Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-04-22
They Indicate the Aging Of Our
Orb of Life and Light. ~
THE GREAT SOLAR TRAGEDY.


Fighting For Existence. Has Abso'
iutely No Chance to Win and Whose
Death Means the End Of the World.
Life is tragedy. the earth stage.
men and women the actors. the gods"
the audience. Some pessimists believe
that this great play Of life is more
comic than tragic In the opinion of the
spectators. ...,>.
However this may be. there Is an
other. vastly greater, tragedy Of life at
which man himself Is an onlooker, al
though. unfortunately. his own ulti-
mate fate Is bound up with the deuoue.
ment of the play.
1t is the life drama Of the solar sys-
TEN. Its chief actor Is tho sun. and
men are beginning to rub their eyes
and wipe the specks from their glasses
AZ they perceive more and more plainly
indications that the star" Of the play
10 aging.
The fact Is becoming only too clear
that for him this Is no sport. but real.
deadly tragedy. He Is not acting q
part, but lighting for life. He cannot
win; he can only prolong the struggle.
and when be falls exhausted the stage.
the theater, actors. spectators. pit and
galleries will 60 with him In one uni
versal ruin.
Until recently we were only troubled
q little in mind by the sun spots It
was evident that they must cut of
some radiation. but the amount ap-
peared to be trifing. and their maxima
are far apart. ten or eleven years. But
now we are confronted by much
more disquieting phenomenon. The sun
appears to "auctuate at irregular inter-
walls Of several days and sometimes Of
several months"
Here is the cruz Of the whole mat
ter. What does the recognition Of the
fact that the sun Is veritable star
mean2 What may it mean to the earth
and It's inhabitunts7 These questions
can best be answered by considering
other variable stars.
Let US take an extreme example
There Is in the constellation of the
Whale a famous variable star known
as Mira the Wonderful. In a period
Of about ten months on the average 1t
changes from the third-sometimes the
second-magnitude to about the ninth
and then back again.
That means. in the extreme. a prob
able difference of between two and
three hundred times in the amount Of
light and heat which it radiates around
1t at maximum and at minimum.
When it is faintest 1t cannot be seen
With the naked eye: when it Is bright
est It is; conspicuous object. AS 1t
fades it turns reddish in color. and
when it brightens it blazes With bril-.
liant spectroscopic lines.
1t is probably sun at least as great
as our sun. and it has recently been
found that its spectrum resembles In
some striking peculiarities the spectra
Of sun spots.
Did it ever have any worlds to light
and nourish? If so think Of the condi-
ton of those worlds now.
A sun Is. like a living organism-it
wears out. AS it ages it becomes more
and more varia bic. 1t maintains itself
and its planets while its radiant power
lasts. but it cannot do so forever. It
contracts. fiickers. struggles. fades and
goes out. Its lifetime Ia millions Of
years, but 1t has an end.
LET US account as q mere nothing
cried Bossuet. everything that ends.
for, though We should multiply years
beyond the reach of numbers. yet all
would be nothing when the fatal term
Is reached."-Garrett P. Sesviss In New
York American.