The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1910-03-16
COLOSSAL ARCTtJRljS
The Fourth Brightest Star In All
the Heavens.
IN REALITY A MONSTER SUN.
!. Is Thought 70 Be az Least Hun
dred Times Larger Than Our Svn In
Diameter and Is About Nine Hun
drea and Fifty Million Miles Distant.

-
dred Times Larger Than Our Syn In
Diameter and Is About Nine Hun
drcd and Fifty Million Miles Distant.
Most OF US are prone to think OF our
sun rs being the largest body in the
heavens. the grand high lord OF all the
little planets and the twink'inE stars
Such is very far from being the case
Practically ali Of the fixed and twin
king stars aEc as large as. and sotne
even larger than. our own sun. They
appear small only becouse Of their great
distance. for they are just as truly
suns with families Of planets flying
around them as is our central orb.
There IS one OF these stars in par
ticular that has .tractcd the atten-
ton Of astronomers. not only on &C
count OF its great size. but also its
| enormous distance from our solar syS-
tenn. This IS the star Arcturus. To
have some conception Of the almost in
conceivable distance that separates II
from Us the astronomical standard OF
! measuring distance must be compre-
nended. Now. light does not come
from a luminous body instantaneously
to our eyes It takes time to come.
because It is wave motion in
medium. The velocity Of light rs
most recently determined is about
$4,000 miles second. Multiply this
By the number Of seconds IN year
and we have & distance known II as
tronomy as light year. Therefore
when star is. say. six trillion miles
away we say it is one light year OF.
which means that the light from the
star takes one year 70 reach US X
may be Of some interest to know that
there is no fixed star less than ten
light years away. or sixty tril!ion
miles. This IS the one known as Alpha
Centauci. Most Of the stars are much
farther even than that. Arcturus being
the farthest one measured 10 date
Arcrurus IS though, to be 1t least
q hundred times larger than the sun
su diameter. That would make ].
10000 times larger IN surface. or the
dimension that IS ordinarily compared
By means OF the photometer Its bright
! ness has been determined TO be Goo
times that Of the sun. II is the fourth
brightest star in all the heavens. Sir'-
Us. the dog star. being first In bright
ness. As regards the distance from
us. Il has been found 10 be little over
l60 light years. or $50 tri!iion miles.
This distance. Of course, cannot be
conceived by no-ta! man. il IS so STU
pendous and Amazing. However. one
can get a slight idea OF il By means OF
an everyday analogy. Think OF the
fastest express train going Al the rate
Of 100 miles an hour toward such
star and compute the time II wou!c
take. It is found to be in round num-
bers exactly 1oo.ooo.ooo years! Now.
as we know that i; has taken It's light
SO long to come TO Us and as there are
q great many stars whose distance
has never been measured; exactly. but
which have been computed to be ap-
pro1imately several million light years
! away. we have absolute proof OF the
great age OF the world and the stellar
universe.
The elements composing the sun Arc
turus are. peculiarly enough. very
nearly the same as our sun. AS 1t Is
one Of the most wonderful and as
founding things that a scientist can
tell what star so far away IS com
posed Of, small explanation Of the
nodus operandi would not come amiss
here. It IS done by means OF snaII
instrument known as the specroscope.
which consists Of glass prisns so ar
ranged as to split up the light falling
on them into its constituent parts.
Now. every substance has the power
to cause q certain color Or line II the
spectroscope X it IS in luminous con-
dition, SO this instrument IS simply
pointed ct the star whose composition
IS sought. and * any line IS found that
corresponds to substance that we
kpow about we assume that this sub
stance is found n the star examined.
Another interesting thing is the meth
cd pursued in determining the great
distance Of the stars. This is done
By determining their parallax or angle
made at the star between two rays
from the star striking at two differ
ent points IN space. AS the greatest
distance that we can measure OH ID
this way and still take the angle IS
the diameter Of the earth's orbit. that
distance is invariably used. II IS a.
most oO0.oo0.OOO miles. but that. IS IS
seen. is vcyy small compared with the
enormous distance Of the star No..
the angle thus measured from arc
turus Is only two-hundredths OF sec
ocd, When It is remembered that
there are co seconds in minute. W
minutes IN degree and SEQ degrees
in q circle. It IS ct once seen what
small angle the paTallax IS and how
careful the astronomer has to &c in
bis observations Indeed. for long
time, before modern delicately meas
r-iac instruments were Invented. no
stars distance could be found. for
there was seemingly 90 angie formed.
and tars the old scientists had to as
sumo the star to be at infinitE.-P!tts-
burg Dispatch
Guess Thi. Is Sc.
Nrs. Eenhan-Eow much did you