The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1858-07-22
Communications.
For the News.
THOUGHTS ON ASTRONOMY.


HOWE, july 9th, 1858
/ propose to consider two things
The first is what will call Jos, stars.-
The superficial observer perhaps, has
noticed that stars he has been aocustom-
cd to SEQ have disappeared. A large
number Of sta-s that were once known
to astronomers, and whose places were
distinctly marked, are nowhere to be
found in the limits Of human vision
What has become Of tbem2 Have they
been annihilatod? Have they been car
ried away to some remote corner Of the
universe and there hid from our gaze?
To these questions we do not propose to
give anything more than a coniectural
answer perhaps.
Tn a former letter, the reader will re-
member, that the immense fight Of
some Of the heavenly bodies was spoken
Of requiring even a thousand or more
years, and that in these mighty wander
.ings they seemed to be lost in the far-ofF
vista. May not these stars have done
likewise? Orperhaps they are periodic
stars, moving in immense elliptcal or
bits, the longer axis Of which is nearly
parallel to the line Of vision as seen
from the earth, and that they are acting
the part assigned them in the physical
arrangement Of the universe. This the
ory even amounts to a probability
/ Their appearance will likely yet be
found to be regular, as well as disap-
poarance, for it is true that new stars
are very frequently making their APP
poarance, as if there had been a new
creation. Our knowledge of them at
this time is crude indeed. One of the
feats Of the future in astronomy perhaps
will be the discovery of the regularity
Of that which appears to us to be only
occasional. But the second thing 1
propose in this letter is that all the visi-
bic stars are themselves in motion. It
is truly bewildering to look out on a
clear sky and see the thousands of
shining worlds all whirling and rovolv-
ing in what seems to be a vast and illim-
table blue and though they seem to be
scattered about in confused discord, they
preserve the same relative distances
from each other Although the natural
eye cannot detect any variations in the
positions Of these orbs, yet, when OBJ
served by means Of accurate instru-
mcnts, they are found to change their
relative position. This change is not
the same in all the stars. They are not,
probably, all affected by the same phys
ical causes, at least in the same degree.
1t is ascertained that some move over
a space equal to the diameter of the
moon in $50 years, while others require
500 years, to move over the same inter
val. 1t may appear a small matter, in
500 years, to move over a space equal to
the apparent diameter Of the moon, and
yet if we remember the distance of the
stars and measure, it will be found that
the real distance moved is equal to
537, 800, 100000 of miles, thus giving
an hourly motion Of 2,442 miles,
When it is remembered that the earth's
orbit would be an imperoeptible point at
these distances, and that when these
stars shall have moved over a space so
large, no change viii be apparent, we
may have some idea what the real dis
tance moved will be when it appears to
be equal to the disk Of the moon. AL
though these motions are but Just per-
ceptible after the lapse Of a century,
they cannot be less than at the rate Of
many thousand miles per hour. What
overwhelming subjects are here present
ed for our contemplation. Planets re-
volving around suns, suns and planets
revolving around other suns, systems
sweeping around other systems, and oil
these systems around some great center;
perhaps the throne Of their Great Orig
inator.
In contemplating these things a finite
mind becomes bewildorod and We are led
with profound reverence to bow before
the great 81 AM and say, "groat and
marvellous are Thy works"
L propose in some future chapters to
push out still farther to the Milky Way,
and after this to the Nebular Heavens,
land will show that we have thus fan only
been on tho suburbs, while the great
and shining CITY is yet to explore.
CLIO.
]