El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-12-02
SOUTH

, Brightness OF the stars by their mag
nitudes. The brightest Of them are
of the first magnitude, those just visible
I TO the naked eye, of the sixth magni-
tude- The 90 most brilliant stars
known to the ancients were regarded
/ as Of the first magnitude stars. AS
science became more exact il became
necessary to distinguish between these
brighter than theirs. and so measures
were made TO determine the bright
ness. The stars were compared among
| themselves or with the light OF a
standard candle by an instrument
called a phOtometer. a very exact
part OF astronomy thus has arisen.
Magnitude of the Stars.
The magnitude of the stars, as a
result of these measures. can be more
accurately stated. The brighter a star
is the smaller the number representing
Is magnitude, and consequently a star
of first ma gnitude is one magnitude
brighter than one of the second. And
one of the second magnitude is two
magnitudes brighter than one Of the
fourth. In the same way stars brighter
than the first magnitude can be rep
resented by numbers smaller than one,
by decimals, or even by negative num-
bers- Sirius Is OF the-l-4 magnitude.
Vega OF o. magnitude A star of the
first magnitude is five magnitudes
brighter than one OF the sixth, and IL
gives just 100 times as much light
The fifth root Of 100 is 2.5l2. and con-
seQuently a star Of a certain magni-
tude gives 2.512 times as much light
as one Of a magnitude fainter (IhOSe
who understand logarithms will see at
a glance that log 2.512 is equal to 0.4.p
Our sun is a star Of the-26.5 magni-
tude. and IL gives US 10000, 100000
times as much light as Sirius II the
sun were twice as far away from US as
il is, il would give only one-quarter
as much light II il were 100000 times
farther off than il is, its light would
be the same intensity as that of Sirius.
But even at this enormous distance.
the sun would be only about One-sixth
as far away as Sirius exactly lies. IN
other words. Sirius shines with luster
fully 80 times that of our sun.
And Sirius is not solitary example
The sun looks big and bright only be-
cause II is so close, but if il could be
put off from US TO the average dis
lance OF the fixed stars. II would shine
with a luminosity just visible 10 the
naked eye, II would be A star of about
the sixth magnitude There are vast
numbers Of other suns more brilliant
and more massive than our own sun.
Planetary Conf1gurRtfon.
December ,, l a. m Venus greatest
hehOcentric Lat north.
December ;, 1856 a. m Jupiter and
moon in conjunction Jupiter south
seven degrees
December u. 7:13 p. m. Saturn and
moon IN conjunction Saturn north
one degree four minutes.
December IS, SOS a m. Neptune
ond moon in conjunction Neptune
north one degree eight minutes.
December 1s, II a m. Mercury
greatest heliOcentric Lat south.
December p, a m Jupiter sta
tionary.
December q. S:5s p. m. sun enters
Capricornus- Winter commences.
December %, a m Mercury and
Mars in conjunction. Mercury south
one degree ten minutes
December p, 1916 p. m. Venus and
moon in conjunction Venus north five
degrees 81 minutes.
December %. Partial eclipse Of sun
invisible at Washington
December IS, 1904 p. m Mars and
moon in conjunction. Mars south 81
minutes.
December 25, 1856 p. m Mercury and
moon in conjunction. Mercury south
two degrees Is minutes.
December 81 2-42 .. m Uranus and
moon in conjunction. Uranus south