Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-08-16

Oh and containing three times "a many
stars. Aud another foot to the length
~ the telescope and we fesch stlll
greater number Of stars; and as we
continue TO increase the length OF our
telesc0le or the diameter " it, lcns
we pierce through the dark depths OF
epacc 10 femotsr cJncavus strewn with
yaster myriads Of stars, until VIC ash.
IL there no end to these wonders? IL
there, then, no limit to the stellar uui.
yenc2 The answer II both yes aud no.
rhvte ate no limits 10 what we call our
universe--tO that vast structure Ia
" hicn We have q place. The giant
modern Telescopes " the day have In
uced succeeded In piercing to the outer
edge y. this system ana reaching u
point nj which no more stara are seem
nothing but the blaokntss OF darkncss
unilluminnitd by agleam from sin
gle point OF light that tue most power
Iul Instrument can discern.
All earthly vehicles OF travel arc
too slow for the task OF trnversing
the siupendous wastes. A cannou.bail
tFniu would make no impression Oh
them. But take cannon boil itself
anu suppose It fired from n piece Of
modern ordnance aud endowed with
the power OF maintaining lis initial
velocity ami moving into space In the
direction OF the nearest fixed star,
Alpha CenlauIi. Tho shot is fired
win full charge OF powder, and OH
you 10 ~ tho stars. In twelve days
you reach the moon anu are appalled,
at the liioless solitude aud Oscillation OF
that crater.piltod satellite. In six anu
n s.lF q
In foriy.eight years more you cross the
chasm that lies this side OF the orbit VI
Jupiter, aud, " Fortunate enough 10
escape the hwarms Of air stones, plane
toidH and other cannon balls that In
fest that region, you cross the track OF
that giant planet. Sixty yeers more
pasa anu bring you to tue orbit OF
Saturn.
Another period Of 1880 years elapses
aud you cr0es the track Of Uranus. 1t
Is growing dark aud chill, but still you
go on, ana In another Ieriod OF ii5
years you reach the orbit Of Neptune
aud touch the frontier u the solar sys.
tom. But you are now 800 years old,
and although you have travelled $780,
OOO,00O milrs you are amazed ami dis.
couruged at finding that you have
taken only u 6tep In the prodlglous
journey. Alpha Centaurl is no larger
aud brighter md apparently no nearer
than when you. startsu-and no won.
der---for before yon stretches an abyss
5000 times NJ wide "a the distance you
have already travelled. IL would take
your cannon ball, plungjng into the
black aud cold depths nil the time with
It's initial velocity, 8,OOGO0O years 10
cross II and reach the point OF destina-
ton. And there are other fixed stars
Visible to the naked eye that are Ave,
ten and fifteen times further of than
Alpha Centauti.
But while astronomers think they
have with their telescopes touched the
boundary OF our stellar universe they
do not claim To have reached the limit
VI creation. Each successive distance
traversed In going from earth into
space II greater than tho one preceding
II. We begin with the moon, which Is
Ouly 5000 miles away from us; but
the next stage 10 10 the sun, which Is
400 times lthe lunar ,distaneo from
the earth, aud we find that the space
between the planetary orbits grows
greater as we 40 from the sun TO that Of
Neptune, and after the orbit OF Nso-
tune Is reached the distance which sep.
arates the other systems from our own
II vasieI still. II Ia ut this point that
ASTRONOMERS bring reason To the aid OF
the telescope a. they had before.
brought the telescope TO the aid OF TIC
naked vision, and leap TO the cone.u.
sion that a. beyond our system lie
other systema, 90 beyond our univerye
lie other univefcs, and tie blnckiess
which the most powerful instrument
falls 10 resolve lie only the vast unlight-
cd space that separates them from ours.