Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/318

314 the present time, there is, in my opinion, little doubt that we should be prevented from continuing upon it indefinitely. In the course of our travels we should be carried, sooner or later, quite close to some individual star whose attraction would be vastly more powerful than that of all the other stars combined. This would draw us from our present curve and cause us to follow a different one. At a later date, our travels would carry us into the sphere of attraction of some other great sun which would send us away in a still different direction. Thus our path should in time be made up of a succession of unrelated curves.

Spectroscopic binary systems, as by-products of radial velocity measurements, are of exceedingly great interest, from the light which they cast upon the construction of other systems than ours. When we look at the sky on a clear night, we may be sure that at least one star in six or seven is attended by an invisible companion, comparable in mass with the primary body, the two revolving around their common center in periods varying from two or three days in many cases, up to three or more years in others. For the triple system of Polaris the long period perhaps exceeds fifteen or twenty years. As the shortest-period visual binary now known, that of δ Equulei, is only 5.8 years, the gap between visual and spectroscopic binaries has been definitely closed.

The companions of binaries discovered by means of the spectrograph have not been observed visually in our powerful telescopes, although they have been carefully searched for. They may be so close to the principal star that, viewed from our distance, the two images can not be resolved. The separation of the components is probably less than one hundredth of a second of arc for most of the binaries thus far announced. Again, for very few of the systems are the spectra of both components recorded. This does not establish that the companion is a dark body, but only that it is at least one or two photographic magnitudes fainter than the primary. The fourth-magnitude companion of a second-magnitude star would scarcely be able to impress its lines upon the primary's spectrum. The invisible components in many spectroscopic binaries might be conspicuous stars, if they stood alone.

Only those systems have been detected whose periods are relatively short, and for which the variations of radial speed are considerable. The smallest observed variation is that of Polaris—six kilometers per second. Had the variation for Polaris been only one kilometer, it would no doubt have escaped detection. Such a variation could be measured by present instruments and methods; but this range would not have excited the observer's suspicion, and the discovery would have remained for the future. It is probable that there are more systems with variations of speed under six kilometers than there are with larger ones; and all such are awaiting discovery. The velocity of our sun through space varies slightly, because it is attended by