FACTS IN ASTRONOMY.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1025, 16 March 1894, Page 3

FACTS IN ASTRONOMY.

The fixed stars are of all colors — violet, green, and red predominating. The fixed star second in distance is 63,000,000,000 of miles from tho earth.

There are stars whose diameter' is greater than that of our whole solar system.

' The strongest telescopes bring tho moon to an apparent distance of 100

miles.

The planets Venus and Mars most nearly resemble the earth in climatic conditions.

The tail of a comet is believed to be matter similar to that contained in the nebula*.

The sun's volume is 1,477,124 times that of the earth, and 600 times greater than all the planets. Tha earth has three motions — round its axis, round the sun, and with sun and solar system.

The moon gives out heat enough to affect a thermometer and make a difference of two or three degrees.

The spectroscope has shown that the prominences on the sun are outbursts of glowing hydrogen.

Some stars are believed to be so far away that 2,000,000 years are required for their light to reach the earth.

The calculations of the astrbnomer Bailey proved the weight of the earth is 6,049,836,000,000,000 tons.

Some stars are so distant that,travelling 200,000 miles a second, their light requires 14,000 years to reach the earth.

Sun spots 100,000 miles in diameter have been measured, large enough to hold dozens of such worlds as ours.

The motion of the earth around the sun is 68i + 205 miles an hour — over 1000 miles a minute or over 19 miles a second.

The spectroscope has demonstrated that the so-called fixed stars are in motion — some in one direction and some

in another.

An error of 1-lOOOth part of a second in an astronomical calculation would mean an error of 200,000,000,000 miles in the distance of a star.