Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-03-30
NEW CONCEPTIONS IN ASTRONOMY.


The Astounding Discoveries and Unthlnk-
able Conclusions Reached by Three CEN
turtles Of Research.
[Prof, Edgar l.. Larkin in the Scientific
Americana
After three centuries of what may be
called accurate, or instrumental as
tronomy, three centuries filled with diff
ficultios and discC Judgements astronomers
| have finally arrived at conclusions given
/ In this note. The conception Is, that all
| that part Of the sdereal structure visible
! in the most powerful telescopes, is made
| of space, suns planets, moons, nebulae,
| comets, meteors and cosmical dust. The
word Star should be omitted from
| astronomical literature. II has no as
| tronomic meaning. Every star visible in
| the most penetrating telescope Is a hot
sun. There are at all degrees OF heat,
| from dull red to the most terrific white
heat to which matter can be subjected.
| Leaves in a forest from swelling bud
to the "sere and yellow" do not present
| more stages Of evolution. A few suns that
have been weighed, contain less matter
| than our own: some are of equal mass;
others are from 10 to 20 and 30 times
more massive, while a few are so i'm
| mensely more massive that all hopes Of
comparison fail.
Every sun is in motion at great speed.
due the attraction and counter attraction
| Of all the others. They go in every direc-
ton. Imagine the space occupied by
swarm of bees to be magnifed so that the
distance between each bee and its neigh
Dor should equal one hundred miles. The
insects would fly in every possible direc-
ton Of their own volition. Suns move in
| every conceivable direction not as they
will, but in abject servitude to gravita-
ton. They must obey the omnipresent
a III a..
curacy.
The first fact that strikes the beginner
in astronomy is the amazing magnitude
of space. The last that overwhelms the
mind of a mature astronomer is this never
ending space. 1t is now known to modern
mentalists, lately newly discovered-the
ancient students of mind knew it-that
our minds are unable to think Of the fol-
lowing six words: Space, infinity,
eternity. creation, beginning and end.
They are all unknowable, and the chief
mathematiclans OF the world do not try
to think of them-a sheer waste of time.
The distance from our star" the sun,
to its nearest known neighboring sun is
twenty-five trillion miles A trillion Is a
million million. An object moving on a
straight line without stopping, at a con-
slant rate Of one mile per minute 1--WE
think that a train running at the mile
per-minute rate is moving rapidly would
require more than As, SOC, 900, nearly forty
nine million, years to traverse this APP
palling distance. Yet this is mere yard
stick used to measure the distances Of
remoter suns The next Supplying
mystery met with is the velocity Of light
II Is known to be in motion always with
the tremendous speed Of 900 miles per
second There are in one sidereal year
31,55S,149 seconds, and the time required
for light to traverse the mighty void be-
tween our own and the nearest sister sun
L. MI II aA
earth to the sun is 80 million miles, and to
the nearest neighboring sun is 275 900
times SO million miles. The next nearest
neighbor our sun has is another. $50. 900
times 80 million miles away. The distance
from the earth to the sun Is merely foot
rule The star Sirius is roughly of the
same distance. But these are nearby
suns
Estimates based on luminosity, light
giving power. and other complex con-
siderations. have been made regarding the
diameter Of the visible universe. These
range all the way from 10000. Is. 000 90
900, and even up to 10000 light years"
light year is the space traversed by
light in one sdereal year and equals 81
5SS,149 multiplied by 1876, 900. To find the
diameter OF the universe. multiply the
product by 10, 15, 20. or 80 thousand. as
you please. The opinion of the writer
inclines toward the thirty thousand. Now
the words finite and infinite in this case
are equally unknowable, for the ablest |
human mind is totally unable to think of
either.
Mathematicians haye tried their hands |
as a recreation, at weighing all the stars. !
That is. finding the quantity OF matter |
they all contain. They discovered a |
mighty fact: The mass of all visible stars |
in the greatest telescope is so small in
comparison with the quantity OF matter |
that mathematician can feel not see that |
H. .I, III.
the main quantity OF matter does not emit |
light. The universe is nearly dead. |
Photographs OF the entire celestial vault |
reveal about one hundred million suns. |
These may be ignored 1t is known to
mathematician that there is matter
enough in existence to make thirty-two |
billion suns equally as massive as our
own. Proof Is had from velocities of rapid |
suns. This quantity of matter exists. A |
minute fraction appears in the form of !
visible suns. But what of the rest? Is II
in dead suns, planets, and moons? Sup
pose that matter has been divided into
80 billion suns, each having eight minute
planets revolving around as in the case
of our own. Then the number OF worlds
would be 256 billion.
AS the combined mass of all the planets
In our solar system is but the 1-745th that
of the sun, it has made no perceptible diff
ference whether planets habitable worlds
ever existed, or exist now, Planets and
moons may come or go, without making
more than microscopic differences in the
stupendous universe. Is it possible that
billions Of exhausted suns are now wander
ing in waste places OF space? And are
they all surrounded by dead planets, still
in revolution, counting of iifeless and
useless years? This is the result obtained
by late mathematical research. Many
suns are known to contain several thou
sand times more matter than is now in
nc nd |
Sirius contains three and one-half times as
much, and Arcturus perhaps ten times the
solar mass. Our sun contains 80, 900 times
more matter than the earth. The heat
conditions of suns and also their motions
~1HWY@UW7