Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-28

"A minus more ana more OF the
4 wonders that are to be found
elsewhere in the universe than
on this comparatively diminutive earth
of ours, modern complacency as to
the sophistication of this highly in
tellectual civilization we have set up
begins to weaken, if not altogether
capitulate. We find that we have
scarcely even scratched the surface,
after all.
Ever since those dawn days when
man slowly CROPPED his way out of
stark barbarism to the first stages OF
culture, the starlit heavens have in
trigued him with their mysteries,
fascinated him with their compelling
beauty and awed him with their limit
less spaces. But, through the eyes of
Calico, he has seen and solved many
of those riddles and has opened up a
universe holding treasure of knoWl-
edge and loneliness far beyond the
limits of the most fanciful magma
ton.
If one started out to enumerate the
achievements of science in the fields
of astronomical and solar research in
the past two years some of the great
est advances of recorded time might
be mentioned Hubble, for instance,
pushed the known boundaries of the
universe millions of miles further into
space when he proved that the spiral
heavenly pin.wheels
in truth island universes, some of
them, at least, as large as our own,
so called, universe" Quite naturally
we had come TO regard our little
galaxy as embracing everything.
But this story is to deal with only
two recent discoveries and these two
because, together. they may-and, of
course, may not-have a far-reachipg
effect on mankind in the years that
are to come They are the successful
measurement of the diameter and
density of the faint companion of the
star Sirius by DR.. Walter S. Adams,
director of the Mount Wilson Observa-
tory of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington, and the discovery of new
cosmic rays, 1000 times more power
full than X-rays, by DR.. Robert An
drews Millikan, director of the Nor
man bridge Laboratory of Physics at
the California Institute of Technol-
ogy.
When it is known that this COM
panion star is so dense that a cubic
inch of it would weigh about ton,
that it's atoms are so crushed together
that 1t Is so, 900 times denser than wa
ter, together with the fact that the
"Millikan rays" which indicate posi-
BILE similarity Of origin, are capable Of
piercing a sheet of solid lead six feet
thick. some faint suspicion of the inn
pOrtance of further investigating these
facts becomes apparent.
TT was in 1862 that the famous dog
star, Sirius, the brightest star in
the sky, was found to have q faint
companion. Undoubtedly the scien-
tific journals Of those days faithfully
recorded the discovery, but 1t is doubt
full If the general public heard any
thing about it for years. The mod
ern press, however, with it's tremen-
dously faster facilities for transmit
ting news, is still talking about DR..
Adams successful measurements, but
thus far without assoCiatihg it's pos
sible structural similarity with the
"Millikan rays.
This companion star is so close to
Sirius as to be visible only with a tele-
scope of considerable size. Although
only about a ten-thousandth part as
bright. the companion Is a third as
massive as Sirius itself and has three
fourths of the mass of our own sun.
These two stars form a great system
In which they swing about one an
other in an elliptical orbit making a
complete revolution in slightly less
than so years.
The analysis of the light of Sirius
shows that it is blue star having a
very high temperature. not far from
10 900 degrees centigrade, or nearly
twice the temperature of our sun.
It's mass and approximate size are so
well known that it is quite possible to
derive it's surface brightness. or the
amount Of light given off by each unit
of its surface. But for many years
astronomers assumed that the COM
panion of Sirius, which Is the star
we are talking about, must be rela-
! lively cool star.
Only in this way, 1t was argued.
I, did 1t seem possible to reconcile its
large mass, which Is a third OF that of
Sirius itself, with its low brightness,
which Is only one n-thousandth of
| the brightness of Sirius. Stars with
temperatures of about 1000 degrees
centigrade are well known in our
stellar system. and at these low tenn
peratures their surface brightness is,
of course, very low, and the light
+, which these stars give out Is relatively
| feeble.
About 10 years ago, however, as
tronomers succeeded in Analysing di-
rectly with the spectrascope the light
OF the companion of Sirius, and the
surprising result was found that the
spectrum is almost identical with that
of Sirius itself. The observations