The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1910-09-30
|. DISTANCE OF THE STARS:



u Measuring "a.
With the exception Of hundred
stars at most, we kfpw nothing o.
the distances Of the individual stars
What is the cause Of this state Of
things? 10 is owing to'the fact that
we have two eyes that we are en-.
abled not only 10 perceive the di-
rection in which external objects
are situated, but TO get an idea OF
their distance, to localize them in
space But this power is rather linn
tied. For distances exceeding some
hundreds of yards il utterly fails.
The reason j. THAI the distance be-
I tween the eyes ~ compifed with
the distance TO be .evalusted be-
comes too small. IRstruments have
been. devised by which the distance
between The eyes,s<hsit were, arti-
Nfally increased With a good in
stfuuent of This sort distances Of
several miles May be eyaluated. For
still greater distances we may Inn
agins each eye replaced by a photo
graphic plate. Even. this would be
qpitS sufficient. for one of.the heav-
emily bodies--viz, for the moon.
> At one and the same moment let
a Photograph of the moon and the
surrounding stars be taken both at
the Cape observatory and at the
Royal observatory at Greenwich.
Placing the two photographs side by
side in the stereoscope, We shall
cleaIly see the moon changing in
spacep and may evauate its dis
tanct.
But FOR the sun and the nearest
planets; our .neyt neighbors IN the
universe after the moon, the diff
culty reecmmences.
The reason Is thai any available
distance on the earth, taken as eve
distance, is rnsher small for the
purpose. However owing to in
credibls perseverance and skill Of
several obserEers' and by suhstitut-
ing the most refined measurement
for. stereoscopic examination, as
tronaaers have succeeded IN over
coming the difieslty for. the sun. I
think we may say pas at present.
We know rs distance to within a
theussndth part Of its ampupt.
Knowing fhe suns distance, we get
that. Of alf the planets by. a well
known relation existing between the
planetary distances.
Bat now for the fixed stars,
which must be hundreds Of tlror-
sandssof times fartaer remoxed than
The SUM-. There evidently can be no
question of any sufficient eye. dis
lance on our earth. meanwhile our
success with the sun has provided
Us with a new one. distance, $4,000
times greater than any possible eve
distance en- the earth, for now that
we know the distance. at which the
earth travels in It's orbit around'the
sun we can take the diameter Of its
orbit as 'our ere distance. Photo
graphs taken at periods six months
dpaTt viii represent the, stellar
world IS seen from points The aE-
lance between which Is already best
expressed IN the tiH4e. IT woEid take
hesAtfo traverse n. 'Eho time would
Be pho rtssixtcen minutes.
Howevsr. eQn' his distance, inn
nfanse as ii iHfs, on the whole, in,
aicYtate for -obtaining a.stereos
seeyie view Of Che stars. 1t is only
IN quite exceptional eases that pho
togrsphs on a. large soale-that is,
obtained by. Che aid Of big tels-
seopes-shov any stere@cppic ef-
feet for FIXED STARS By accurate
measurement Of thAphos@ we may
perhaps get somewhat beyond what
We can attain BY simple stereoscopic
inspection; but, as we sid mo-
ihent ago, astronQners'haye not sue
ceeded in this way in determining
the distance OF more than nun
,dred STATS in all.-Seientife Ameri-
can
wrhen OHIO Failed
In the midst OF g, B. Galbreath's
lecture on SE4fayerbs she other
night at tn Young Mems Christian
association be spent quite z little
tsmeon the incident Of the Phncely
sum Of $f4o,Oeo which he brought
with hasn 10 this country and gave
20 congress.
"When Lafayette. returned to the
United States about forty-two-y years
later congress voted him S2Q0,O0
In return for the sf4o,o 900 which ne
gave to US in THAT time OF great
need. When the vote was taken ey-
ery state in the Union voted for It
with-let MS mention it softly-the
exception Of Ohio = Columbus
Dispatch. -.