the partnership
discovered? In 1872 the two visible orbs occupied
| precisely the same relative position toward each
| other as they had In l77S Hence II was estimated
that tho period of revolution required for this
drous waltz was about ninety three years. Astron-
omers accept II as AROMATIC that each Of the two
stars In a binary moves In an ellpse, and that the
two ellipses are Of the same shape. though not Of
| the same sixe Taking into consideration the OBJ
] served positions Of the two components In the In