Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1915-10-26
A peep into SPACE.
Can the Finite Mind Of Man
Measure the Universe?
THE LIMITS OF THE VISIBLE.


Science Says the Bounds of the Stella
System Are Defnable and That tn
Universe Is as an Island of Stars Il
an Infinite Ocean Of Ether.
To the visible universe there are at
cainable limits. 1t may be that tn,
greatest telescopes have not yet reach
ed the bottom. or the boundaries. o.
the entire system, but they have al
most done So
This is shown by the thinning out oi
the fainter stars. These stars, as 8
whole, are the most distant, and If they
were unlimited numerically every In
crease In the penetrating power OF
telescopes would bring previously un.
seen ones into view. in proportionately
undiminished numbers.
AS fact, however, there is rapid
falling off in the proportionate num-
bers at great distances. This is shown
by Kapteyn's Flaw of star density"
Taking the "parsec" as the unit Of
measurement Ia parsec is equal to
nineteen million million niles, the
density Of the stars at increasing dis
tances comes out as follows: At 0 dis
tance, LOO; at so parsecs, 900; at 1856
parsecs. O.S6; at 213 parsecs, OCT; at
$40 parsecs, 0.30; at $50 parseis, O.15.
This does not mean that the absolute
number of stars decreases with increase
of distance, but that the ratio of their
number to the volume Of space occu-
pied decreases in the proportion shown,
30 that at distance of $50 parsecs
there are only Is per cent as many
stars as there should be If there had
been no falling off in relative density.
Various counts and estimates Of the
actual numbers included within various
limiting distances have been made, and
these show that the total number of
stars in the visible universe is numer-
able and probably does not exceed
thousand millions at an outside esti-
mate.
The fact that fairly definite shape
or outline has been found for the visl-
Bile universe is In itself a proof that
1t is not unlimited in extent. We are
virtually certain that 1t expands around
us in such a manner as to assume
the form of fiat, irregular
disk. the more distant parts or edges
Of which lie in the plane of the Milky
way. 1t is thus like floating island of
stars in the ocean of space.
Space itself may be infinite, although
what we call the universe is not. AS
to other universes existing beyond the
limits of ours and invisible to us, that |
g purely speculation. which appears
more or less probable according to the |
manner in which ones mind approach
IS it.
But. at any rate. there is no positive
violence of the existence Of such outer
tar systems. From time to time one
Iears suggestions that this or that neb-
LA is an ''outside universe" dimly
Inning to us from its millions of
rowded stars across immeasurable
racts of intervening space. But it is
ar more probable that no nebula or
ther object visible In the mightiest
elescope is unconnected with the uni
erse to which our sun and our earth
elong.
AS to the continuance of the Crea.
prs work in forming new suns and
ew planets. of that there can be no
uestion. This work is. in truth, visi-
ly going on before us in the heavens.
here is the utmost variety of ages
mong the stars. just as there is
mong the human beings in a crowd.
our lives were heightened so that a
ear would be but as second to us
e should see the stars around us dis
)pearing and new ones springing into
as we see flowers fading
I'd fresh ones blooming in the garden,
To return for a moment to the aues-
On Of the infinitude of space, it is
ell known that the human mind can :
It conceive limit to space. for the :
stant you attempt to fix or imagine {
ch limit your Imagination flies be- I
nd It, You have got to think of an e
tside as well as of an inside. G
And If you fly to another imagined
undary instantly another outside ex-
nse stretches away before you! It
then, perfectly legitimate to sup v
Sc that. while the visible universe Y
limited, the invisible universe has d
bounds. In comparison with that, b
that we see. or can ever see, is. b
lily, infinitely less than as a grain
sand to a desert or drop of water (,
an ocean.-Garrett P. Serviss in
W York Journal. II
Accurate information.