Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-11-29
IFrom the New York -

tor y second lecture III Chickering lial
last night was "The immensely o
space" The lecturer suggested on thu
start that a very convenient way of fix
ing the relative dimensions of the solal
system is to imagine the earth as a bal
an inch in diameter Then the SUI
would he three yards in diameter, ant
the distance between the two would b,
:j24 yards. On such scale all the work,
Of man on the earth would be invisible
and powerful microscope would be re-
luired to show the Himalaya Mountains
The remotest member of the solar sys.
TEN vet discovered, Neptune, would on
such scale be about five miles from the
sun. Ii the sun, instead of the earth
he supposed To he one inch in diameter
then the earth would be less than tn.
hundredth of an inch in diameter, and
situated three yards from the sun, and
the entire diameter of the solar system
would be about lS0 yards. 90 i.- .,rs
Yet from such comparatively little
ball rs the earth astronomers have been
able 10 determine with approximate ac-
cur;icy the distance of the sun and Other
known members of our system. Tn,
lecturer suggested that we may not Vet
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, til,
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 onc-third
millions of miles. There is one method
of measuring the suns distance tha;
the lecturer said he gave because il is
peculiarly interesting in this country on
account of the transit of Venus on Dec.
g, 1852, which Will be We'll seen in all
parts of the United States. Venus, in
passing across the suns disk, serves as
4 sor: of index, and astronomers sta
toned far apart on the earth make OBJ
seryaiions Of its apparent place at given
times, and the reduction of these obser-
yations gives a kind of triangulation
from which the distance of the dial (thai
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 il takes light
10 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 domain
within which she rules supreme TIL.
boundary of this domain is the place
where the attractive power of the earth
exactly balances that of the sun. This
place is 10000 miles from the earth ;
50 that the diameter of the earth's do
main is about SOC, 200 miles From this
results 4 curious fact. II seems that
the moon. which we have been ac-
customed Ia regard rs 4 subjec: of the
earth, is really an independent
planet, since il lies entirely outside the
limits of the earth'S domain, So we can
not claim that the moon belongs to us.
torfshe is clearly beyondtl the jurisdiction
or our globe. This is not the case with
the moons of any other Of the planets.
The domain OF Jupiter is 29,o00. 600
miles in diameter, and his four moons
all fall far within it. The domain of
Saturn is also 29.000. 900 miles in diam
eier. and rs 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 peer of the earth.
Prof. Proctor next spoke of the meteor
system He said that he had recently
been led 10 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 parih,s orbit crosses rba;rS