The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-08-15
Little Folks Column.
COLORRD SUNS.

Other Planets Than the Earth Lighted
by Blue, Green, or Red, as Well as by
Yellow Suns
We are so familiar with the light of
our sun, says Dorothy Leonard in the
August ST. Nicholas, that it is hard for
US to realize that there are in the uni
verse a number of suns which shine
with blue, green, purple, yellow, or
red light. These colors are noticed
when we examine them through the
telescope.
When we look at the heavens on a
clear night we see a great many stars,
more than we can possibly count; and
all these, except the planets, r great,
glorious suns, some of them many
times larger than our OWL. Most of
them shine with white light, like ours;
yet there are a good many which,
viewed through the telescope, are
found to be of various brilliapt hues.
The most striking and beautiful effects
in coloring are met with in what are
called the double stars. There are
stars which appear single to US, on &C.
count of their extreme distance, but on
examination, are found to consist of
two or more stars comparatively near
together; and when one or both Of a
pair are colored, they are Of course ex
ceedingly beautiful. In the constella-
ton called the Southern Cross, one
astronomer discovered a group, too
far away or too small TO be seen with
the naked eye. which appeared to him
like an elaborate piece Of j9welry! For
among a number Of the ordinary stars
were five green, n greenish blue, and
two beautiful red ones. In one Of
our northern consultations there is a
large white star accompanied by one Of
a rich purple hue; in another a triple
star consisting of an orange I'd eun,
with two companion of a brighS en-
eral green; while in another a double
star has a large orange sun with a
small blue mate.
Among the single stars, some Of the
brightest (Which are famous enough to
have old arabian names given them
before the Christian cray are of quite
decided color. For instance: Sirue is
blush white; go also are Affair, Deneb
and Vega; ArcGurus is red Capella is
yellow; Rlgel and several others are
blue; and Aldebaran, Betelgeuse and
Antar 8 shine with bright red beams.
If any or ali of these stars have
planets cirCling around them, as the
earth and other planets revolve around
our sun, the coloriGg must be brilliant
indeed In planets revolving around
the double suns we can imagine al
most anything. One sun might rise in
orange, green, or blue, while another
set in red or purple, and at times the
two suUs might mingle their beams, q
red sun with a blue san giving purple
light for part OF the day, or a blue sun
and a yellow sun giving green light.
Changes have also been noticed in
some of the colored S ars; for we have
ancient records of Sirius being a de
cided red, later it wts white, while now
It IS d blush white. Another star, now
blue, charged from red to yellow be.
fore it reached it's present color. 1t is
generally believed that it ls s2me con-
dition Of the atmosphere around these
stars that causes the coloring; that is,
that a red star has an atmosphere that
absorbs all the rays of light except the
red rays; a blue, an atmosphere that
a0sorbs all bus the blue rays; but how
or why 1t Is so, or why the colors
should g mstimes change, we do not
know. We know enough, however,
to show US that more wonderful
things exist in the universe, and more
wonderful changes occur than we could
possibly imagine.