The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1911-02-24
DISTANCE OF THE STARS.
Kew AstrSi e,ost CT Abou, thu Tss.
81 : sasasing a..

81 t.sas4sing a..
With tlr e.. -,'.t.on of hundred
stars az m1si. SIC eADa naiAa. oil
the distan,, o. ,ir midi, am. s.ars.
Naat Is ,.c ,alae OF tO.s late of
thing: IL IS owing go the tact that
We have two eyes that we are en-
ab.ed mol only TO perceive the di-
rection IN which external oO, ects
are situated. but TO get AN idea of
their distance. TO localizc them in
,pace. But this power Is rather lin
tied. For distances exceeding some
hundreds Of yards i utterly. fails.
The reason is that the distance be-
tween the eyes a compared with
the distance 10 be evaluated be-
comes too small! instruments have
been devised p, which the distance
between t.c ctcs y. as II were, arti-
( ciaily incre, en- Will good in.
trawcr, ~ this sort distances o.
evcal mics inay be eyaluated. For
It'll greater distances We NAV i'm
igine each eve replaced by photo
raphic p e. Even this would be
flte su'a 70 for one ofthc hcay-
.se AoC viz, for the moon.
"a. one and the same moment let
l photo pa Of the moon and the
.Rrio rC'ng .iars be taken both at
the Cape observatory and at the
Royal observatory at Greenwich.
Placing the two photographs side BY
side in tho stereoscope, we shall
clearly see the moon hanging in
space and may evaluate its dis
lance.
But for the sun and the nearest
planets, our NEXT neighbors in the
universe after the moon, the diff
Guilty recommences.
The reason is that any available
distance on the earth. taken as eve
distance, Is rather. small for the
purpose However, owing to in
credible perseverance and skill Of
several observers and by substitut-
ing the most refined measurement
for stereoscopic examination, as
tronomers have succeeded in over !
coming the difficulty for the sun. I
think we may say that at present
we know its distance to within a
thousandth part of its amount.
knowing the suns distance, we get
that Of all the planets BY a we'll
known relation existing between the
planetary distances.
But now for the fixed stars.
which must be hundred: Of thou
ands Of times farther removed than
he sun There evidently can be no
question Of any sufficient eye dis
ance on our earth. Meanwhile our
uccess with the sun has provided
Is with new one distance, $4,000
lines greater than any possible eye
distance on the earth, for now that
re know the distance at which the
arth travels in its orbit around the
IN We can take the diameter Of its
rblt as our eye distance. Photo
raphs taken at periods ak months
part will represent the stellar
forld as seen from points the dis
ance between which is already best !.
expressed in the time it would take -
sht TO traverse il. The time would
e about sixteen minutes.
However, even this distance, i'm
tense as il is, is, on the whole, in
dequate for obtaining a stereo-
sopic view Of the stars. 1t is only
quite exceptional cases that pho
graphs on q large scale-tiat is,
btsined by the aid of big tele-
any stereoscopc ef-
ct for fred stars. By accurate
Of the photos We may
erhsps get somewhat beyond what
. can attain by simple steieoscopic
but, as we said a mo-
Ient ago, astronomers have not sue
.eded in this way m determining
10 distance of more than a hun
red stars in all.-Scientifc Ameri-
IN.