The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-05-11
TODAY S Science
BY DAVID DIETZ'

C,NOw still fell in April, but The night skies Oh
- Nov give an age-old assurance that winter
.oo1v is gone and summer only around the corner'
u on the western horizon, so near the place "llei
s,,, annears to meet earth that you can not see IL
unless YOU have an unobstructed view OF Vne Ai0ii
zon shines mighty Betelgeuse
Retelpeuse is the brightest star in the conSUel-
1ation of Orion Last fall when the WINDS gre" ciii
and the trees began to shed their leaves tne si"i
Orion climbed over the eastern horizon All "lnCei'
he dominated the heavens. The three orlghV SV"S ~
his diagonal belt was the most prominent sign Oh
.,,o r,nter skv Now only BetelgeuSe. which marks
the shoulder of the giant, is above the horizon.
soon now the distinguishing constellation %
summer will come the eastern horlHon. 40
orion disappears in the west Scorplo Che celeS'i"i
Scorpion will appear IN the east .,,4;r
The ancients noticed that the two Conscientious
were never in the sky at the same time ana 50 tey
invented the legend of a perpetual feud between
Orion and Scorpio a legend which symoohzeo Vne
antagonsm of winter and summer ,-,-.-.
IT. is an interesting coincidence that the brightest
stars of both Orion and Scorpio are req IN colol'
Ietelpeuse in Orion and Antares in Scorpio Ihese
stars are known by modern astronomers as reo
Giants" In fact they are the largest Of all the
known red giants. 90 II.
while Antares has diameter of 415OOOOOO miles.
These immense sizes were suspected from theoretl-
cal considerations for many years but they were
definitely established about decade ago by the lae
DR.. A. A. Nicholson, the high priest CT hgnt'
These giant stars are really great balloons Oh
gaseous material. 1t has been calculated that the
density of these stars is less than hundreoth OF
the density of our own atmosphere
PLAN of stellar evolution worked out by
N DR.. Henry Norris Russell of Princeton and
generally accepted by astronomers of the world.
This was the famous giant-dwarf theory, which held
that star started in life as red giant ana nm
ished as red dwarf. This theory however, required
an enormous time scale for the life of star IL
meant that a star like own sun must be at least
fifteen trilion years old.
But the theory of the expanding universe
will not permit any such age for our stars
At one time this theory seemed to point to an
age of less than two billion years for the universe
This created an impossible situation. since on the
basis of all best geological evidence, the eartn ltSen
is two billion years old.
Newer determinations of the age of the universe,
however have smoothed out the situation. DR.. Har-
low Shapley'S latest estimate gives the universe an
age Of five billion years. But it seems very likely
that all the stars in our galaxy are the same age.
This means that we must have some theory to &C
count for the diverse development of the different
types of stars during similar number OF years OF
life
This problem is only one of many which astron-
omers Of today must tackle.
ITO settle many of these problems the world OF
astronomy needs more big telescopes and bigger
ones than any in existence. 1t is good news.
therefore. that the mirror has been poured at
Corning N Y. for the 2O0-inch telescope Within
a few years. this telescope. twice as large the
100-inch at Mt. wilson and ten times as powerful,
will be put into operation.
DR.. Edwin P. Hubble. whose studies of the spiral
nebulae with the 1oO-inch telescope provided the
chief evidence upon which the present theory of
the expanding universe is based, believes that the
200-inch will settle the problem.