El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-17

J gigantic dark org Though its size has not
} vet been definitely reckoned. this orb must
WINGED that other worlds than ours are in
ing thing about it is the fact that here we
have the condition OF affairs where the sun
is actually Circling around the planet-just
as, in the ignorant opinion Of the ancients.
our own sun was supposed to revolve around
the earth.
How diminutive must we feel when we
think Of the tiny size Of the earth as COM
pared with such mighty worlds as these.
Being dark bodies it is cerainly remarkable
picked up by telescope. But the natural and
inevitable inference is that they are vastly
numerous 20 suppose that some OF them
are not inhabited would be an absurdity.
Can Prove Worlds Contain Life.
49,, - touay al llOI OnlS C9ll-
WINGED that other worlds than Gus are in
habited, but they are able satisfactorily to
prove it. Just how they can do so will pres
emily be made clear. But It should be I'M
derstood that they make no such assertion
in regard to the members Of our little Solar
system In fact, probabilities seem altogeth-
er against the assumption that any other
member Of the small planetary family to
which the earth belongs is the abode Of ami
Many things formerly regarded as IN
movable have been added within recent
years to the realm of the known Thus. for
example II used to be supposed that we
could never discover the limits OF the uni
verse, or find out how many stars were
therein contained Today, however, science
is able to give the approximate measure
ments of the universe, to tell what its shape
is, and to reckon the total number Of stars
with fair degree Of exactitude
Inc universe is what is commonly called
the Milky way. 1t has the shape Of fiat
tened disk, the diameter Of which is about
i've times its thickness. Our sun IS rather
small star COT only fifth magnitude) not far
from the center of it, apparently When we
look up at the Milky way on clear night
the stars seem thick because we are gaz-
ing through the disk toward the edge from
the middle. In the same way the lamps
along a bridge seem close together If one
views them from either end To an observer
coming up or down the river they would be
set apart at considerable distances
See End Of Universe.
Astronomers are Of opinion that the small
stars which our powerful modern telescopes
nave brought into view do not look small
because they are further away but by rea-
son OF their inferior size There are no
more beyond In other words, we are able
actually to see the boundaries OF the uni
verse. Such being the case, 1t has been pos
slDle to determine that the great disk OF
stars is not far from $4,000 light years"
In diameter. In other words. ray of light
moving $4,000 miles a second. would take
something like $4,000 years to cross it.
telescope photography has made it posi-
hle to count the stars, and 1t is now known
that their total number is somewhere be-
tween five hundred billions and one thou
sand billions Accordingly, with these fig
ures at hand, it may be said that the mind
OF man has formed a pretty definite con-
eeption Of the universe. We know how big
II IS the shape OF II ana the approximate
number of the stellar bodies it contains.
One should realize that every one of these
stars is a blazing sun-a great majority Of
them much bigger than our own orb of day
Vega in the constellation Of the Tyre is a
sun hundreds Of times as big as ours, and
about 1000 times as brilliant AloyOne is so
huge that It would make 1000 such suns as
our own Arcturus. in BoOtes. the Star Of
Job. only 13 light years away from US, is the
greatest center Of radiant energy the visi-
bic universe contains. 1t gives out some
thing like 5000 times as much light the
sun by whose generous rays the earth is
warmed and illumined
Sirius-known to the ancient Egyptians
as the Dog star because its appearance in
the heavens gave faithful warning OF the