The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1912-06-21
SPOTS ON THE sun
They Indicate the Aging Of Our
Orb of Life and Light.
THE GREAT SOLAR TRAGEDY.

A Grim Play IN Which the @star" 10
Fighting For Existence, Has Abso.
lutsly No Chance to Win and Whess
Death Msans shs End Of the World.
Life Is tragedy, the earth a 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 denoue.
ment Of the play.
1t is the life drama Of the solar sys-
tenn. Its chief actor is the sun, and
men are beginning to rub their eyes
and wipe the specks from their glasses
as they perceive more and more plainly
indications that the "star" Of the play
is aging.
The fact is becoming only too clear
that for him this Is no sport, but real,
deadly tragedy. lie is not acting a
part, but fighting for life. He cannot
win: he can only proiong the struggle.
and when he falls exhausted the stage,
the theater, actors, spectators. pit and
galleries win so with him In one uni
versal ruin.
Until recently we were only troubled
a little In mind by the sun spots, It
was evident that they must cut OF
some radiation, but the amount up
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 "fluctuate at irregular inter-
walls Of several days and sometimes Of
several months"
Here Is the crux of the whole mat
ter. What does the recognition Of the
fact that the sun Is a vcritable star
mean? What may It mean to the earth
and It's inhabitants7 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 periot
of about ten months on the average |
changes from the third-sometimes tn,
| kyyAA ~ nj, AhA fotI
and then back again.
That means, in tho extreme, 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 1t is faintest 1t cannot be seen
with the naked eye; when 1t is bright
est it's conspicuous object. AS It
fades 1t turns reddish in color, and
when 1t brightens 1t blazes with brill
liant spectroscopic lines.
1t Is probably sun at least as great
as our sun, and 1t has recently been
found that its spectrum resembles In
some striking peculiarities the spectra
OF sun spots
Did 1t ever have any worlds to light
and nourish? If so think of the condi-
tion of those worlds now.
A sun is like living organism-it
wears out. AS II ages 1t becomes more
and more variable. 1t maintains Itself
and its planets while Its radiant power
lasts, but It cannot do so forever. 1t
contracts. flckers, struggles, fades and
goes out, Its lifetime is millions OF
years, but 1t has an end.
"Let US account as mere nothing"
cried Bossuet. everything that ends,
for. though we should multiply years
beyond the reach Of numbers, yet oil
would be nothing when the fatal term
Is reached. ."-Garrett +. Serviss In New
York American.