Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1909-11-11
THE PARKWAY STARS
Their Color Serves as an Index
to Their Age.
WHAT MAKES THEM TWINKLE?

TWO theories That Deal With This
| Astronomical Enisma-The Interven-
tion of Fragments of Disrupted
Worlds or the Effect Of Air Currents.
This is question that has exercised
more than one gentleman Of science
or course it is known that only the
stars twinkle, the planets giving out
steady light. That is the way we
tell star from planet with the
naked eye.
But why does the star twinkle at all?
The answer to this seems to be ON ac-
| count of the greater distances of the
stars, the nearest fixed star being sew
eral thousand times farther from us
than the farthest planet SO around
this as a starting point have been built
two theories. One is that as the
visual angle, or angle subtended by
the star from the eye, Is so very small
that very small bodies in space COM
ing between the star and the eye
would give the effect of twinkling.
! Now, as regards those small bodies
actually being in space as hypOthecat-
ed there is no doubt, for there are mil
| lions Of fragments of disrupted worlds
| flying around in orbits about our SUM-
| The only question is whether there are
\ enough to cause the eternal twinkling
| that is observed. Science cannot say
that enough do not exist, for she can
| not perceive the existence of the small
| est 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
| il between your eye and the moon un-
| til it just covers the moon. 1t will be
found to be quite close to the eye. Now
take quarter and hold it so that 1t
| just covers the moon. Its distance Is
! at once seen to be about four times the
dimes from the eye. Thus it is seen
that the farther outward the object is
placed the larger the object necessary.
| This is in accord with what Is known
| as the law of inverse squares
| But now take a dime or even pin
head. and no matter how far you hold
It from the eye 1t will easily cover the
largest star In the heavens. This Is
on account of the enormous distance OF
| the star, the lines drawn from its sides
to the eye inclosing an angie so minute
that almost anything will fill it, SO
thus we see that this theory is not i'm
| har |, ~
! probable.
The other theory bases it's argument
| on the air currents. Air currents are
caused by light and heated air rising
and cold and heavy air taking its place.
| Now. when light goes from a heavy
to light gas. or vice versa, it is bent
one way or the other So this would
certainly happen to the light from all
| the heavenly bodies. The reason 1t is
not noticed in the case Of the planets
or the sun is that they send Us many
more rays as compared to the stars.
Many reasons are put forward to
show the truth of this theory. A star
wrinkles more on the horizon than it
does in the zenith, for its light has to
| come through a greater thickness Of
atmosphere; also greater twinkling is
observed in winter than in summer,
| and when rapid and brilliant twinkling
Is seen 1t is very good prophecy Of
rain or snow, as it shows the upper re-
| gions Of the air to be in state Of
rapid motion of varying air currents,
hot and cold currents meeting, com
mingling and rotating probably
This also accounts for the changes
In the brightness Of star, for at times
part and not all Of its light is bent
away from the eye. II has been no
ticed also that stars color has some
thing to do with its twinkling on ac-
count OF the different refractivities Of
the different colors A white or blue
star. such as the Dog star, wrinkles
most; next comes the yellow and last
the red IL one cares to look for red
star, Betelgeux Is one and can DO
found i'm one corner OF the constelIa
ton Orion.
A rather interesting thing has been
ascertained in astronomy as regards
| the relation between the color Of star
and it's age. The white or blue stars
are considered young or in the prime
Of life. with many more million years
| to their career, while red star. as
Betelgeux, is on the wane and will grad
ually 90 out in the next few million
years. See IL II doesn't! The yellow
stars of course come between the blue
| and the red in point OF age II is en-
couraging To find that our own sun Is
classified as white star = A. l.
Hodges in Cincinnati Commercial Trib-