The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1914-12-19
STARRY WONDERS
The Changing, Drifting, crum-
bling Consultations.
NOT so PLACID AS THEY SEEM
They Are All In Whirlins, Restless
Rush, Preparing TO Assemble In 9th
er Formations-Wild Flight Earth
ward OF the Andromeda NebuIa.

ward OF the Andromeda NebuIs.
''That spectacle" said friend OF
mine one night pointing up 10 tho
starry sky, always overwhelms ne
with n sense OF unchangeableness."
yet" I replied, lit Is the grandest
type OF continual and stupendcus
change that the imagination could pos
sibly conceive. Its apparent unchange-
ableness IL that OF distant landscape
Seen by fash OF lightning, the wheel
OF n racing auto seems to be mottss-
less. Your whole lifetime is but a
lightning fash against the spinning
wheels OF the universe. The entire
history OF tho world since the tradi-
tional time OF Adam Is but lightning
fash In the existence OF the sidereal
systems.
They are all in motion, and they are
all changing within themselves. Look
yondcr at that rich part OF the MILKY
way, where the millions OF apparent
ly crowded stars resemble luminous
clouds If you could stand watching
those star clouds for a million years
instead or few moments they wosld
shift ana roll before your eyes like the
derstorm.
THE astronomer arrives at knowl-
edge OF the fluctuations OF the universe
by projecting his imagination back into
the past and forward into the future.
He gazes through a telescope which
penetrates time instead OF space. It's
lenses gather together and bend TO
focus beams OF ages instead OF rays or
light. With It's aid he sweeps all past
and coming aeons into the field OF his
mental vision and strives to view them
I'm the mass, as they are seen by the
ancient OF days himself.
1T IL In this way that we know that
all these brilliant considerations, whkh
TO the eye OF the casual locker have
not altered their outlines since record
ed history began. are in reality "A
mutable and ephemerai as 50 many
swarms OF snow crystals.
Eyes; II is no exaggeration to AFFIRM
that the armament OF stars would M.
pear to an eye endowed with immortal
vision as restless and as swiftly varl-
able as winter storm sky filed with
eddying fakes.
"Ursa Major, the Great Bear, Leo
the Lion, Taurus the charging Bull.
Orion the mighty Hunter, the Southern
Cross. the Northern Crown. the Lyre.
the Whale, the Scorpion, the Scales,
Virgo the Virgin. Hercules the Deer OF
Deeds, Draco the Great Dragon, Ophi-
uchus the Serpent Bearer. the whole
refulgent cycle or the zodiac from
Aries round to Pisces, all these, with
out exception. and every starry ecC-
pany In the whole sky that manixbsA
has admired and made legends about
are breaking up. crumbllng. drifting
asunder and preparing TO assemble -
other formations, like the new heaven
that Is 60 shine upon the new earth o.
the Apocalypse.
Look up at Aldebaran. the red asN
magnitude star In the eye OF Taesss
IL Is going away from you nc sDeS~
Of thirty. i've miles per second. seves%v
times rs fast ~ the swiftest cannsn
ball Every successive night N b.
100000 miles farther than II was
twenty-four hours before. and YET ~,
distance Is so great that II has not ap
probably diminished in brightness IA
a thousand years.
Then Fix your eyes on little star
under the feet or orion. which astssss
mers call Delta Leporis. lt Is fiyhs
away from us M the rate OF sixty-tws
miles per second. That mems a re-
treat OF more than 5.2JO000 miles b.
tween one night and the next, and yer
Delta Leporis does not sensibly fAdr
II IL like distant steamers light-ss
far away TO begin with that no ab4sSl
ton OF its distance can produce
change In Its apparent magnitude uatf
the time elapsed begins 10 bear ssac
appreciable proportion 20 the space that
intervenes
''If you will regard another little ssai
I'm the Whale. called ETA Cephei. Yen
will be looking at projectile as btg ma
sun, which IL shooting toward VA
more than fifty miles a second. Thc
great dog star. Sirius. which crossed
the milky way hundreds OF centmha
before history began. IL speeding IN our
direction nj the rate OF fifteen miles u
second. and the little dog star. Proey
on, Is chasing after him with the los
ing stride OF ten miles per second.
The magnificent Arcturus IL retiriiE
into the depths OF space with digniDcd
step-three miles n second while Al
pha Centnurus. twin star. each %
whose components equals our sun. i
drawing a million miles nearer every
twenty four hours. The vast Orion
Nebula IL retreating eleven miles n sc
ond. but that whirIing wonder called
the ADdromcla Nebula II rushing hiti
QFWarH ttO mfia0 A aaronH ar