Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1910-03-16
yvLOSSAL ARCTURUS
The Fourth Brightest Star In All
the Heavens.
IN REALITY A MONSTER SUN.

~ - tVod9nk 10 0e NJ leaSt = Hun
bred Times Larger Than Our Sun In
Diameter and ls About Nine Hun
dred and Fifty Million Miles Distant.
Most OF us are prone 20 think Of our
sun as being the largest body In the
heavens. the grand high lord OF all the
little planets aud The twmkling stars
such IL very far from being the case.
Practically all OF the 1xed and twin
King stars are as large as. and some
even larger than. Our own sun They
appear small only because Of their great
distance. for they are Just rs truly
suns with families OF planets hyins
around them rs Is our central orb
There Is one OF these stars H. par
tirular that has attracted the aiteu.
ton OF astronoricrs. not only on &c.
count or its great size. hut also its
enormous distance from our solar sys-
tenn. This Is the star Arcturus. To
have some conception OF the almost In
conceivable disiauc, that separates II
from us the Astronomical standard Of
measuring distance must he compre-
hended. Now. light does not come
from luminous body simultaneously
To our eyes. II takes time TO come.
because II is wave motion i'm a
medium. The velocity OF light as
most recently determined is about
$4,000 miles q second Multiply this
by the number OF seconds In n year
and we have a distance known In as
tronomy AZ light year Therefore
when a star l.. say. six trlllion miles
away we say IL IS one ll.ht year of.
which means that the light from the
star takes one year 10 reach US It
may be OF some interest to know that
there Is no fixed star less than ten
light years away. or sixty trillion
miles. This * the one known as Alpha
Centauri. Most OF the stars are much
farther even than that. Arcturus being
the farthcSt one measured Ia date
Arcturus II though, 90 Ice M least
a hundred times larger than the sun
IA diameter That would make IL
in.cn tinp~ ar-cr in surface. or the
dimension i.sai Is ordinarily compared
by means az the photomeier its bright
ness mas h,.'u determined o. Ice e., %
tinscs th-i 80 thr >ur Il is t'.r fourth
brichl,~t STAR T.. M ''' heavens. Sri
~. the do- star ii'. lrSt In bright
ness. ~ reg ...s diStauce from
u. it has ir.'4 s.. % 10 be a little over
iGn iira, l,~;.... a. $50 triil.ou miles.
This di-tIDce. uf course. caunut be
conceived a. mortal man. IL IS So stu
pendCuS ana asaazirg. However. one
can get Slight idea Of IL 10y means OF
an everyday analogy Thinks OF iho
fastest express train going NJ the rate
OF lUu miles au hour toward such n
star and compute the time 1t would
take. IL is found 10 lee IN round num-
bers exactly l2O.00u0u0 years. Now.
as we know that IL has taken its light
SO long e. come 10 uS and as there are
great MANY stars WHOSE distance
has never hccu ucaSured exactly. but
which have tceu computed to be ap-
proximatelN several million light years
away. We latc absolute proof Of the
great ate 60 la, world and the stellar
univerSe
The c,. ..r..;~ cnlu siuc the sun Arc
turuS a.. 80 uuarl! a., ugh very
nearly tnr -a..v a~ uGi sun As II j.
one OF as, muSI wonderful and as
toundiu in.rgo that scientist can
tell vI:f Flr - far away is COM
posed g explanation of the
modu~ would Nut come ar.iSs
here p .r hy means 81 snail
iustrumrD. ..s.wn as TIN sp,ctroSc, pc.
which ce..s. * rf glass pr~uS So ar.
ran-sd aS 40 ,put zap Ia -ht falling
on theiv .uto it's constituent parts.
New. ever. substance has the power
e. cause - ~riain color "r line la the
sperty. ..ir 70 IL il in luminous con-
diiioh. 81, tlis cSirGmeui il Slmply
pointed az ,lc stat whose compoSii lOn
Is SouGht. usd Il amy line * found that
corresponds tu a substance that We
know ahonI we assume that tins sub
stance * found in the star eNammed.
Another interesting thing Is the meth
cd pursued IN detcrmming the great
distance OF the stars This IL dune
10y determining their parallaN OF angle
made at the star between TWO rays
from the star striSin. III two differ.
ent points in space A. the greatest
distance that we can measure of in
this way and still take the angle is
the diameter OF the earth's orbit. that
distance is invariably used IL Is al
most 200.000.0O0 miles. bu, that, as is
seen. is very small compared with the
enormous distance OF the star Now.
the angle thus measured from ARC.
turus is only two-hundrcdtllS ~ a see
ond. When IL is remembered that
there are 60 seconds IN minute, 80
minutes in II degree and 3co DEGREES
in Il circle. IL * ut once seen what n
small angle the parallaX Is and low
careful tn" astronomer has 10 ir in
his observations. Indeed. for long
time. hcfe,, modern delicaIely areas
uring inst IulentS were iuNcuted no
stars disI.uce could be found FOR
there was seemingly no ancie formed.
and thus the old scientists had To as
sumo the star to be AT ininity.
burg Dispatch
A Flame Combination.
If a small quantity of chlorate of