Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-06-12

nous OF Uaaes greater than this boss mas: or "a
grain of wheat Yet the earth is bv no ,s.,
iargest OF inc planets. Saturn exceeds i, a thou
sand and Jupiter moro than thirtacn hundred timer
ana anu, ai dwndIs into insgnGcsnce when compared
wth the Sun. of which the volume is nesrIv n million
aud half tincs greater than that of tic cnr,h anI
more IMAM three hundred times creator than that of
all the planets put together. The diameter of the
oooy OF ,he sun rs double that of rho moons orbit
around the curi; that II sphere all ropnJ.d ms
at this great distance il woul have but ORC eohh ne
the magnitude OF the sun. Thia eivos u, tho con
ceP''oo OF an immense mnss; but vet il is wholly in,
aaeqaate, Tor our Judgnen, Of the distance Of the
SKY, IN WINCH We Imagine tue moon to be paced in
very erroneous. md falls far short of the trn,b
such 10 the magnitude OF the bodies composing our
system Their distances and motions present us with
suu.s.ts no Tess worthy OF our contemplation. and
equaiy calculated to excite oar nstonshmcnt
The huge globe Of the oarth ia known TO rcvoIve
around It's axis In twenty -four hours so that every
point III the equator has velocity OF rotation Of
more than thousand miles IN an hour. Bat this i.
tardy pace IN comparison with the speed with which
the earth IS transported through space in its
ORBIT anu which amounts to no less than nineteen
miles IN second. 1t is easy to name this velocity.
ou. worry marc 10 conceive it. - sixty times great
er than that with which he ball is shot fror, mus
Ret, and twelve hundred times greater tan Tho snocd
OF the swiftcst race horse.
ine ois anccs of the plano,s from the sun oro nso
al1.u0 OF conception. That of the earth is estima-
ted to ninety five millions of miles, II would occupv
more than one hundred and eighty years 70 mss over
IT, Of the rate of mile in minute continued with
out interruption. The orbit which the enrtb ir,ver
uay' Is about three hundred millions of miles
IN 'e"s'h' ano, at the ANA nary speed which we have
nameu, would taEe eleven hundred and thirty seven
years 10 travel 1t: at any rate of travelling acuullv
pracsed' 1t would occupy period longer than tina,
: men mas elapsed from the Mosaic creation Ia III,
present day. The distance and the orbit ofthe MAN
ct Herschel, are nearly twenty times greater than
those Of the earth >N
Let us now leave the solar system, to which vc be
o"S' ana eN'end our views beyond It's limits for vast
ana wife as we have found them to be- the created
universe Is by means oenfncd to these boundo
rios
When we look upon the heavens. on n cloar n;ah,
'"e hSe1 Stars presented to our seem to form
u countless multitude But our impression dcceyces
us The number visible TO the naked eve A. any ono
TINE, even under the most favorable crcums, cnces
aose not exceed two thousands and of these there are
OUT eleven OF the first u ofthc second and one
hnhdred and twenty ofthc thi d ma ynitute If how
ever, We call the pJwe ofthc eescope IN aid of orr
vision. We shall find that first impression vi h
regard TO Tho number OF the stars, has to be resumed
pr iierschei having directed his great telescope to-
waro me milky way. observed five hund red and oh,v
eight STARS in the field of view at The same time and
u,y continued equeLy numerous, us they pass ed ON
oeiofe linn, Tor quarter of an hour. In band ten
uesrees long and Two and half wide, he computed
that there were no less than two hundred md S6y
eight thousand STARE. But besides the milky wav
hefe are bright spaces observed every part of the
heavens, resembling white clouds and called
neou@.' Some these visible to the naked eve.
some are seen only by the aid OF colossal telescones
Dr. HerSchel discovered abov.. two thousouJ 'Fh
telescope separates of those into distpc, sars
while some still keep the appearance of uniform and
continuous matter. II they oil to be copsiderd
as g. cups OF stars, must conclude that tho MN,
Der OF these lumlLaries is, for US indeed infinite
highly interesting for inquire into The dis,an
." 's STARS aud the portions of unned space they
cess familiar 10 astronomers can determine the anse I'm
Ger wncn tue goos Of the Cart! wood se,n from The SUN
We can thence determine tho distances of he.. boas
Out This method utterly fa. for xed sars ,b. snoI. -
astronomers have accordo3ly had recourse to aus,h
". =, nen y much n.o'e promising BY observations
nse under whch the orbit Of itself woud bo .e.
ron distant heavenly body and we might solve ,hs
P,ooeh BOT TO our asonIneni, thai even this an
50 small as TO leave in doubt whether il 10 in any
measurable Dr. Bradley supposed had found il .nusi
OF h star two hundred thousand greater than tina,
sun but Pond and Srinckey found no a-,,aI oaroUr 80
paraax IN several stars ations were
Peaed ny Nj. Pond the Bri,h astronomer royal AID ye
wv Cn thc hoic We must conclude that the an
unnI parssak nj the fixed not appreceble he az
ononeai instruments. notwithstanding the great Perfection -
Tor the brisbie, of the stars docs one .cond
that s'o ihat from The these lumnares tho III
ane'ar % the ear'hs orbit, which of nearly ,so hun
angle of less than a second "''"'
WAat then must be the distance of the bodesi We
nave Already put our imsgnstions the stretch IN
conceive the vast spaces the solar system and
perhaps failed in the effort How then are We 80 Nc
eh 70 proper conception Of the immens distance.
that epsrsie us from the fixed sarsi We have sosD
lha' the diameter of the ears orbit, which, with re-
gard to the spaces most familiar TO u.s. is almost
nh"te' VIII not serve even asure for the sun
me distances which we are nov called upon TO con-
template. We must have recourse To a new unit and
one presented to us in the spaces trayersed bv
rom the ecilpses OF JuPter's Satellites and the phe
nomenon OF alteration, we know that light moves with
the almost unmaginabe velocity OF two hundred thou
SAND miles IN second Yet it can be shown that eb,
cannot take less than three years to come from The
nearest stars OF our system But there every
10 suppose that the stars distant from one ann
lher as the nearest is from us; in what ponts of
space then, are the farthest of them stuatedi Mav
not the ray by which see them have rft the ~
thousands of years agoi New stars have been some
times presented to the view Of astronomers wber,
none had before existed May it not be- tina, the Itch,
xhen 'e them at their creation then first reached the
eau' DR. hers:hei conJectured that the distances of
the stars we're nearly in inverse ratio to their
rent msgn,udes, and he thence Concludes that The
"eouie dscoverable by bis forty feet
ana the stars ut which I've considers as of the ISiod
magnitude. are at such Distance that the light i.su