The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-04-20

unit of measurement the space which
separates the earth from the sun; and
let the ninety-two millions of miles or
this distance be represented in our
minds by one single inch. In proper
ton the sun himself must be pictured
by tiny ball less than one hundredth
of an inch in diameter; while our earth
must be q mere speck, less than one
ten-thousandth Of an inch in diameter.
And this little sun and this minute
earth must be just one inch asunder.
Following out the same idea, Mercu-
ry and Venus, being closer to the sun
than we are, have less than one inch
away from him; while Jupiter will be
five inches Off Saturn will be ten inch
es off, Uranus will be over nineteen
inches off, Neptune will be almost thir-
ty inches off. Then the solar system as
a whole, leaving only out of the ques-
ton certain comets which travel far
Their, will be enclosed in q circle less
than two yards in diameter.
The question arises neXt-what will
be the proportionate size of the stellar
system on this same scale of measure
ment? II the solar system is to be
comprised with q hoop, not two yards
across, how wide as pace should we
allow to the surrounding system of
tars, "our universe?" How near will
be the nearest of outlying stars? And
the answer is sufficiently startling. Ii
the sun is reckoned to be one inch away
from our earth, if Neptune is reck-
oned to be less than three feet away
from the sun, then, on the same scale
hn e+o Whit toe nln nf all
outer stars in the whole universe to us.
Alpha Centauri by name, must be
reckoned as lying at a distance OF
about three and a half miles. And be-
sides, cooled suns between the two, moth
ing! At least, nothing in the shape OF
star. An occasional comet may lag
slowly along in the darkness, finding
it's way from one sun system to anoth-
er; and dark bodies, cooled suns, may
possibly float here or there unseen by
u.s. but of stars, radiant with heat and
light, none is found in that wide area.
Astronomical writer's sometimes talk
Of stars sin the vicinity" of the sun;
and this is what is meant by "yicini-
ty." Think of the distances implied.
Our whole solar system is first brought
down into a small circle, two yards
across-every inch in those yards
standing for more than ninety millions
of miles-and then, on every side and
above and below, is an encompassing
void of three and half miles: every
inch OF those miles again representing
more than ninety millions of miles.
And then we come upon one cleaning
star! Only one quite SO near Anoth-
err star in the suns vicinity" known
as 81 Cygni, would lie at a distance Of
seven miles, and the brilliant Sirius
would be over ten miles off. Others
must be placed at distances of twenty
miles, fifty miles, one hundred miles.
1t is easy to start with list OF these
figures; 1t is not easy to say where one
should stop. That 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 dis
lance of one hundred miles, nor OF one
thousand miles 1t Is believed that
some dim stars, barely to be detected,
may be ten thousand times as far away
as our suns nearest neighbor, Alpha
Centauri; and this at once gives, even
from the center of thirty-five thousand
miles. Suppose that the limits Of the
stellar system lay somewhere about
there. Thirty-five thousand miles each
way from the center would mean q d.
ameter for the whole of seventy thou
sand miles. Imagine starry system
seventy thousand miles across from
side to side; each inch in those miles
representing ninety-two million Of real
miles; and somewhere in the midst Of
1t our small solar system, just two
yards across, separated from all other
stars by wide blank of three or four
miles!
That would be stupendous enough.
But we have no reason whatever for
supposing that the limits of our uni
verse do lie there. The true boundaries
of the stellar system may be twice as
far. four times as far, ten times as far
We do not even know with certainty