The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1899-10-12
GRE - LON 6
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lNoRTH STAR is THREE SUNS.

NO Eye TnG ssESASSE0saGe Urn sea
Them, but the Camera Proves IT.
The news from Lick observatory that
the North Star, 255. 000, 000, 600 miles
sway from us, has been found to be
not one star, but three, swinging
around In great orbits like the moon,
earth and sun, is another remarkable
result of the application of photo spec
troscopy to the telescope study of the
heaYens Always fascinating, the
search for double and multiple stars
has become of the highest interest
since the spectroscope has made it pos
sible to discover multiple stars which
the greatest telescopes do not reveal
to the eye. The three components of
Polaris cannot be seen with the most
powerful telescope in the world. But
the Lick star spectroscope, attached to
the great SO inch refractor, makes it
plain that there are suns revolving
about q sun where the eye distin-
guishes but one twhikling light
Ten years ago at the Harvard uni
versfty observatory the first photo
spectroscopic multiple star was discov-
cred unexpectedly. The star Mizar,
the middle star Of the handle of the
Big Dipper. has been called naked
eye' double because it has visible
companion, Alcor, close to it. But Rio
cioh in 1850 discovered with the tel.
escope that Mizar had a telescope dou-
BILE. Mizar seems to have been the
first double star discovered with
telescope. The apparent distance be-
tween Mizar and Alcor is nearly 10,
times the distance that separates the
components of Mizar. The telescope
shows, too, that there are other stars
between Mizar and 4Alcor.
Two centuries after the telescope re-
vealed two stars in Mizar the spectre
scope showed that the brighter Of the
components was itself made up of two
stars. In photographs taken at the
Harvard observatory IN 1889 the x line
In the spectrum of Mizar appeared dou-
BILE. In other plates the line was sin
gle; in others it was hazy. A close
scrutiny of all the plates showed that
the line was double at intervals of 80
days. THIS proved to astronomers that
the brighter component Of. Mlzar was:
really two stars. A spectroscope takes
cognizance Of the motion of a star to
or from the earth. When one star be-
gins to approach and the other to re-
cede from us, the lines In the Spectrum
Of the approaching star will be dis
placed toward the violet end, while
those of the receding star will be dis
placed toward the red end The lines
will at first appear hazy, but when the
and recession Of the stars
reach maximum the lines will appear
double. The calculated distance be-
tween. the components of Mizar IL
about 143yO0AoO0 miles, and the bril-
uancy Of the star IL estimated to be
over hundred times greater than that
Of our sun.
A number Of other photo spectre
Dcoplc multiple stars have been discov-
cred recently. With the Lick telescope
and spectroscope il have been found.
This method Of discovery came about
from the use Of the spectra to deter
mine the velocity with which stars APP
preached or receded from the earth.
The North Star. It was found short
while ago, Is now shooting earthward
Il o velocity Of Is miles second Two
of the suns OF the North Star triplet
revolve about each other every four
hays, and these two swing about the
Efhrd New York Sum-