The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-07-05
A UNIVERSE IN MOTION.
Some Astonishing Facts Conccrning tho
Earth and Sun

upon what is known as the suns proper
motion in space. This is one Of the most
surprising and interesting things that
science has ever brought to light, and yet
it is something of which comparatively
few person! have any knowledge. 1t is
customary % look upon the sun as If it
were the centre of the universe, an i'm.
movable fiery globe around which the
earth and other planets revolve while it
remains fixed in one place. NothiGg
could be further from the truth. The
sun is, in fact, the most wonderful Of
travellers. He is flying through space
at the rate of not less than 100000, 900
Of miles in year, and the earth and her
sister planets are his fellow voyagers,
which, obeying his overpoweriDg altrac-
tioD, circle about him as he advances.
In other words, if we could take up q
position in open space in advance of the
sun, we should see him rushing toward
us at the rate of some 100000 miles a
day, chased by his whole family of shin.
ing worlds and the vast swarms Of
mateoric bodies which obey his attraction.
The general direction Of this motion OF
tie solar system has been known since
the time of Sir William Herschel. II is
toward the constellation Hercules, which,
at this season, may be seen in tho north
eastern sky at 9 o'clock in the evening.
AS the line of this motion makes an
angle of fifty odd degrees with the plane
of the earth's orbit, it follows that the
earth is not like horse at windIass,
circling around the sun forever in one
beaten bath, but like ship belonging to
q fleet whose leader is continually push.
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The path of the earth through space is
into new regions along with the sun.
She is on boundless voyage Of discoy.
cry, and her human crew are born aud
die in widely separated tracts of space.
Think Of the distance over which the
travels of the sun have borne the earth
only since the beginning of human histo.
ry Six thousand years ago the earth
and sun we're about million millions of
miles further from the stars in Hercules
than they are to-day. Columbus and his
contemporaries lived when the earth was
in region of the universe more than
sixty thousand millions of miles from
the place where it is now, so that since
his time the whole human race has been
making voyage through space, in com.
parison with which his longest voyage
was as the footstep of fly. Thus the
great events in the history of the world
may be said to have occurred in different
parts of the universe An almost
inconceivable distance separates the spot
which the earth occupied in the time of
Alexander from that which it occupied
when Cesar invaded Gaul. The sun aud
the earth have wandered 80 far from their
birthplace that the mind staggers in the
attempt to guess at the stupendous dis.
tance which now probably separates
them from it. 1t may be that the motion
OF the solar system is orbital, and that
our sun and many ofthe stars, his fellow
suns, are revolving around some common
centre, but # So, nO means has yet been
devised Of detecting the form or dimen-
sions of his orbit. So far as we can see
the sun is moving in straight line.
Since space is believed to be filled with
some sort of ethereal medium, curious
consequences are seen to follow from the
motions that have been described. A
solid globe like the earth rushing at
great speed through such medium will
encounter some resistance. If the
medium be exceedingly rare, as it
must be in fact, the resistance will be
correspondingly small, but still there
will be resistance. If the sun stood still,
the earth, owing to the inclination Of its
axis to the plane Of its orbit around the
sun, would encounter the resistance of
the other principally on its northern
hemisphere from summer to winter, and
on its southern hemisphere from winter
10 summer. But in consequence of the
motion OF the sun shared by the earth.
this law or distribution is changed, and
from summer to winter the earth ploughs
through the ether with its north pole
foremost, while from winter to summer,
although the resistance of the other il
encountered more evenly by the two
hemispheres, yet it is still felt prip eipally
IN the northern hemisphere, aud the
south pole remains practically protected.
1t follows that the southern hemisphere,
and practically the south polar regions,
are more or less completely sheltered the
whole year around. 1t might, then, be
supposed that the impact Of the particles
of the ether shouldered aside by the earth
in its swift flight aud the compression
produced in front Of the advancing globe
would tend to raise the temperature ol
the northern hemisphere as compared
with the southern hemisphere, while the
south pole, being more or less directly in
the wake of the earth, and in q region O!
rarefaction of the ether, would constant
ly possess remarkably low temperature
Now it Is known that the south polar
regions are more covered with ice and
snow than those of the north, and that
the temperature there the year around is
lower. Whether the difference is owing
to the effects Of the earth's journey
through the ether is question.
The sun, too, moves with his northern
hemisphere foremost, and it is worthy ol
remark that it has been suspected that
the northern hemisphere of the sun ra,
dates more heat than the southern.
But whatever effect it may or may moi
have upon the meteorological condition
of the earth, the fact that the solar sys
tenn ia thus voyaging through space is in
itself exceedingly interesting. Not the
widest travellers dream presents to the
Imagination such voyage az this or
which every inhabitant Of the earth j.
bound. A glance at star map show.
that the direction in which we are goinl
is carrying US toward region Of thu
heavens exceedingly rich in stars, many
aud perhaps most, of which are greate
suns than ours. There can be but littl.
doubt that when the sun arrives in tn,
neighborhood of those stars he will b,
surrounded by celestial scenery yer,
different from and much more briIlian
than that Of the region ofspace in which
he now is. The inhabitants of the glob,
at that distant period will certainly be
hold new and far more glorious heavens
though the earth may be unchanged.
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