Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1909-07-07
THE EARTH'S MOTIONS
no" We Are whirIing Around
and Through Space.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUN.

""nout its Attraction That Draw. th.
"orld Toward II In an Elliot;e,,
course Our Globe Would Wanda an
Forever In Straight Line.
Inere are those who think much OF
moving from one point 10 another of
the earth-travel they cali it-and VET
pay little heed to the wonderful topr.
ney OF the earth itself. Many. again
30 10 seek a climate while the hrrrv.
ing earth Is bringing TO them one elf.
mate AFTER another I'm endless success
Sion Those who have not hitherto
nken much notice OF the earth's prog
iess-who nave not. SO to speak. looked
out OF their carriage window as thew
are whiried along-might lnd a new
interest In doing so. Look. for EXAM
pie. At the apparent size of the SIM
casual observation shows that II an
pears larger in the winter heavens
Ana exact measurements tell us that
IL - largest on Jan. and smallest on
July 4 The size OF the sun thus marks
the earth's nearest approach and
greatest distance from the sun. Aeon
rate astronomical measurement of the
suns diameter might even determine
'he day OF the year. for the daily yari-
alton In the apparent size OF the sun is
some nine-fftieths OF a second OF an
GUAR measurement And astronomers
profess to measure the second decimal
OF seconds.
Ihere are three ways In which ve
are journeying with the earth. There
Is hrst. the daily revolution, which car
RES us through complete circle In
twenty-four hours ut rate varying
from rather more than thousand
miles an hour at the equator 10 moth.
Ing at the poles, where no one. by the
way, has ever been. Then we are trav-
cling around the sun once n year at
the rate OF eighteen miles second
Ihirdly. we are journeying through
stellar space. for one of the most re-
markable facts which modern astron-
omy has brought TO light is that our
solar system. the sun with all its plan
cts, is on Journey toward the COL
stellation Lyra at the rate OF ten miles
a second.
AS we sit In train and are whlried
along IL sometimes appears as II the
scenery were dying past us rather
than we past II. So the daily revolu-
ton OF the carth--a thousand miles an
hour at the equator-makes the sun
rise and set. and our yearly Journey
makes the sun apparently travel
through the consultations OF the 70
diac. IL we move round any stationary
object on the earth we see Il with
constantly changing background-now
windmill. now cottage. now a
wood. now n church. etc. SO as we
travel round the sun we see it with an
ever changing background OF stars
now those OF Aries. now OF Taurus.
now OF Gemini. and so on The posi-
ton OF the sun among the stars marks
the stages OF the earth's annual Jour-
ney And as the earth arrives at DIFF
fcrent points Of its orbit the times OF
the risings OF certain stars vary. These
Indications OF the earth's progress
have been taken as marks or the sea-
sons. Thus when Sirius rose with the
sun II was known that the dog DAYS
had begun. Early astronomers watch
ed carefully for the rising OF the dog
star. The Egyptian astronomers look
cd for the helical rising OF Sothis 20
proclaim the new year
IL is the earth's yearly journey round
the sun which enables us 10 determine
the distances Of the stars. The method
is precisely that adopted by surveyors
for determining the position OF objects
on earth. The direction OF the object
whose distance is to be found is OBJ
served from two points known dis.
lance apart The rest IL mere calcula-
ton. In the case of the stars the dIrec-
lions are observed from two extreme
points In the earth's orbit instead OF
from the two ends OF base line. The
process is called triangulation when
applied TO earth measurements, and
every body understands what IL means
When applied 10 the stars II is called
parallax and remains n mystery to
most people. Such is the obscurIng
power OF a word.
The little more" and the little less"
OF Browning are forcibly illustrated in
the direction OF the earth's Journey
round the sun. An elliptic course diff
fering very little from a circle. COM
bined with tilt OF the axis. gives us
the seasons. But II this difference and
tilt did not exist there would be no
seasons and one climate would rule
the year. If. again. the course were
more elliptic, then for the hemisphere
whose winter occurred NJ the earth's
greatest distance from the sun there
might be glacial period.
THE straight line" says Miss Helen
Keller, "symbolizes duty. II is n dun
thought drawn out endlessly" And
this seems tn be reflection on what
we had thought was the earth's path
OF duty round the sun. for this path is
the curve known as the ellipse. More
over. the thought makes the sun a
tempter OF the earth from the strict
path OF duty. for the earth. we learn
from our Newton, II left to itself
would wander on forever through
space in a straight line. 1t is the sun
which draws II from this dull course
into the pleasant curve OF subsection
Yet the suns victory Is only partial.
the earth's actual path being combi-
nation OF fits own straight line Of In
clination and obedience TO the pull OF
sne sun. And so instead OF the dull
thought drawn out endlessly" we have
the beautiful thought of the changing