Stars 

 Steam-jets 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



650 



ing from our foggy latitudes to the limpid 

 regions of the tropics, the colors of the stars 

 are accentuated, and the sky becomes a 

 veritable casket of precious stones. What 

 would it be if we could transport ourselves 

 beyond the limits of our atmosphere? Seen 

 from the moon these colors would be splen- 

 did. Antares, a Herculis, Pollux, Aldeba- 

 ran, Betelgeuse, Mars, shine like rubies; the 

 polar star, Capella, Castor, Arcturus, Pro- 

 cyon, are veritable celestial topazes; while 

 Sirius, Vega, and Altair are diamonds eclips- 

 ing all by their dazzling whiteness. How 

 would it be if we could approach the stars 

 so as to perceive their luminous disks, in- 

 stead of merely seeing brilliant points desti- 

 tute of all diameter ? FLAMMARION Popular 

 Astronomy, bk. vi, ch. 8, p. 637. (A.) 



3217. STARS TEACH MAN'S WEAK- 

 NESS AND MAJESTY "What Is Man that 

 Thou Art Mindful of Him? Thou Hast Made 

 Him a Little Lower than the Angels " (Ps. 

 viii, 4, 5). If the starry heavens, by incal- 

 culable numbers, magnitude, space, duration, 

 and length of periods, impress man with the 

 conviction of his own insignificance, his 

 physical weakness, and the ephemeral na- 

 ture of his existence, he is, on the other 

 hand, cheered and invigorated by the con- 

 sciousness of having been enabled, by the 

 application and development of intellect, to 

 investigate very many important points in 

 reference to the laws of Nature and the 

 sidereal arrangement of the universe. 

 HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. iii, p. 30. (H., 

 1897.) 



3218. STARS THAT NEVER SET 



Circle of Perpetual Apparition. Now, to 

 see the effect of the diurnal motion near 

 the pole, let us watch any star in the north 

 between the pole and the horizon. We 

 shall soon see that, instead of moving from 

 east to west, as we are accustomed to see 

 the heavenly bodies move, it really moves 

 towards the east. After passing the north 

 point it begins to curve its course upwards, 

 until, in the northeast, its motion is verti- 

 cal. Then it turns gradually to the west, 

 passing as far above the pole as it did 

 below it, and, sinking down on the west of 

 the pole, it again passes under it. The 

 passage above the pole is called the upper 

 culmination, and that below it the lower 

 one. . . . We cannot with the naked eye 

 follow it all the way round, on account of 

 the intervention of daylight, but by con- 

 tinuing our watch every clear night for a 

 year we should see it in every point of 

 its course. A star following the course we 

 have described never sets, but may be seen 

 every clear night. If we imagine a circle 

 drawn round the pole at such a distance 

 as just to touch the horizon, all the stars 

 situated within this circle will move in 

 this way; this is therefore called the circle 

 of perpetual apparition. NEWCOMB Popu- 

 lar Astronomy, ch. 1, p. 11. (H., 1899.) 



3219. STARS THAT SET SPEEDILY 

 TO RISE AGAIN Newly Risen Comet Sup- 

 posed To Be Another. As we go away from 

 the pole we shall find the stars moving in 

 larger circles, passing higher up over the 

 pole, and lower down below it, until we 

 reach the circle of perpetual apparition, 

 when they will just graze the horizon. Out- 

 side this circle every star must dip below 

 the horizon for a greater or less time, de- 

 pending on its distance. If it be only a 

 few degrees outside it will set in the north- 

 west, or between north and northwest; and 

 after a few hours only it will be seen to rise 

 again between north and northeast, having 

 done little more than graze the horizon. 

 The possibility of a body rising so soon after 

 having set does not always occur to those 

 who live in moderate latitudes. In July, 

 1874, Coggia's comet set in the northwest 

 about nine o'clock in the evening, and rose 

 again about three o'clock in the morning; 

 and some intelligent people who then saw 

 it east of the pole supposed it could not 

 be the same one that had set the evening 

 before. NEWCOMB Popular Astronomy, ch. 

 1, p. 11. (H., 1899.) 



3220. STARS, TWINKLING OF, 

 CAUSED BY OUR ATMOSPHERE Higher 

 Mountains Give Purer Sky. Were the par- 

 ticles which produce the purer celestial 

 vault all swept away, we should, unless 

 helped by what has been called " cosmic 

 dust," look into the blackness of celestial 

 space. And were the whole atmosphere 

 abolished along with its suspended matter 

 we should have the " blackness " spangled 

 with steady stars; for the twinkling of the 

 stars is caused by our atmosphere. Now, 

 the higher we ascend, the more do we leave 

 behind us the particles which scatter the 

 light; the nearer, in fact, do we approach 

 to that vision of celestial space . . . 

 Viewed, therefore, from the loftiest Alpine 

 summits, the firmamental blue is darker 

 than it is ever observed to be from the 

 plains. TYNDALL Fragments of Science, vol. 

 i, ch. 5, p. 139. (A., 1897.) 



3221. Partly Inherent, 



Partly Atmospheric The White Stars Scin- 

 tillate Most, the Orange or Red Least 

 " Star Differeth from Star in Glory " (1 Cor. 

 xv, 41}- Who has not been struck with the 

 scintillation of the stars? While the plan- 

 ets, even the brightest, radiate a calm and 

 motionless light, the stars, even the least 

 brilliant, appear more or less agitated 

 by a wavering and variable light. This 

 light, which glimmers sometimes vividly, 

 sometimes feebly, in intermittent gleams, 

 sometimes white, green, or red, like the 

 flashing fires of a limpid diamond, seems 

 to animate the interstellar solitudes, and 

 makes us think of eyes opened in the heav- 

 ens. It is like a calm and transparent sea 

 on which flit lamps lighted by other mor- 

 tals; the silence is as profound, but the 

 desert is less void, and it seems that we 



