The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-01
THE HEAY VEINS IN 1909
By Frsde.ie J. a..lin.

, deterrninips the distance of the sun they calculated it on the basis of the mass. of the earth and not approximate Iy s3.o0o.eeo miles. Then they worked 1t out by the parallax method. entire ly different in every particular and they Approached the solution through
 the velocity of light--apJ the result
 was the same. At Inst they figured IL
 out from Known facts about the mo- tion of the rnoon--with again the same
 1 Prsviphs discoveries. reached through
 the same pafnstakins and proof posi-
 tive methcds had made efhesef opers-
 considered up to lsf7 that light fash cd instantaneously Then Romer figured that the reason the eclipses
 of Juptterss moons did not take place
 at the exact moment anticipated vas
 because Jupiter was farther. away from the earth at some times than at cthers. and that the light did not get hers as promptly when 1t had to travel 90 far. This was the beginning of f:,inyestiga-
 tfons which show the velocity Of iight to be 1s6.O00 miles . sec6nd. To show how estroncmers tax the very limit of human ingenuity to study the heavens, the little instrunient made for measuring star heat at the Mount Wilson. observatory serves admiraply. First. there Is la plain mirror. which throws the beams of star into con cave mirror This, in turn concen- trates the beam onto platinum thread smaller than the fiismentF q spider spins. through which q current of cleo kfrfcity is kept passing The neat which this star beam coInmunicates. 70 the platinum thread Is communicated to little fnstrument which is mace Al 1.nor IF made of a thread of spun glass. five inches long and smaller than human hair. is fastened to a support by sus- pending 1t on a thread ofsepuns quartz crystal. two feet long and a-five-thoup- andth of an inch in diameter. In the exact middle of the beam ts fasteneq . mirror as splatl as . pin mead, yet made so perfect that every point of the mirror side will touch when placed on six-foot globe. This mirror is at tacfed to the. beam by pasttpg 1t to . little square cut from the wing of a dragon fly. and that in turn to the beam The mirror weighs no more thsn fly's hind les. The shest or Arctusus. perhaps the hottest sun ln the universe. is said to amount to only es much as the heatHcf a candle i've miles away. saS The whole solsr system is said to be going toward the constellation Lyra Ut tke rate Of . million miles day. One who has walked through q forest and has seen the trees gradually close in bghind and open up In front has ] good idea of the phenornenon the
 aetronomers see. The southern
 heavens are gradually closing In and those of the north are cpening UP.
 The distances of the universe are sncn
 as to be iuccnceivabie, Neptune is the
 outermost object of the solar system,
 swinging around its tremendous cycle
 nearly three billion miles .away uom
 the sun; yet the nearest fixed star is
 si4, 900 times further away rom tns
 ann than is Neptune Though nshy
 travels at rate that would send
 arorni the earth seven and 2 nan
 tIrnea in a single second, It would tsze
 it a ROO yaars to come to us from tne
 farfhest known star. If there could pc
 an eve On snFne of the most distanl
 stars which could defy space # wpusS
 not be behoidIng the israehtes s4 H
 canaan. Who has not seen the rolg
 sfar? were there an eye upon It wnicn
 cc,,lft see tsse things on earth: that eye.
 wso,,ld now be looking at the sress
 drama Of. the. Civil War. A
 Scopyright. fsos, by Frederic J. Has
 T.s Tomorrsr--,rhe City of savannsh: