The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-04-16
CLIMPSES INTO
STARRY HE4VENS''
A Paper Read Recently BY Dr.. E. G.
Sprague Before the Barre Nature
Study Class.

The following article, entitled, "The
Starry Heavens" was recently read by
Dr.. E. G. Sprague of Barre before the
Barre Nature Study club and was found
to contain so much of general interest
that it is here printed:
The stars are classified according to
their brilliancy. There are 20 of the
first magnitude, Is of which may be seen
In northern ATTITUDES during the whole
year, 65 of the second, and their numbers
increase rapidly as the magnitude de.
creases until 1000 stars may be seen
with the unaided eye and this includes
stars of the sixth magnitude
One hundred of the brightest stars
have been given individual names, As
the stars are evenly distributed between
the northern and southern henHspheres
we can see something like $500 stars
during the whole year.
The depth of the air enveloping the
earth is about 200 miles, and even on
our most clear, cloudless night, mist and
dust particles greatly obscure vision. In
some countries the unaided eye readily
distinguishes tenth magnitude stars,
ioihs- hpaiiS WiieA ticui
ly gives the starry vault there re-
splendence Incompatible with ours. The
classification continues with the aid of
the telescope to the twentieth magni-
tude, revealing uneounted millions of
stars. On any clear night in winter we
see misty band of light arching from
horizon to horizon. This is the Milky
way which Milton speaks of as the Path
of Departed Souls" and which was the
Indians cloud Of dust kicked up by buff
falo and horse racing towards their
happy hunting grounds" 1t is made
up of a belt of stars, so remote that
they lose their individuality, merely
presenting faint, blended dim light AT
our antipodes, in the southern hemi-
sphere, this band of light, which we call
the Milky way, is found to continue
completing circle.
If you will presume great city at
our Canadian border, with candle lights
in every window and the walls of the
buildings made of glass so that no light
might be obscured from us, we would see
dim band or streak of light, without
being able to see individual candles
Continuing the stories of this city to
hundreds of thousands of stories, arch.
ing the heavens and touching the south.
ern border, we get an idea of what the
Milky way means to MS. In this case
lights in our neighboring houses would
represent the near stars to us, and if
they were east or west would seem to
be outside of the Milky way, while in
reality, they would be well within the
circumference, as we'll as any light OF
individual star possible to recognize.
The Milky way is the equatorial zone
OF vast spherical universe of stars and
the telescope reveals that the stars are
most numerous in proximity to it, and
most scattering at the poles, while nebu-
lac, many of which are stars in forma.
ton, are most numerous at 30 degrees
away, or at the poles, and scattering
near the Milky way or equatorial zone
The theorized existence of great cen
trail sun controlling this vast universe
of stars has been found untenable on
account of the earth occupying a posi-
ton so near the center that such a sun
could not escape detection, even il not in
candescent state.
Way beyond our Milky way and this
universe of stars, the telescope reveals
galaxes or other universes of stars like
our own Milky way, but reduced to pin
points in size on account of their be-
wildering distance from us. 1t might
seem that our own Milky way, or these
galaxes, or perhaps the void beyond must
be the boundary of space.
But what is beyond the void? Other
galaxes? Another void?
Light travels as rapidly as electricity
approximately 10000 miles per second
distance equal to seven times the cir
conference of the earth. 1t takes but a
second and quarter for the light to
come from the moon TO us. Tt travels
the 90000000 miles distance of the sun
to us in eight minutes. If the sun was
suddenly destroyed, its light would CON
tlnue to come TO us for eight minutes
just as bright as before, without any
suggestion of the catastrophe until the
instant of the last rays to reach us
when we would be plunged into starlight
darkness. The light from our most dis.
tant planet in our solar system, Nep.
tune, requires four hours at this rapid
lightning like speed to reach us. This
taxes imagination, but the distance is
so great to the nearest fixed star, which
is the distance often spoken of as the
Great Divide" that its expression in
miles being so much beyond conception
and meaningless to us, that its distance
is spoken Of in light years. The dis.
lance therefore is not expressed in meas.
sured miles, but in the time required for
its light to traverse this distance; and
just think, it takes light four and one.
third years to come to us from the near.
est fixed start Travelling night and
day four years, 10000 miles each sec
ond This is the nearness of Alpha Cen.
tauri, the nearest neighbor, but only
seen in the southern hemisphere II
seems to the human mind that the solar
system must occupy place entirely
alone from the rest of the universe OF
stars. Reducing all to small scale, il
the sun was a foot in diameter, the earth
pinhead 100 feet away, the nearest
fixed star would be in China
Well has this been called the "Great
Divide"l Polaris, our north star, is 70
light years distant If it was destroyed
to-day, its light would continue to come
to US for 20 years, shining to us as il
nothing had happened, and we would
have no suspicion of its destruction
Sixty Cygni' is 100 light years dis.
tant, but there are less than 200 stars
near enough to us to be teescopically
triangulated
Just as the civil engineer can measure
tic width Of river in sighting his
transit from the object on the opposite
bank to base line to get one angle
and then few feet or rods away at the
other end of the base line to get the
other angle in the same way, and then
with two annles and Tho ha 80 linn hn