| Show the wonders of the stars BY A BANKER how mysterious ore some of the phenomena a the heavenly boj ies how can wo account for the varia toos of borneo the blare As an example the star algol in the constellation contel lation per edua for two days thirteen end a half hour siB a etar of the second magnitude then it suddenly decreases and in three and a half boors is dimis bed to the fourth magnitude it then increases iu brilliancy and in a farther period of three and a half hours aaen attains its maximum all this takes place io two days twenty one boors forty nine minutes another lation belu tor five months remains invisible then it reappears its gradually increases cpr three months and or fifteen days it is equal to a brilliant star ol 01 the second magnitude re palting the variation in a fixed period ot days hours seven minutes we are accustomed to regard the so called axed stare as being absolutely stationary in the heavens this however is not so ae the whole of the atara are in rapid movement As an example is calculated to move miles an hour or tour milea pet second in a century therefore this great star traverses miles and yet to our vision his tion in the heavens is practically unaltered vast is bis distance from us our is calculated to be travel at the unusual rate of miles toward the bright star vega which 19 now euch a brilliant spectacle in the zenith but as that star is calculated to be more than miles distant from the fun we need not be alarmed lest should be a collision in our time as even supposing feea to be advancing towards the eun at the same terrific rate the crash would not take place until years beace so prodigious ie space vega bolever box ever Is by DO means a distant etar but may be regarded as one of our nearest neighbors another bright star capella Oa pella being reckoned to be more than four limes her distance body of the elars are plunged in the illimitable fearful ot in B MS finitely more profound and incalculable 1 distances it being only ot the very near 1 et stars parallax can be taken and the distance thereby calculated A celestial given rise to much popular erro ie that of the atara it was by the uneducated that shooting elars were really fixed stars falling irom their in the heaven and a brilliant display eccli as that 0 november 1860 1 which will be repeated in aives riso to considerable atno oget the these brillant however are but mintlo fragments frag menta ot cosmic matter a belt cf which a to revolve round abo nun and through which the earth travels lu th of and november which drushina through apace at an infinite speed are raised by friction with our atmosphere to a beat intense that in a few seconds the first impact with the air they ere resolved into gas the average weight ot these little bodies is estimated at about two ounces but occasionally much larger bodies come within our range which continue in an incandescent stale for al seconds belore beine consumed and presenting a most brilliant appearance these are popularly termed meteors and occasionally yet larger bodies of metallic origin which have 1 wandering through u tor agee come within alie sphere of attraction of our earth and plunge with deafening roar into the boil are the inetor itee or thunder bolta which may be seen n many of our museums how absolutely regular and immutable arc the lawa which govern the nove the heavenly bodies I 1 the earth performs its journey 0 t ailee around the sun in days 6 hours 9 minutes 10 seconds and seventy five of a second never varying probably the hundredth part of a second and from year to year and from age to traveling over the exact position relatively to the BUD it had previously traversed and this not that it ie also revolving upon its own azia at the rate at the equator of 1000 miles an lour these two movements are performed with such and 11 punctuality that ae can calculate with accuracy and without the error of a fraction ol 01 second astronomical even 8 which will happen many years hence the sinh test from abe fixed and immutable laws would involve us in overwhelming and appalling ruin but he who formed those laws can aleo and moreover he has re healed to ua in his word that at a tain fixed time known not even to the angels but only 0 o such divergence will take place and this earth of ours will bo burned up and destroyed and budging from what we bare been in other parts of the universe e can assume that the final catastrophe will be caused by the impact of some great body in space whose course will by the almighty fiat be directed towards this earth perhaps even at this present moment this body is on its way and hastening on to invoice at the fixed moment this world and all it contains in fiery ruin and overwhelming annihilation hi seeing then that all these shall be dissolve what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conver bation and looking for and hastening haste nine unto the day of god wherein the heavens being on fire shall bo dia evolved and the elements tb ahall melt with fervent heat but the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall DIBS away with a great and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up |
