Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1894-10-04
THE NUNBfRLEss WORLDS.

Abraham, "LOOk now toward heaven,
and tell the stars, n thou be able 10
number them" He also said, $50
shall thy seed be-" and In promising
an inheritance to tho patriarch lie
stated further, 81 will make thy seed
as the dust Of The earth; 90 tina. ~
man can number tho dust Of the earth,
then hhall thy seed also be numbered"
BY these comparisons tbs Lord Illus.
traies the multiplicity Of Ills creations
a. seen In tho heavenly planets, and
the impOssibiliiy Of mortal beings
making a calculation Of their number,
for Abfahams seed were 10 be count.
lees ~ the dust OF the earth or the stars
In tho armament. In the October
North american RcUisg Sir Edwin
Arnold, who, besides his fame as poet,
holds an eminent position M a telen.
tist, contributes an article dealing with
astronomy, In which he prese nts some
interesting facts and suggestions re.
garding the Washers of the number Of
worlds which science has dsmo ustfated
a. existing in tho universe As brought
within tho range Of vision by aid Of the
telescope.
Sir Edwin points out that Calico, In
HE sidoreal Messenger, made a mnpoi
eighty new stars which he had dis.
covered In tie conslellstlona Of orion's
Bolt and tho Sword; aud that since
then astronomer after astronomer has
added various groups and galaxisa to
the two or three thousand conspicuous
stars Of the first slx magnlludes which
always can be- seen with the naked
eye. II IL curiou. and not clmpll.
montary to the good sense OF mankind,
says tho writer, that those stars should
have been looked upon aa merely In.
tended TO spangle the sky and give
light at nlRht, A.lamps tl,.y were
always failure. Sixty lime. the total
starlight on tho clearest NIGHT would
not equal the illumination given nv
the NOON; and thirty.thr.e million
times their radlAne, would be IN.
quired TO equal sunlight Yet IN,
stars which are seen even by a powof.
full telescope arc now know 10 be only
m iusignincent proportion o. those
actually existing inside "vlsiblo
space"
Going farther, Sir Edwin points
out that teleieoplo photography, a.
practiced today ia all the observatorles,
reveals, In almost every apparently
blank region OF tho celestial sphere,
countless new and distant worlds, Iy.
ing far beyond all methods Of mortal
computation and measurement. Tho
only "ioot rule" with which there are
made estimates OF the scale OF distances
In the "visible universe" Ia light.
This travels along the ether At the rate
Of 1876, 900 miles IN u second, 80 that the
ray which We receive from the sun loft
hia surface eight minutes before Il has
reached our eyes. by ingenius pro.
cesses based on complex arithmetic,
astronomers have determined the die.
lance OF about eighty stars, and the
nearest Of all OF them 10 our system IL
Alpha Ceniaurl. Tho radiance Of this
s,sr takes however, about four yeArs to
reach human vision, while that which
We perceive from Alpha Tauri or
Aldebaran was projected from it,
glllterlng source tweuty.sevsn year,
ago. aud mOat OF those seen deeper In
tho night sky are 20 far on that their
present light left them three or four
hundred years back.
IL also II stated that many
stars are today visible whose
beams have Travelled TO our gazs only
after lapse Of thousands Of years, and
II IL suggested there mast DO radiant
streams now on their way from heaven.
~ bodies In the empyteAn which will
only reach the eyes Of our very far on
posteriiy. rhs dis,ancs OF the out.
side planet Of our family Neptune, IL
computed "a two thousand eight hun
bred and twenty-five milliane OF milei
nom the sun 80 that wo may roughly
call Tho diameter Of our hyiug system
IN space hye thousand six hundred
ana my millions OF miles "But vast
as this sounds" says Sir Edwin, sour
solar system sinks Into speok when
one Hh 'c's that u woshould represent
tho Interval bbiweo the sun and the