The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-23
VIVID BLUE is THE SUN.
TINTs OF HEAVENLY BODIES NOT
WHAT THEY SEEM.
Atmospheric Envelope Gives Distort-
ed COIors to Celestial Luminaries.
Sky Is Really Black, Says Prof.

ness or / rOi- Langley g OPINION tHdt 1ie
sun is really blue and not yellow, as We
see H." said Prof T. J. J. See, Of the
naval observatory at Washington, who
has made himself famous recently as the
discoverer of double stars in numbers
hitherto undreamed Of
You have only to ina CINE the atmos-
pherlc envelope of the earth, which hind
ers vision, removed. and the heavens are
revealed to the eye in an altogether new
and unfamiliar aspect. The sky In broad
daylight is black, and the moon. If above
the horizon is no longer yellow but bril-
liant white Though the blue sun shines
above, the stars are much brighter and
more distinctly seen than ever before on
the clearest night. Furthermore they DIFF
fer much in color, some of them being
red. others blue, others rose color others
violet ana yet others green.
a strange aspect of the universe this
would seem 70 be; and yet such is its true
appearance, whether we are accustomed
to behold il altered to the eye by the
Interference of the atmosphere. As Is
well known, the sky looks blue because
of the breaking up Of the light by innum-
cradle particles of dust and moisture
aioal III Jht ar lahe away ti!S iliiu-
rance to vision and no longer viii dihus-
ioii Vi SUMS, - ~, ~ -,
$50. l,,,,,, A., me tl,clreee Of snaca
All stars Are Suns.
"The blue sun, under present circum-
stances, looks yellow because the blue light
rays. having short wave lengths, do not
"a dy penetrate the atmospheric coat OF
the edf'u ne SeIoN waves az ''uCu
ivHHSl' an" nav al '''.S' -
thtoush' htuce the sun - Sei'o" an" sun
HEut IS SeHO"' ,o..- ..... - -.
Now as 10 'he uIAetIhS ''"'s u 'lic
stars we must uhuSI9'aHu IHdt my NaiD
IN inns respect WIN tleH ase' 10 pve 90
Wlth' II IS necessary 10 Iealze mat p1l
ring the moAon auu d le" o'd"et9 VI oui
"M ~ M W $50 - -.
all Of me ceiesual poules one sees III ne
heavens at h'Fht are -iidHS u 'ro III
huh4reas OF HIheS a7 Ok as ou' own sun.
4Hc so-caIleu milky way u tOusie-9 Va
suns, in when our ORB OF day Is rather
interior urinary
Planets IN General helhS darK ana eA-
t1rcu shed bodies, could not possibly De
visible - helr own Hght ara SO we must
TcF'eNc u at every star "mch t"ihAAes
IN tie vat Il above us al niEht Is sun
- the and Of powerful telescope ! h'V~
discovered about dozen stars mat are
actually made visible oY the reliected hs'
C tie suns about which they reVolVe' r'lC
they do '.ot Importantly concern Inc gen
oral deposition.
That Depends on Heat.
,,- -t,,. ,.,,lr,,.=,, 10 "a
- l5.t,,. e,,,, ,,,rtor ,cc,rlin., T.,
a. 90. H. - ,,o,,fh il is ,eilov,. in tt.s cid
uea lIue. The tint IS a matter of lem
perature. the hotter star, the bluer it
gets. because great heat means an ac-
tiXitv that engeuders blue light waves.
Sirius Is a blue star, as seen through the
telescopes. simply because it is so hot.
Probably Sirius gives out 100 times as
much light as our sun though it is only
three. or perhaps four, times as big.
Vega, in the constellation, Lyra, hundreds
OF times as big as our sun, is blue, and
the Inference is that the heat il enits
is tremendous.
ct have been speaking of the appearance
Of these stars as viewed through the me
dunn of our atmosphere. Their colors, in
some cases. are SO vivid as to exhibit
marked differences but if the air envel-
ope of the earth were taken away their
varying tints would me much more no
tfceable. From what l have said you win
have understood that the suns of the uni
verse go through progressive alterations
of hue as they grow older Our own sun
is becoming steadily bluer because it is
growing hotter Every star or sun grows
hotter and hotter up to a certain point in
it's history. and then cools. Our sun,
through the contraction of its gaseous
body. is stiu gaining temperature, while
| losing bulk at the rate of ten inches in
diameter per diem 1t will. be ten inches
loss thick tomorrow than il is to-day
History of the sun.
However. our sun has nearly reached
the limit of its increase in temperature
and before long IL win begin to cool Off
NV belief is that within 100000 years the
| solar orb. while considera bly smaller than
now. will he so hot that il will look de-
| cided.y blue even as seen through the
/ earth's atmosphere: thereafter it will show
/ signs of running down quite rapidly. and
/ a tendency win soon follow. on the part
/ of the human population Of the earth. to
/ huddIe toward the equator.
so well as we are able to perceive.
mankind must be DESTROYED eventually hv
/ the progress of cold. and. in NV opinion
/ the sun win not shine for more than,40lO
/ 900 years longer. Originally. of course il
! vvae a pahnlo ooroDoecd nf cola ,,arti.lo,