The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-12-29
EARTH MOVES MILLIONS
OF MILES DURING YEAR

IKE ourselves Our development through
evolution into such. creatures as we are
has been due doubtless to circumstances
1 more or less accidental Had the con-
d'tions of our environment been diner
cit, the species known to science as
Homo sapiens would be represented to-
IcGy. presumably. by a different type OF
| animal, physically, at least.
DweIIers on Planets.
Shall We imagine. then that mankind
on the earth represents the highest type
Ct beings now existing in the universeg
Surely not. 1t is altogether probable
that creatures much higher in the scale
or development, mentally, physically, and
morally, dwell In some Of those millions
| OF other worlds. which must to-day be
capable Of supporting animal and plant
life. What likelihood is violated by the
| assumption that some Of these creatures
are so far superior to ourselves as TO be
comparable to types which we, from our
own mundane viewpoint, would regard
as angelic?
Before long, beyond a doubt, we shall
talk across. the oceans, by the help OF
wireless biography. II may be that in
future centuries we shall span the ga
lEctic spaces which separate star from
star, and derive from these angels who
lnhabit other Orbs-distant by hundreds
Of light years from acknowledge OF in
calculable value.
Said the late Simon Newcomb. one OF
the greatest astronomers that ever lived:
THE limits of the universe have been
reached, and science is in a position to
estimate with reasonable accuracy its
size, its shape. and even the number Of
stars IL contains. The smaller stars which
our powerful modern telescopes have
brought into view do not look small be-
cause they are farther away, but by
reason Of their inferior size. In other
words, We are able actually to see the
boundaries Of the universe
Our sun is an orb of only the fifth
magnitude in the Milky Way Not only
Is it inconspicuOus by reason Of its size,
but il is not very bright as suns go. Sir
Jus, which is twenty times the size OF
our orb OF day. is sixty-three times as
brilliant, and proportionately hotter. II
We were as near to Sirius as We are to
the sun, the rocks Of the earth would
melt
Sirius is a youthful giant: our sun is
old and beginning to be decrepit-s fact
evidenced by the frequent spots on its
surface. Algol, In the head OF Medusa,
which is only a little bigger than our
sun, gives out more than fifty times as
much light. And both Algol and Sirius
in the Tyre, which is at least 90 times
as big as our sun.
Fall Toward Vega.
Why are We falling through space in
the direction Of Vega? The answer is that
nobody knows. That such is the case.
however, is beyond a doubt Apparently,
too. We are falling in a straight line.
But, where such enormous measurements
are concerned, it is impossible to say
that the seeming straight line may not
prove in the course Of ages to be a
curve.
We are bound within the next $1,000
years to come pretty close-tO the con-
Of the Tyre. at all events
even II our own sun does not become a
satellite with its attendant planets) OF
Vegas. There is evidently some tire
endous destiny ahead of us-in a cos
nical sense, at all events. Our fall
through space is bound to bring Us up
with in a reasonable length
IL time.
We might fall in a straight nne through
Ill eternity Gnasmuch as space can have
no bOttom), but astronomers are rather
5clined to suppose that the solar sys-
tenn is travelling around some center.
What is that center? Nobody can do
more than guess, but the scientific sur
Mise points to AlCyone-which, as al
ready explained, is the principal star in
he Pieiades. Alcyone Is about 1.0OO
tines as big as our sun, and may per
laps be the central body about which
he entire universe Of stars revolves.
Alycone las already stated Is 81 light
ears away from us. II the above-men-
toned theory be accepted, We complete
he circuit around this center in a little
over 95:OO0OO0 ordinary years. as We
-eCkon them. But it is beyond question
hat our sun. before it has a chance to
make much more than a small fraction
x the journey. will have ceased to shine.
To our naked vision. stars IN the sky
'eem to be countless. They are not so,
however. in reality. Astronomers say
hat to the most powerful telescopes
lbOut 100000 stars are visible-Individ-
tally. that is. Vast numbers not thus
lIscernible are revealed by the photo
graphic plate, which within recent years
las become the most important and re-
iable means of recording the positions
# stellar bodies.
The Runaway Star.
Space being infinite. there must be IN
limited room for other universes. And it
5 only on the supposftion OF the exist
nee of such universes that we are able
o account for phenomenon like that
4 the so-called Runaway Star-Otherwise
.nown as '1SS0 Groombridge." This hugo
lin Ccompared to which our own solar
81.