Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-05-13
THE IMPENE TRABIsE.
TREMENDOUS MAGNITUDE OF THE
STARRY SYSTEM.


STARRY SYSTEM.
What We Know, What We Believe and
What We Do Not Comprehend of Our
Solar system-Considering stupendous
Distances by q Scale Greatly Reduced.
1t Is worth while making an effort to
picture to ourselves the vast extent of
the starry system in which we reside.
Having gained some faint notion of the
extent Of the lesser solar system, which
occupies a small corner Of the stellar
system, we must work outward from
that beginning. Let us take for our
unit OF measurement the space which
separates the earth from the sun, and
let the go, 1000, 900 CT miles of this dis
tance be represented in cur minds by
a single inch. In proportion the sun
itself must be pictured by tiny ball
less than one hundredth part of an inch
in diameter, while our earth must be a
mere speck, less than one n-thousandth
of an inch in diameter. And this little
sun and this minute earth must be lust
on inch asunder.
Following out the same idea, Mercury
and Venus, being closer to the sun than
we are, have to be less than 1 inch
away from him, while Jupiter will be
inches off, Saturn will be 10 inch
es off, Uranus will be over 10 inches
off, Neptune will be almost 80 inches
of. Then the solar system as whole,
leaving only out Of the question certain
comets which travel farther, will be in
closed in circle less than yards in
diameter
The question arises next, What will
be the proportionate size Of the stellar
system on this same scale of measure
ment? If the solar system is to be COM
prised with hoop not two yards
across, how wide space should we al
low to the surrounding system of stars,
"our universe?' How near will be the
nearest of outlying stars? And the an
swer is sufficiently startling. IF the sun
is reckoned to be one inch away from |
our earth, if Neptune is reckoned to |
be less than three feet away from the
sun, then, on the same scale, the star |
which lies closest Of all outer stars in
the whole universe to us, Alpha Cen
tauri by name, must be reckoned as ly-
ing at distance of about 81 miles.
And between the two-nothing; at
least nothing in the shape of a star. An
occasional comet may lag slowly along
in the darkness, finding its way from
one sun system to another, and dark
bodies, cooled suns, may possibly float
here or there unseen by us, but of stars,
radiant with heat and light, none is
found in that wide area.
Astronomical writers sometimes talk
of stars in the vicinity of the sun,
and this is what is meant by vicinity.
Think of the distances implied Our
whole solar system is first brought down
into small circle, two yards across
every inch in those yards standing for
more than 80, 100000 miles-and then,
on every side and above and below, is (
an encompassing void Of 81 miles, ev-
cry inch Of those miles again represent
ing more than 10000, 900 miles. And
then we come upon one cleaning star. l
Only one quite so near. Another star s
in the SUMS vicinity" known as 81
Cygni, would lie at distance of seven
miles, and the brilliant Sirius would be
over ten miles off. Others must be
placed at distances Of 20 miles, so
miles, 100 miles. 1t is easy to start e
with list Of these figures. 1t is not I
easy to say where one should stop. That
the starry system has limits we do not
doubt, but to define those limits is not
possible. On such a scale as is given
above those limits certainly would not :
lie within distance Of 100 miles nor
of 1, 600 miles. It is believed that some
dim stars, barely to be detected, may
be 10, coo times as far away as our suns e
nearest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, and '
much reduced scale, line from the
center of 80, 600 miles. Suppose that
the limits of the stellar system lay
about there. Thirty five
thousand miles each way from the CEN =
ter would mean diameter for the
whole of 70, 900 miles, Imagine star
~ system 70, 900 miles across from side
to side, each inch in those miles repre-. ii
senting 90, 900, 900 of real miles, and \
somewhere in the midst of it our small
solar system, just two yards across, sep
arated from all other stars by wide
blank Of three or four miles. l.
That would be stupendous enough. I
But we have 10 reason whatever for
that the limits of our uni
verse do lie there. The true boundaries
Of the stellar system may be twice as n
far, four times as far, ten times as far. n
We do not even know with certainty Il
that our solar system is placed any r.
where near its center, though this seems
rather likely. Far off as the boundary
reaches in one direction, it may reach II
much farther in another direction. -Ag-
nes Giberne in Chambers Journal.