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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 5 (August 1, 1938)

What is a Star?

What is a Star?

In the twentieth century we have innumerable advantages that were not enjoyed by Tycho Brahe. The everyday achievements of a modern astronomer would have appeared incredible to him. It is always rash to affirm an impossibility. The philosopher who said “One thing is certain, we never can know the chemistry of the stars,” thought he was quite safe. His imagination failed to picture the magic powers of the spectroscope. When we ask to-day, “What is a star?” we get an astonishingly full and detailed answer. Astronomers in the great observatories, using giant telescopes armed with spectroscopes, interferometers and cameras, have been able to give us a surprisingly clear mental picture of what is to be found in the visible universe. One of the simplest, but most important, of the facts they tell us, is that every star is a sun, and that the great ruler of the solar system takes quite a humble place amongst the vast multitude of giant orbs that form the starry hosts.