THE GIANT SUN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2778, 3 May 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE GIANT SUN.

In comparing things on oartb, we look upon this our planet as a giant, relative to the size of anything terrestrial; our highest mountains, our deepest oceans, are but specks compared with the huge mass of the eaith. Then look at Jupiter, the noblest of the planets, acting as a subordinate sun to his system of satellites. This globe is hundreds of times larger than our world, and its mass even exceeds the combined mast of all the other planets. Yet vast as is the bulk of .Jupiter, he seems dwarfed into insignificanco compared with the sun's magnificent globe; a thousand Jupiters would not make up the volume of the sun nor outweigh his mighty mass. To speak of any other orb as being a giant sun, would seem to imply that there exists in the universe a globe bearing some such proportion to the sun as the aun does to Jupiter, or Jupiter does to our earth. Inconceivable as the idea of suoh a globe may be, it is, however, suoh a globe that I now wish to describe. . . Look towards the south any clear night during the winter months, and you will see, low down, a star which will immediately arrest your attention, not only by its superior brightness, but also by its constant change of coloar, at one moment red, at another green, at another white. This is Sirius, the famous Dog-star of the ancients, the most brilliant star in the heavens, and the largest known orb in the universe. It is difficult to conceive that this beautiful star is a globe much larger than our sun ; yet it is a fact that Sirius is a sun many times more mighty than our own. That splendid star, which even in oar most powerful telescopes appears as a mere point of light, is in reality a globe emitting so enormous a quantity of light and heat, that were it to take the place of our sun, every creature on this earth would be consumed by its burning rays. Sirius shining with a far greater lustre than any other star, it was natural that astronomers should have regarded this as being the nearest of all the " fixed" stars; but recent investigation on the distances of the stars have shown that the nearest to us is Alpha Centauri, a star belonging to the southern latitudes, though it is probable that Sirius is abont fourth on the list in order of distance. For though there are about fifteen or twenty stars whose distances have been conjectured, the astronomer knows that in reality all of them, save three or four, lie at distances too greatto be measured by any instruments we havo at present. Astronomers agree in fixing the distance of the nearest star at twenty-two millions of millions of miles ; and it is certain that the distance of Sirius is more than three and loss than Bix timoa that of Alpha Centauri, most likeh about five times ; so that we are probably not far from the truth if we set the distance of Sirius at about a hundred million of millions of miles! What a vast difference is this which separates us from that bright star ; words and figures of themselves fail to convey to our minds an adequate idea of its true character. Take a common example of illustrating such enormous distances : It is calculated that the ball from an Armstrong 100.pounder quits tho gun with a speed of about four hundred yards per second ; now, if the velocity could be kept up, it would require no fewer than ten million years before the ball could reach Sirius ! Again, take the swiftest

form of velocity of which we have any knowledge, light, which travels at the rate of nearly two hundred thousand miles per second, or about twelve million miles a minute, yet the distance of Sirius is so vast that it takes nearly twenty years for its light to reach us ; so that if Sirius was suddenly to become extinct, we should not be acquainted with the faot till twenty years hence.—Extract from an article on " The Giant Sun," in Chambers' Journal.