The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-27
THE STARS In WINTER.

The winter consultations are now In ex-
cell mt position for observation. Orion and
Aurega are on the meridian at O'Clock,
the latter being directly overhead. Aurega
has the distinction of wearing in his west
shoulder Capella, the most brilliant star in
the northern heavens and the only first
magnitude star inclosed by the forty-fifth
parallel of north declnation. The southern
heavens contain five first magnitude stars
within the corresponding space, all of which
are invisible in this latitude.
At half past 9 o'clock Capella is JIM the
zenith. Seven and a half degrees east of
Capella, in the east shoulder of Aurega is
Menkalina. a second magnitude star. 1t is
a remarkable coincidence that the two stars
in the shoulders of Aurega are of the same
magnitude and the same distance apart as
the two stars ir the shoulders of Orion.
These four stars form a long narrow paral-
telegram lying north and south, whose
length is five times it's breadth.
When we look at the heavens the stars
appear to be in an immense concave vault,
all equally remote from the observer, but
we know that their distances are enormous
ly variable The nearest fixed star is at
least 100000 times farther from us than the
sun. Sirius, the Dog star, now crosses the
to us that it has a sensible annual parallax
by which its distance is calculated Sirius
is estimated to be 1900 times as large as our
sun, yet so remote is its position that when
seen through the great Lick telescope it is
a mere point of light no larger than when
seen with the naked eye. Capella is more
than seven times far from us as Sirius.
Light travels with a velocity that would
encircle the earth eight times in a second,
passes from the sun to earth in eight min-
utes, yet requires ten years to reach us
from Sirius, and seventy-two years to cross
the vast abyss that separates us from
Capella. The light from more remote stars
comes to us after flying through space hun
dreds and even thousands of years. The
immensely of star depths is entirely beyond
human comprehension. The great French as
tronomer Arago has said that the light of
the Milky Way, travelling toward US with
velocity of 10000 miles a second, requires
five million years to reach us. Light is
transmitted by medium called luminifer-
Gus ether, which, acting in waves on the
optic nerve produces the sensation of
sight. When we look at a remote fixed star
consciousness of its existence is due to
waves of light shot forth from the star hun
dreds, perhaps thousands, of years ago.
therefore WHAT we see III the ID
not the stars as they are, but as they were
long ago. The Pleiades may have been dis
persed into gas by some siderial CONFUSION
hundreds of years ago, but to us they con-
tinue to peacefully shine The Galaxy
may have gathered into nebulous masses
with vast brilliant nuclei, but to the last
syllable of recorded time the human race
will remain ignorant of it, so long does it
take the swift courier Lumen to deliver his
message.
Professor Proctor devoted years to the
subject of a steady change in stellar posi-
ton called star drift" The sun, carrying
with it the solar system, is drifting at the
rate of 10000 miles an hour toward a point
in the constellation Hercules, called the
"apex of the solar way" This velocity of
the proper motion of the sun in space is de-
termined by spectroscopic analysis, based
on the fact that when move towards a
star the wave lengths are shortened, and
when we move from it they are heightened.
With the spectroscope it is possible to ana
lyze the elements contained in Vega, Ca
pella Sirius as accurately as if they
could be fused in the crucible of the
chemist JOHN c. DEAN.
INDIANAPOLIS Jan 26