Evening star., 1922-11-05
More Than a Billion Stars

TOR years the approximate number
of stars visible to the eye. :;
matter of 5000 or 1000. accord.
ing to the definition Of average
vision. has been known. BY moSI
persons, however, and by many
scientists the total number of star.
in the heavens has been considered
countless, II not limitIess. The uni
verse is now declared to be of :;
populousness far beyond all earlier
conceptions. This assumption is u
result of very recent investigation.
into the motions and distances of the
stars.
The latest studies on the subject
of the number as we'll as the light
Of the stars have been made at the
Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
England. The late Franklin Adam,
succeeded in making a set of eos pho.
tographs covering the entire sky
After counts were made Of these
pictures. from which the brightness
OF the self-luminous bodies between
practically the twelfth and seven.
teenth magnitudes could be inferred
it was concluded that they recorded
about 55,000.0o0 stars. From this i
formula was determined showing tbs
change of number in passing from
one magnitude to another.
With these figures it was reasoned
that the aggregate number of stars
is not less than 1000, 100000. prob.
ably not more than 2.000,oO0,0o0 anc
probably approximately 1000, ,0OO. 600
the estimated present population OF
the earth. In making computations
it was inferred that there would be
as many stars fainter than magni.
tude 23 or "a as there are brighter
The magnitude of a star relates t1
its brightness. not to Its size. for
the distances of the heavenly bodie,
are SO tremendous that there Is no,
single one which presents a meas.
urable disk to the astronomer Those
stars brightest to the eye were iona
ago characterized as OF the first
magnitude. while the faintest wer.
classed is of the sixth magnitude
The average star of the first mag
nitude is shown by modern photo
metric mea sures to be 100 time.
brighter than one of the sixth, hence
the ratio between successive magni-
tudes is set as the fifth root OF 100
or about 2ia. That is, fifth-mag.
nitude star is two and half times
brighter than one of the sixth mag
nitude, and so on. Affair and Allie
baran are standard first-magnitude
stars. while the pole star is a stand
ard of the second magnitude
The planets are not strictly includ-
ed in this system Of brightness Mars
is as bright as a first-magnitude star
while Venus and Jupiter are brighter
The combined volume of light f-nm
all of the millions of stars fainter
than magnitude 2o-almost as dim as
can be seen with the greatest telc-
scope-is estimated to be equal io
| only three stars of the first magni.
/ tude. while the brightest Star in the
heavens. Sirius, is equivalent tc
| eleven such stars. On the other
hand. the full moon is approximate,
! 100 times brighter than would he
self-luminous body with a lighi
equal to that of all of the star.
J combined. It is because of theil
almost incredible distances from II.
| that the stars, every one of them
! sun. do not give us more light
| Many of them would be brighter
than our own sun were it possfbi,
to view them from a point as neal
as 93.000,O00 miles. In that event
however the earth would be prompt.
Is melted and vaporized. for il wouls
be totally incapable of withstandfrs
the heat that would be thrown off.