The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1914-08-06
A DIP INTO SPACE
From Our LITTLE Solar System to
the Far Starry Limits.
SOME MARVELLOUS DISTANCES

The Stellar Universe 40 We Know II
and What u Means In the Matter OF
Miles to Reach tie Boundaries From
the Center Of Our Own Sun.
IL is worth while making an effort 20
picture to ourselves the vast extent OF
the starry system In which we reside,
Having gained some faint notion of
the extent of the lesser solar system.
which occupies a small corne Of the
stellar system. we must work outward
from that beginning. Let us take for
our unit OF measurement the space
which separates the earth from the
sur and let the %, 100000 miles Of this
distance be represented In our uiinds
by a single inch. In proportion the
sur itself must be pictured by q tiny
ball less than one hundredth part Of an
inch In diameter. while our earth
must be 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 asunder.
Following out the same idea. Mer-
curry aud Venus, being closer TO the
sun than we are, have 20 be less than
an inch away from him, while Jupiter
will he i've inches of, Saturn will be
ten inches or. Uranus will IN over
nineteen inches of, Neptune will be
almost thirty inches OF. Then the So
lar system as a whole, leaving only
out OF the question certain comets
which travel farther. will be inclosed
In II circle less than two yards In diam
eter.
The question arises next What will
be the proportionate size OF the stellar
system on this same scale OF measure
ment? II the solar system In TO DO
comprised with a hoop not two yards
across how VIDE a space should we
allow to the surrounding system of
stars, our nniverse?" How near will
be the nearest OF outlying starsf And
the answer Is sufficiently startling. n
the sun Is reckoned to be one inch
away from our earth, II Neptune IL
reckoned to be less than three feet
away from the sun, then on the aame
scale the star which lies closest OF all
outer stars In the whole universe,to us.
Alpha Centauri by name. must he
reckoned as lying at a distance OF
about three and a half miles. And be.
tween the two-nothing: at least moth.
Ing In the shape OF a star. An occa.
sional 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 Goat
here or there unseen by us. but Of
stars radiant with heat and light none
IL found In that wide area.
Astronomical writer's sometimes talk
Of stars I'm the vicinity OF the sun.
and this Is what In meant by "vicin.
ity." Think OF the distances implied
Our whole solar system is first brought
down into n small circle two yards
a~cross-every inch insthose yards stand
Ing for more than 100000 miles
and then on every side and above and
below Il an encompassing void OF
three n a half miles, every inch OF
those miles again representing more
than 90,O0o,000 miles. And hen We
come upon one cleaning star. Only
one quite so near. Another star In the
suns vicinity" known as u Cygni,
would lie at "a distance Of seven miles,
and the brilliant Sirius would be over
ten miles or. Others must be placed
at distances OF twenty miles. hfty
miles, 100 miles. II is easy to start
with a list OF these figures. II Is not
easy TO say where one should stop.
That the starry system has limits we
do not doubt, but to.dehne those limits
Ii not possible. Ontsuch a scale as Is
given above those limits certainly
would not lie within a distance Of lOO
miles nor OF 1000 miles.
~ ta haIIayal shat n.a AL s.-.