Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1861-02-21
THE HERALD.
IFrom the Higher Law. ]
Astronomical.
p1sTAScEs or THE HEAVENLY BODIES FROM
THE EARTH.

children, who were conyersing on the sub
5eet of the heavenly bodies. elbow do you
kgaoao the stars, and the sun and the moon, |
are SO far from the earth!' Not being
able 70 get a satisfactory answer, we were
.appealed to. Having observed an article
On tho subject in an old number Of the
Country Gentleman, the children were
eferred to it, which gave the information
sought and eyeral other scientific statistics.
The article IS too long for our scientific
columns, and we have endeavored to con-
dense some of its interesting features. It'll
is, however, SO long that We shall be obliged
to continue it in one or two numbers.
A common land-surveyor will readily
determine the width Of large river, by
measuring few rods OH one side, without
ever crossing 1.-THE direction or relative
position OF the objects varying, as he moves
one way or the other; and by observing
accurately the amount Of variation, he cal
culates is accurately The distance The
moon appears the same size oyer the Whole
earth. 1t passes across the face Of the sun
and causes an ecipse-the partial SHADOW
Of that eclipse il thousands Of mikes in
breadth. This shadow shows something
of its real magnitude That which, seen
at the same time from places ten thousand
miles from each other is apparently the
same size from each, must be many times
gen thousand miles distant. In the same
way, but on q much larger scale, that
surveyor measures the distance Of an Object
ten miles off across water, an astronomer
determines the rcnoteness Of q planet or
star many miles distant. 1t has often
afforded an interesting occupation TO the
mind, to compute tho various periods Of
lime which swiftly moving objects would
be in reaching the heavenly bodies. Take,
for example, a swift railway train. One
of our most rapid express or 9 lightning
trains" if running day and night, would
travel about 700 miles in twenty-four
hours. 1t would pass the whole circum-
ference of the earth in thirty-six days; it
would traverse the whole face Of the sun
in less than four years, and would pass
from here to the sun in three hundred and
fifty years.
The earth sweeps around the sun yearly
in circle one hundred and ninety million
Of miles in diameter. The swift railway
train would require about seven hundred
years to perform the same journey. let
the f9ed stars are SO remote, that when
seen from opposite sides Of this immense
orbit, they appear in precisely the same po-
sition. Travelling over that enormous cir
Gle, has not apparently changed their di-
rection from us in the slightest degree
Even the most powerful telescope has not
until within few YEARS, detected the faint
est change in their p9sition-showing their
distance to be immpasuiably greater than
the breadth Of the eath's orbit. New and
powerful instruments, however, and care
jul observation, have at last determined
their distance. The nearest have been
found invariably 10 appear to move back
ward and forward once a year, as the earth
advances and recedes in its yearly course.
Yet this apparent motion of the stars is not
greater, even with those that move the
ftrthest, than would be the motion Of an
object mile distant by tile movement of
the eye only one-third Of an inch.
Determined in this way, the following
distances Of some of the fixed stars have
been ascertajned with comparative accuracy
The nearest fxel star Alpha Centauri,
only seen in the Southern hemisphere,) is
twenty million million miles.
The North Star is about two hundred
million million miles.
The bright star in the constellation Lyra
(Alpha Lyrae) is about one hundred and
twenty million millions.
A small star in the leg Of the Great
Bear (caled 1920 Geembridge) is about
eighty million millions. Sirius 1.-THE dog
starr is about the same distance.
A star in the Swan (known as 81 CygnD
is about sixty million millions.
These are some OF the nearest
Now, ii may be interesting to estimate
the time required for moving objects to
reach one Of those stars. Many years ago,
and when their distance was only guessed
at, a fine writer made use Of the following
striking comparison: elf the dove which
returned no more to Noah, had then been
commissioned on an errand to the nearest
fixed star, it would still BIZ on It's journey;
after tovering for foitY successive centuries
through the heights { space, it would not
yet have reached tho middle ofits destined
Mayw This estimate WAS quite as SAFE rs
It's poetictl; to prove which another may
be employed. The nearest fixed star is
t,oeaty million million miles from the
earth our swittest trains, travelling night
aud day, would pass over 700 miles. but
we will say 900 miles a day. This would
be a million miles IN three ycars-anl III
SIX thousand years, it would therefore have
Travelled cawrrd two thousand million miles
Two thousand will 90 into twenty million,
ten thousand times--so tbs it would be
but one ten thoasaadh part Of its way
toward the star, AMI the star would still
appeuto the onward travellers precisely the
the same ii Size, rs when they set out even
before the commencement ofantiquity, and
OF the empires which have arisen and de-
cayed through the sixty centuries Of time.
Sixty million years would yet DO required
ior the completion Of the trip.
A CURDusLY OaSAMzSreo SauAw.--