Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-03

would have a star OF magnitude L and
so on. In this system the stellar maEnI-
tude or the sun is according to Prof New
comb. -26.4. From this number may read
Iy be computed the ratio OF sunlight To
that of star of any given magnitude II
Is found that the sun gives ten thousand
million times the light of Sirius: ninety-one
thousand million times the light OF a star
OF magnitude 1. and ninety-one million-mil-
hon times the light of one of magnitude &
Were the sun to be removed TO twice its
actual distance it would send us only one
IodTth as much light as IL does now: al
three times its present distance IL would he
only one-ninth as brilliant and so on its
brightness decreasing in the exact ratio as
the square OF its distance increased. II Is
easy to calculate therefore at what dis
lance Il would become a star of any given
magnitude. The following are some Of the
resulting figures: AT 382 go times its pres
ent distance it would be reduced to a star
or the hrst magnitude. and its light, which
now reaches us in about S-3 minutes would
then be As years in trayersing the interval
between II and us. At ten times that dis
lance Il would become one hundred times
less brilliant: IL would become a star OF
the sixth magnitude at a distance from us
of forty-eight light years" At ten times
this distance. or $50 light years Il would
become star of the eleventh magnitude,
and another removal to the same extent,
making its distance 4. $40 light years would
reduce it to the sixteenth magnitude maxi
ing Ii one of the faintest stars brought into
we" Win horoscope. Inc CalCLla-
ton may serve to fix our ideas as TO the
probable dimensions of the visible universe;
but inasmuch as We have no means Of tell
ing whether or not these exceedingly faint
telescope stars. or any of them are COM
parable in size with the sun. too much i'm
portance should not be placed on the last
result obtained by this figuring.
The Planets.
Mercury has been an evening star since
April 2S. BY the middle of the month IL
may be looked for, a half hour or so after
sunset, at low altitude a little north OF
west. On the 2Sth it will be at its greatest
eiongation angular distance) east from the
sun-twenty-three degrees four minutes
remaining above the horizon for about an
hour and a half after sunset, and shining
with its greatest brllliancy.
The brilliancy of Mercury when at it's
brightest is usually very much under cSti-
mated for the reason that it is never seen
fairly out of the twilight glow. Careful
comparisons with Capella. made by the
writer on several evenings i'm June last
the planet was fully equal TO that of the
star. one of the brightest three of the
northern hemisphere.
Venus is splendid morning star rising
two hours before the sun in the exact east
Two hours and half west of Venus ris-
ing In the southeast at about I a IN. is
Jupiter; an hour and a quarter farther
west Is saturn. Stil farther west, proceed
ing Saturn by two hours and a half is
Uranus. near the western border of Sagit-
tarius. Neptune. to complete the list. far
below the limit of the naked-eye vision is
about midway between Aldebaran and Pol
lux, setting at about 1920 pm.