Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-08-15
WONDERFUL DEPTHS OF SPACE

BIZ way % illustrating tut SACoe
depths of space. Sir Robert Ball. the
! astronomer in the Boston Transcript
/ SAYS. Let us suppose that telegram
/ lines. instead of being merely conhneu
/ 10 the earth. were extended throughout
the length and depth Of space. Let one
wire stretch from the earth 10 the moon
4 another from the earth 10 the sun, an
F c-ber from the earth 10 the neareS-
( bright star. another from the earth 20
( faint teIesc0pfc STAR. and. finally let
wire he stretched an the way from the
earth 10 one of the more distant stars.
/ LET us now see what the very shortest
time would be in which a message
might be transmitted TO each OF Jhese
/ several destinations. First, with re-
sDe,r ID the noon Our sateLIe is
comparatively speaking, so near 10 Us
/ char but little more than second
/ would be required for q signal TO traVei
/ thither from the earth.
The sun is. however. many times
( further away than the moon, and the
/ time required for sending q message 10
/ The sun would be eSDOndlnSly long
er The SIM IS. indeed. so far thar Wnen
the KEY had BEEN pressed down and the
electric wave had shot forth along the
solar wire TO puruSe its route III Jaat
/ s-uueudous speed which would permit
/ f. To place a girdle seven times round
7 this earth i'm q second. vet eight minutes
would have 10 elapse ere the electric
wave had passed from the earlh 10 lile
sun. An answer sent back from Ine
. sun would require another elgnJ NM
u-es for the return journey, so that II
I there were no undue delay in the solar
p-sr Once. we might expect a reply
Within half an hour or so after the orig
/ inal message had been despatched.
TelerraDhing to the stars would, now
ever be a much more tedious matter.
Take first. the case of the very nearest
of those twinkling points OF light
namely ADha Centauri. The trans
mission of @ telegraphic message
no This distant sun would, indeed tax
the na-ieuce. The key is pressed down
the message bounds off on its Journey
II wings It's way along The Wire win
that velocity sufficient to carry IL loo'-
O00 miles In q single second OF time.
/ Even The nearest of the stars Is, now
ever. sunk into space 10 distance so
/ overwhelming that the time required
for the Journey is not question OF sec
I onds or of minutes not OF hours, no- OF
days. not of weeks. nor even or months
for no less than four years would nave
to- pass by before the electricity had ac-
complished this stupendous journey
Alpha Centauri is however. merely
+ the nearest of these stars. We have yet
20 indicate the distances Of those which
are more remote. Look up tonight to-
ward the heavens and among the
. thousands of twinkling points which
delight our eyes, there is many q one
ND there 50 far off thar #. after rhe bat
tie of Waterloo had been won in 1873,
the Duke of Wellington had telegraph
I ell the news 20 these stellar depths the
message would not yet have been re-
ceived there. Notwithstanding the fact
that for eighty years it has been flash
ing along with that lightning velocity
which would carry It. seven times
around the earth in the interval be-
/ tween the TWO ticks of a clock.
There are stars farther still FOrti-
fy your eyes with telescope. and di-
rect K toward the sky. Over our heads
/ there are thousands of stars so remote
that if he news Of the discovery Of
America by Columbus had been circu-
lated far and wide through the uni
verse. by the insrumeuJality of the tel
/ egraph those thousand Of stars to
which I now refer are elevated into
bOundless space TO altudes so S-upen-
I dOus that the announcement would not
Vet have reached theml
r. seems certain that many of these
stars are so remote that If the glad i'd
ings of the first Christmas at Bethle-
hem 1894 years ago. had been dissem-
/ mated through the universe by the
swif-est electric current ever known,
vet these stars are so incOnceivably re-
. mote that all the seconds which have
ELAPSED in The 1874 years Of our pres
emit era would nO- have suficed for the
journey.
But ii any reader Of these lines should
there is one consideration which l Spe-
entertain any misgivings as to the re-
+ ality of these stellar distances, then
ciauv commend 20 his notice. Remem-
Der that space seems 10 MS 20 be bound
less. for our imagination can conceive
no limits. There must. il would seem,
be depths of space thousands Of times,
or indeed. millions of times. greater
. L..tA lLltNN NA T" -AlN-- a ara 1l.f+-----
can conceive of no boundary, for even
If that celestial vault of crystal existed
/ which the ancieuts supposed our I'M
/ aginations could pierce through II TO
the other side. and then in thought we
could start afresh. and on and on in
definitely. And, seeing that space
seems to MS 10 beinRaite what wonder
is it if the stars should Die AZ the dis
/ tances I have named. or az distances
millions of times greater stu: