Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1909-11-21
Al PARKWAY STARS
\, Color Serves as an meek
to Their AGE.
.u,r MAKES THEM TWINKLE?

.i.. That Deal With This
~ 80 ...i,al Eniema--The lnterVsn'
Fragments Of Disrupted
s.,Id. or the Effect Of Air Currents
opestion that has e~rvised
iu3 han one gentleman OF science
7, course it is SnowD 'hat Oh'y sns
twinkle, the planets giving our
VIZ .,o.d, light. That Is the way We
49, star from planet with the
,,Eed eye. .,,n,,,. =, oil,
p'' .'swer 10 this seems 70 be on ac-
., II the greater distances OF the
Uuu' che nearest dxed star being sew
asi ,bousapd times farther from US
,s.o tbe farthest planet SO around
.a,sss starting point have been Dullt
- theories one Is that as the
.''O., angle. or angle subtended by
y. star from the eye, is so very small
4.t very small bodies 10 space com
he,ween the star and the eye
mid Give the effect of twinkling.
Now rs regards those small bodies
,,tualy being in space as hypotheeat-
i tbpre is no doubt, for there are mil
Rms Of fragments of disrupted worlds
s,lno around In orbits about our SUM-
TAe only question Is whether there are
enough to cause the eternal twinRilhg
NAT Is observed. Science cannot say
mai enough do not exist, for she can
not nerceiye the existence Of the small
=. fragments that actually could cause
This effect, even with her finest instru'
ments.
To illustrate, then. my meaning as
regards this covering of the visual
angle. suppose you take a dime be
tween your thumb and finger and hold
h between your eye aud the moon un'
Ill II lust covers tue moon Ii Will De
found TO be quite close to the eye. Now
take a quarter and hold il SO that u
iust covers the moon. Its distance Is
AZ once seen to be about four times the
dimes from the eye. Thus 1t Is seen
that the farther outward the object Is
placed the larger the object necessary.
This is 10 accord with what is known
as the law Of inverse squares.
But now take a dime or even pm
bead. aud no matter how far you hOld
II FROM the eye il will easily cover me
largest star In the heavens. This Is
ou account of the enormous distance oi
the star. the lines drawn from IFS sides
to the eye iBclOsiug an angie so minute
that almost anything will OF H. SC
thus We see that this theory h not i'm
possible, though perhaps somewhat I'D
probable.
The other theory bases It's aFgumrn
on the air currents. Air currents ar
caused by light and heated mir rislni
aud cold and heavy air taking IT'S place
Now, when light goes from a hray.
to light gas. or vice versa. L Is ben
one way or the other. SO this woul
certainly happen TO the light from a
the heavenly bodies. The reason IL
not noticed In the case OF the planet
Or the sun is that they send as man
more rays as compared 70 the stars
Many reasons are put forward
show the truth Of this theory. A sta
twinkles more on the horizon than
does In the zenith. for It's light has
cone through a greater thickness
atmosphere; also greater twinEllng
Observed In winter than iu summe
aad when rapid and brilliant twinkliI
q seen II Il a very good prophecy
uin O. snow. as ID shows tine upper
saas o. the air 20 De IN state
uph motion OF varying air curFeul
loi aud cold currents meeting. COZ
uisgIi0g aud rotating probably.
his also accounts for the chang
~ the brightness ~ star. for AZ tim
pari and not al 81 Us light Is bt
aEay from the eye. IL has been .
'red also that stars color has son
Alng 20 DO with its twlnkiing on
eo1nt Of toe di0ereut refructiviues
Ae different coiors. A white 90 81
aai. snch az tbe Dog star. twink
l,ost; beat comes the yellow sod =
,le nd n one cares % look Tor a
var Betelgeux Is one aud can
l,lnd 10 one corner Of the constel
naa Oriou.
A Hiher interesting thing has b
sertaiued IN astrOuomy az rfgnl
~ felai0n between TIE color o. .