THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1745, 20 January 1888, Page 2

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.

News oomea. from Rangltf fret that the Star cf Bethlehem has been Been by an observer In that district A surveyor writing from that locality to » friend m Auckland, s»ys :— " By-the-way, have any of you eeen the star that ia travelling ; baf ore the inn. three hoars and a quarter t We hive seen It for the past week or so quite bright all day. Seen from tho upper part of the Rangitikei River on , December 2, it was trarelling three hoars and a quarter before that «un, and we hara aeon it pretty well ever alnoe. Rather a strange thing, is It not, to iea a star when the bud la out 1" As no doubt we shall aoon all behaving a look at It, the following f rotn. the "Scientific American" ahonld be read with Interest : The history of the so-called. Star of Bathlehem ia brief y this : Tycho Brahe a Danish astronomer, discovered, m the year 1672. an apparently new star near Gaph m CJassiopea. When-first -seen,- In November, it hod attained the firat magnl. tnde. It Increased rapidly m brillianoy, i until it rivalled Yeaue, and wan visible at noonday. . It began to diminish In bright' ness m December, and continued to fad* away until the following May, when It disappeared from view. Forty yeara later, when the telescope was Invented, n amall telescopic star was i fonnd close to the spot where the i wonderful star was seen. It la still there, and Is probably the same. It Is now classed among variable stars, and is. - therefore liable to bleaa forth at any time m the same extraordinary manner. After i classifying the otar bb a variable, the next > thing to be done was to find out its ; variability. Astronomical records were searched, and it was ascertained thai about the years 1263 and 950 bright stars suddenly appeared near the Bame quarter of the heavens. It was, therefore olaul* Bed as a variable, with a period of about 309 yeara. Counting baok three periods : from 956, the exact period being uncertain, the ata? may have appeared near the time of the Christian era. Some imaginative oboerver, for this 1 reason, ohrlsteoed it the Star of Bethlehem, and wlthsoarce the shadow of a foundation the name has adhered to it aver.iince. It Is also known as the Pilgrim' Star, and amongst astronomers «s the star of 1672 I? the star be a variable, with a period approximating to 308 years, It, is now dua and liab'e to bant forth into sadden brilliancy at any time. No oelestlal event • would be mcra welcome to astronomer The Rclentifij world would be wild with excitement over the substantiation of an Ingenious theory and the confirmation of its hopes. Its first appearance, its exaot position In the heavens, its phanpes, from da; to day, would be telegraphed all over the oountry and minutely daaoribed m the journals of the d»y. The advent of a comet, spanning tbe sky from thetanlth to the horizon, would be of no account m comparison <flth the bUilnjt star 1 Meantime the telesooplo star near Oaph In Oasslopea shows no signs of any oomlng disturbance, and observers must wait patiently for developementß, rememh'erlng that tbe outburst will be sadden, if .\t oome. ' J ' ~" """' " : --i ;:-\; Jt is generally considered that, the.extraordinary changes of light m stars, like that of 1672, are canoed by sadden oatbarat of glowing hydrogen gas, whloh by its own light and by heating up the whole surface of the star oanses the immense increase In brillianoy. The spots, faouf» and rosy protuberances o a the sun give bomo Idea, on a small scale, of what may be going on m other suns on a much larger scale. Fortunetely tha. new ; or temporary stars observed by terrettrl&l astronomers number only about twentfour, an infinitesimal number when com* pared with the boundless millions of stars that shine with nearly nnohanglrig brightness. The probability is, therefore small that our sun will be added to 'the Ist of blazing stars. He will probably shine (or millions of years to oome, as he has ahone pi millions of years ia the past and if observed from othe* suns a&l* systems will be classed as a variable, wltfc a period* of about eleven years* corre*. ponding to the cycle of sun spots; '" "