OCR Text |
Show I Big Lens Shows Three Stars Seen Before as One . It Is only by a ahlft af th I line f thelrrectra thmt w have established th presence of th third Ur." I PASADENA Cat, Dee. 1 IrPV-The IrPV-The naked eye sees B CapriconiL ai one of the iky'a brightest atara. Tha telescope ahowa it to be two atara. Now, Dr. Roacoe F. San ford, using a spectroscope attached to on of tha Carnegie Institution's Mount Wilson observatory reflectors, reflec-tors, disclosed It as three. "Binaries, two stars revolving about a common center as a mass, are comporatively common," th astronomer slid to'y, find a system of three stars is unusual. In fact, in ways. It is the first of its kind discovered." If th "Fission" theory Is cor rcL on star breaks off from an other and th two go whirling around In a ring-around-resie and "always they keep th same fac toward each other," aaid Dr. San-ford. San-ford. "In th caa of B Capricorn!, th larger star might have given birth to another and then the daughter became th mother of the third. Th mother and child rotate abut a common center of mass over a period of 6 3-1 dayJVhile they keep up this motion, they together rotate about a common center with th grandparent star aver a period of 1ST5 days. -The baby star Is about th slie of our sun,'' th mother it four times as larg and tha grandparent grandpar-ent is six times aa larg as tha sun. "Th smaller stars art about IS,-(00,000 IS,-(00,000 miles apart and the two are 815,000.000 miles from th largest on. "They appear as on star to th naked eye because they ar so far away light from them require TO years to reach th arthlj:ven when viewed through th big 100-inch 100-inch telescope, th two smaller stars appear aa one. |