The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-11-28
WONDERS IN THE HEAVENS.

tors second lecture in Chickering Hall
last night was "The- immensely of
space" The lecturer suggested on the
start that very convenient way of fix
ing the relative dimensions of the solar
system is to imagine the earth as q ball
an inch in diameter. Then the sun
would be three yards in diameter, and
the distance between the two would be
1924 yards. On such scale all the works
of man on the earth would be invisible,
and powerful microscope would be re-
quired to show the Himalaya Mountains.
The remOtest member of the solar sys-
TEN yet discovered, Neptune, would on
such scale be about five miles from the
sun. If the sun, instead of the earth,
be supposed to be one inch in diameter,
then the earth would be less than the
hundredth of an inch in diameter, and
situated three yards from the sun, and
the entire diameter of the solar system
would be about $50 yards.
Yet from such comparatively little
ball as the earth astronomers have been
able to determine with approximate ac-
curacy the distance of the sun and other
known members of our system. The
lecturer suggested that we may not yet
know all the members of the suns fam
lily, to which we belong, and that there
may be planets, yet unseen by man,
travelling in orbits far beyond Neptune.
Prof. Newcomb of Washington, the
lecturer said, probably knows more
about this subject of the suns distance
than other man, and he gives as the re-
suit of his calculations of the suns dis
lance about ninety-twO and One-third
millions of miles. There is one method
of measuring the suns distance that
the lecturer said he gave because it is
peculiarly interesting in this country on
account of the transit of Venus on Dec.
6, 1882, which will be we'll seen in all
parts of the United States. Venus, in
passing across the suns disk, serves as
a sort of index, and astronomers sta
toned far apart on the earth make OBJ
servatiOns of its apparent place at given
times, and the reduction of these obser-
vations gives a kind of triangulatiOn
from which the distance of the dial (that
is, the suns disk) may be calculated by
simple mathematical rules. Another
way of getting at the suns distance is
by measuring the time that it takes light
to travel from the sun to the earth.
The lecturer then proceeded to show
that, while the whole solar system is the
domain of the sun, ruled by him, there
are smaller domains within this great
system which are ruled by the planets.
The earth, for instance, has q domain
within which she rules supreme. The
boundary of this domain is the place
where the attractive power of the earth
exactly balances that of the sun. This
so that the diameter of the earth's do
main is about SOC, 600 miles. From this
results curious fact. 1t seems that
the moon, which we have been &C
customed to regard as a subject of the
earth, is really an independent
planet, since it lies entirely outside the
limits. of the earth's domain. So we can
not claim that the moon belongs to us,
for she is clearly beyond the jurisdiction
or our globe. This is not the case with
the moons of any other of the planets.
The domain of Jupiter is $4,000, 900
miles in diameter, and his four moons
all fall far within it. The domain of
Saturn is also 9,OOO,O 900 miles in diam
eter, and as his eight moons all lie far
within that distance, he keeps them well
in hand. So all the planets that have
moons govern them independently of the
sun, except the earth, and her moon
ewes allegiance not to the earth but to
the sun himself. She is not the inferior
but the Deer of the earth.
Prof. Proctor next spoke of the meteor
system. He said that he had recently
been led to adopt the opinion that some
of the meteOric stones that fall upon the
earth had their origin in the earth itself,
in the youthful volcanic period of her
existence ages ago. Since then they
have swung in orbits around the sun,
and, as the earth's orbit crosses theirs,
it happens that at times some of them
are called by her attraction, and so they
cease their wanderings, and fall to rest
on the bosom of their mother. On the
night of Nov. 81, the lecturer said, we
may expect to see a brilliant display of
meteOrs radiating from point
near the star Gamma, in the right
foot of the constellation Andromeda,
which is now nearly overhead at
about 10 O'Clock at night. It has been
that meteOrs follow in fiocks
in the track of comets. In 1876 Biela's
comet was observed to split in two.
The two parts each had q head and a
tail, and they rushed on side by side,
now one appearing the brighter and
now the other, until they disappeared.
At their return, in 1852, they were yet
keeping up their swift race, but they had
very much changed in form. In 1859
their periheliOn passage was too near
the sun to permit them to be observed.
In 1865, when they should have been
seen again, they could not be found.
They were also missed in 1871. But it
had occurred to Alexander Herschel
and to Prof. Proctor that at the time
the earth crossed the path of those
comets it would be well to look out for
meteors. Meteors were looked for, and
a very brilliant display was seen ON Nov.
"a. A German astronomer was so sure
that this display was caused by the earth
meeting the fragments of the missing
70 that ha fo1 ,>hoA %D m ~