The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1909-11-15

WHAT MAKES THEM TwIMKLe7
Tive rhsssIss Thst ossi Win This
AstssNemissi gWIsms-Ths iotsrvso.
tIsH u evssmsWts u oissVptst
Wssits o. ths Effect u Az Currents.

tell . star from . planet with The
naked eye.
hut why does the star twinkle n all
The answer 10 this seems 10 be on nc
count Of the greater distances of tbs
stars. the nearest nxed star bcing sew
erni thousand times fnl her from u
than the fsrthest planet. 10 around
this 40 Q starting point have been built
two theories. One 10 that No the
visual angle. OF angle subteDd~d b.
the star from the eye. 10 % very small
thst very small b0di~s iu space CON
Ing bctweeD the star snd the eye
would give the effect Of twipkiins.
Nov. - r~gsris tboss small bodies
actually being In space - hypotbecat.
I'd these In no doubt. f0f tbefs nre mil.
lions Of fragments 6f disrupted worlds
dying around 10 orbits sbovt our sun.
The only question u whether there src
enough 10 cause the eternal twinki,ns
that 10 observed. Science cannot say
that enough do not exisi. for she can.
not tsrccive the existence Of the small.
est fragments that actually could cause
this effect. even with her nnest instru-
meats.
To illustrate. then, my meaning ~
regards this covering Of the visual
angle. suppose you tnkc q dime be-
tween your thumb aud nngcr aud hold
II between your eye and the moon M.
III u just covcrs the moon. II will b.
found 10 be quite close 20 the eye. Now
take q quarter mud hold u 20 that II
just covrrs the moon. Its distance 10
at onc~ s~cn 10 bc about four times the
dimes from the eye. Thus II Ii seen
that the farther outward the object 10
placed the larger the object nrcesaary.
Thls 10 IN accord with Whist 10 known
~ the law of inverse squares.
hut now take Q dine or even . pin
head. aud no matter bow far you bold
u from the eye II viii easily cover the
largest star In the heavens. This u
on account Of the ENORMOUS dlstaDce Of
the star. the lines dra wn from In sides
10 the eye inclosins ~ angle 70 minute
thst aimost auyihlug will Oh u. 10
thus We see that this theory u not im-
possible. though perhaps somewhat i'm.
probab,e.
Ths osb.r ,hsorv bas,s n, argument
ON tho air rurr,nt. Air currvpt, are
caused by light aud heated slr rising
and cola aud hravy sir taking in MACE.
Nov. when iIrht soe, from q beavy
10 o light sas. o. vice vera. Il b beut
one way OF the other. 30 this would
certainly buppcu 70 the lIebt from an
the heavenly boiIes. The reason n \
not noticed In the case OF the planets
or the sun n thai they sepd M many
morc rsys n. comua rcd 10 the starr.
Mnuy reasous arc nut forward 10
show the truth Of this theory. A star
twInklcs morv ON the horizon than n
does I'm the zenith. for ,,s l,vht has 20
com. through . greater ,hIckuess OF
stmospherr: also greater twiukIlue 10
observed IN winter than In sum uer,
and when r,p,d and brilliant twiukiius
4 sreu n /, a very good prophecy OF
min or snow. a n ,bovs the upper 10.
rIons oe the air 10 be IN A s,sts Of
r.nId motion Of varying air curreuts.
hos spd cold currents meeting. com.
minsIins sud rot, ting probably,
This sl,o sccouuts for tho chsuees
In m. brlshtues. Of \ altar. for n timee
4 purt and mot an OF its light V beut
awsy from the eye. II has been no