Show Earth not a Patt Pattern rn By ii I Carrett Carr arrata tt f Ie tM the V P Ser S iss I of ot the greatest services rep o ON were T by y astronomy i 1 Ia in destroy destroying ing lac the old belief bellef that the e earth wa was intended l as a r pat pattern pattern pattern tern for the Ute universe Even EYen the discovery that oar our planet is Sa my on y an ant t satellite of the tile sun son did not do dd d away with tb that belief for foe then mankind consoled itself for tor the Irani of the globe lobe on which which it dwelt by Inventing ID the hypothesis l that drat the tIIe ire solar olar system as aa a whole with tip the theun I sun An un for its Ita chief was wu a universal model The fixed stars atan were regarded as ether suns emu surrounded by other worlds tali i filled with saints and sinners sub subject t to like trials and temptations fed with the same food hurt Burt with the same MoIne weapons Ons toadied and cooled with the dame IM winter wt r and summer mm r as Adams descendants ascendants area are But the advance of astronomy soon 1 panto I aR to shake the foundations of this f theory The spectroscope ope wd hat tat our ur sun san sl n was as not a model modelO O enl but that on the contrary e were vere V re many orders of l suns or 01 raises rs varying in color varying in de development pmt varying in magnitude and combined In la pairs triplets trip 8 and higher bight r multiples t Thus Thua gradually ft n iTa became evident I that thatis t the solar sola system that t at we e Inhabit I is only a spede and not a ty This TIt fact while diminishing ours seli I enlarges our n of the universe I Perhaps there Is 19 tEt more wore striking proof of the marveled ma variety that c charat creation that than that t which is Ia fur fished by the dabble and mul multiple multiple tiple stars Mars 1 IS 1 Take for tor instance ln the description in inthe inthe I Ithe the latest volume of the Lick observatory v a atory i tory publications s of the Ute curious triple j I star stir known knees as u GAmm I This star is 15 a favorite with all own awn owners i ers era of small telescopes tel because a s slight at magnifying power s suffices to present ent I it in the shape of a lie double whose sparkling components are contrasted in color colors lint a very powerful telescope tele splits I the smaller star whose hue i It 11 a bright ht blue into two more one of them shin shining shining ing with a 8 green light These The e two stars composing the tile doe clos closer er or double are physically associated with their larger lar er Companion and aad ac accompanying accompanying companying it in its ita proper motion through space pace while at lit the same time Banc they swing around one e another in i an a elliptical orbit once In the Ute course course of I every years That is about of ot the t e time i by It the planet Neptune for its revolution hut but these theM two twe stars are both suns BUU not a 8 sun ran and a 8 planet Now keeping in mind the tbt fact that they may my not only be as u large as but even een larger la er than our sun let It t us con consider consider sider elder their curious association in a binary system In order o er to make clear the peculiarity of their motion it will willbe willbe be convenient to suppose one of ot them to stand still till S while the toe other travels around Jt it t This supposition will vill not affect the essential mU facts The Th first thing that strikes the at attention is la the extremely eccentric form of the orbit It is Ja a narrow eclipse perhaps ten times as long as it is broad It thus resembles the orbit of a aCom comet Com t 1 Taking aking the other of the two stars for forthe forthe forthe the one whose motion is to be consid considered considered considered ered we see it now naw rushing with ac cele speed peed into tie the close neighbor neighborhood neighborhood hood bood of ot its blazing biasing comrade r de and now receding again apin with gradually retarded velocity Thus Ihus 1 these two deeply and strangely co ored suns nuns alternately approach and retire and then approach and retire again with endless repetition and all allie allu u 11 ie e while the amount of heat and light that they pour OUt upon up n one another an la is varying In lit a tenfold fod greater ratio rate than tha that of t their changing distance Ln so en that when wh n nearest each re receives elves from hum its Ita neighbor a hundred bundred times as much heat as 88 it gets when they the are ire farthest asun asunder asunder der Imagine our sun to hale haye such sueh a companion sun weaving wearing to and fro through the solar system like a gigan gigantic D tic shuttle of fire r rIn I In that ease case there could be no peace peaceful peaceful ful company of ot worlds worMs circling In i steady sunshine and developing their thole I living g tribes under the benign ben reign 1 of regular seasons like those th se that the tile earth enjoys Yet there shine those coupled suns suns SUM in Gamma spinning their wonderful ellipse and they are but one example among thousands of the in hi incomprehensible incomprehensible comprehensible variety of conditions existing in the stellar heavens But this gives us no warrant to as assume assume assume sume that because those conditions would not suit us there can be no life Ufe in a double star system no intelligence nurtured by the rays ras of blue suns and of green and red ones Only that which is Incomprehensible t i 1 G d is is tints 11 tl alv ly impossible Mans circle cir clr circle j cle de of ot comprehension is but a point j |