The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1909-07-23
/ 0eYAacG o. THEs sTAR&

0eyANck " me- SIM
us~ Assr..s~~.-s,a ASSss ~ TsA
- nssss~s~s ~
With the sxcspion ots hundred
aAss st most vs know Dohing Of
~ DISTANCES Of the individual stsr.
what Il tha cause Of tzs ststs OF
Nhiness Il u owing to De fsc< THAI
es have two eyes thst.vs are en-
shAra uc& only 70 perceive tho d.
recnon n Which external objects
ere situated, b& 10 get an idea OF
their distance, to locatEe them IN
space. Bat this power 10 rather Inn
tied. For distances exceeding some
hundreds Of yards IL utterly fails.
The reason 10 that the distance be-
tween the eyes as compared with
the distance to DO evalusted be-
comes too small. Instrumsnts have
been devised by vhnlh the distance
between tho eyes s, - It vere, srti-
fcially Increased. With . good In.
etrument Of this sort distances OF
several mile, may 10 evalusted. For
still greater distances we may I'M
saine eech eve replaced BY q photo
graphic plate. Even this would be
quite sufficient for one Of tho hesv-
enly bodies7rviz, for the moon.
At one and the same moment let
q photograph Of the moon and the
surrounding stars be taken both at
the Cape observatory and at the
Royal observatory at Greenwich.
Plscing the two photographs side by
side in the st1snpcope, We shan
clearly see The moon hanging IN
! space" and may syslusts its dis
tance.
i But for the sun and the nearest
planets. our next nsighbors In ths
J. universe sftar the moon. the DIM
Guilty reeommenees.
y The reason Is that any available
I distance on TIM Garth, taken {" eye
distances. is rather ANAL for the
purpose. However. owing 70 IN
credible perseverance and skill OF
Of several observers and by suhtisut-
g ing the most refined measurement
TO for stereoscopic examination, IS
$, trononers have succeeded In over.
'is coming the difficulty sor the sun
or think we NAV say that at present
to we know its distance 10 within
n thousandth part Of its amount
on Knowing the sun's distaDee. We &c
les that Of all the pasu<ts By wei
ny known relation existing between III
he planetary distances.
'us But now for the fixed stars
he which must be hundreds OF thou
ito sands of times farther removed tha
dy the sun. There evidently can be n
nd question Of any sufficient eye di'
Ito tance on our earth. Meanwhile ou
~. success with the sun has provide
W us With . new one distance, 2A,oO
cir times greater than any possible sy
lch distsncs on the earth. for nov thl
n vs knOv the &stAnre q vtSeh u
nsl earth triveh in il srbit around II
ep- sun 70 can take the diameter Of !
ich orh6 ss sour eye distance Phot.
Of srschs tuken ss periods ak month
ou- AT vii represent ths stslh
ins wofla a. seen from points the d
u tance between which is already be
e. expressed IN the time itwouh ~
en- Ifhtto traverse IL The time YOU
by be about sirteen minutes.
M However, even this distance, u
.ess rnense . it Is, h. on ths vheis \
VS. sAeousts for obtaining . stsss
out scope visx Of he stArA Il = en
In auitS exceptional casss that pa
togrsphs On . large scals--shAt
obl4ined BY the Aid Of big ~
fscopes-shov any stereoscope
4 feet for Hxsd stars. BY occurs
. measurensnt OF the photos We N
, perhaps get somewhat beyond vh
! we can attain BY simple stersoscoI
: inspection; but. - We said . n
H ment ago, astronomers have nos ..
1 ceeded in this way IN determini
IU the distance OF moro than hu
III dred stars in Scientific Anne