Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-01-08
A DIP into SPACE
From Our Little Solar System to
the Far Starry Limits.
SOME MARVELLOUS DISTANCES
The Stellar Universe as We Know Y
and What It Means In the Matter o
Miles to Reach Its Boundaries From
the Center Of Our Own Sun.

Mules TO NESCN KS CCNNNaFtSS 'S'''
the Center Of Our Own Sun.
1t is worth while making an effort IL .
picture 10 ourselves the vast extent ~
the starry system in which we reside
Having gained some faint notion ell
the extent of the lesser solar system,
which occupies a small corner OF The .
stellar system, we must work outward .
from that beginning Let us take tog
our unit of measurement the space .
which separates the earth from Tue
sun aud let the 92,Oo0,0oO miles of this /
distance he represented III our minds T
10y Il single inch. In proportion the /
sun itself must he pictured 10y 4 TINY
ball less than one huudrcdth part of IN
inch in diameter. while our earth
must he a mere speck less than one
ten-thouSandth of an inch in diameter
And this little sun and this minute
earth must be just an inch aSundcr.
Following ont the Same idea, Mcr
curry and Venus, being closer to the
sun than we are, have to be less than
an inch away from him. while Jupiter
W III ne NV lllN llNN VIZ AN''A'tAi " - -
ten inches off. Uranus will hc over
nineteen inches off, Neptune will he
almost thirty inches Oft Then the So
lar system MS whole, leaving only
out of the question certain comets
which travel farther, will he incloSed
In Il circle less than two yards in diam
etcr.
The question arises next What viii
he the propurtionatc size of the stellar
system ON this same scale of measure
mcnt? II the solar system is to b.
/ comprised with 4 hoop not two yards
i across how wide space should we
! allow to the surrounding system Of
stars, "our upiycrse:' How near will
be tho nearest of outlying stars? And
the answer is sufficiently startling. If
the sun is rcckoncd to be one inch
away from our earth, if Neptune is
reckoned to he less than three feet
away from the sun, then on the same
scale the star which lies closest of all
outer stars in the whole universe to us.
Alpha Ccntauri by name. must he
reckoncd MS lying at a distance at
about three and half miles. And be
tween the two-uothing; ut least moth
ing in the shape of Il star An coca
SioBal comet may lag slowly along in
the darkness, finding its way from one
sun system to another. and dark bod
les cooled suns. may possibly float
here or there unseen by us, but of
stars radiant With heat and light none
Is found in that wide area
, Astronomical writer's sometimes tall,
of stars I'm the vicinity" of the sun,
and this is what is meant by ''vicin
) ity" Think Of the distances implied
Our whole solar system is first brought
down into small circle two yards
across every inch i'm those yards stand
ing for more than 9O,0O0.0OO miles F.
ana then on every side and above and
below is an encompassing void of
three and - half miles. every inch of
those miles again representing more
than 90,0O0,000 miles. And then we
come upon one cleaning star. Only
one quite so near. Another star in the
suns vicinity" known as 81 Cygui
would lie nj a distance of seven miles
, ana llit vi lillIJa ENlIlbN Nthltl w oNSI
ten miles off. Others must he placed
at distances Of twenty miles. fifty
miles. 100 miles. 1t js easy to start
with list OF these figures. 1t is not
easy Ia say where one should stop
That the starry system has limits we
do not doubt, bu7 To define those limits
is not possible. ON such scale as Il
| Il, oil. IN
t would not tie within distance Of 1W
miles nor of 1,O00 miles.
1t is believed that some dim stars
barely to be detected. may be 10000
times as far away as our SUMS nearest
neighbor. Alpha Centauri- and this AT
once gives. even on our much reduced
scale. line from the center of $4,000
miles. Suppose that the limits of tn"
stellar system lay somewhere about
there Thirty-five thousand miles each
way from the center would mean Ill
amcter for the whole of 10000 miles.
2 Imagine a starry system 10000 miles
across from side TO side, each inch in
those miles representing % 100000 OF
real miles, and somewhere in the midst
!
yards across, separated from all other
stars by wide blank Of three or four
miles.
That would be stupendous enough.
But we have no reason whatever for
supposiug that the limits Of our uni
verse do lie there The true boundaries
Of the stellar system may be twice as
far, four times as far, ten times rs far.
We do not even know with certainty
that our solar system is placed any
where near its center, though his
seems rather likely, Far Off n the
boundary reaches in one direction. It
may reach much further in another d.
rection-Chambers Journal.
An Ant Illusion