McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1916-03-10
NEW YORK
LETTER
EDITOR INDEPENDENT:


EDITOR INDEPENDENT:
In a recent communication | spoke
Of the immensity of the visible uni.
verse, as revealed by modern science
No article could give more than q
hint of what has been done by workers
in astronomy. 1t is sufficient to say
that their work. carried on at many
stations in different countries, yields
results tallying so closely that there
is practically no doubt as to their cor.
rectness.
The most powerful Of modern tele.
scopes are great tubes, a couple Of
hundred feet long, and about six feet
in diameter, lying fiat in the building,
as it would be impossible to mount
such tube as the ordinary instru-
ments are arranged. The light Of
the star or portion of the heavens to
be studied is reflected through tubes
area highly polished mirror which
moves SO as to keep up with the ce.
lestial motion, and thus it's object can
be studied through the great lenses
placed in the horizonta! tube. Photo
graphs are taken with these instru-
ments, and these. when again
magDifed, show stars that were
invisible before. Double stars, one
waltzing around the other. have been
discovered in large number. and there
are some whose suddenly varying
lights give rise to all sorts Of theories
as to what they are doing. There
are also dark stars, or suns, whose
fires went out ages and ages ago. and
whose cold orbs are now wandering
in space like derelict ships on the
ocean. Some of them are millions Of
miles across, but their presence is
made known only by the attraction
which their mass exerts upon other
heavenly bodies.
You may ask how astronomers
learn the distances Of these stars from
our earth. This is very technical
matter, much beyond my own UNDER
standing, but rough outline Of the
method is this: An observation Of
the star is taken, say January l, and
its exact place in the heavens is noted.
Six months latsr, July l, another OBJ
servation Of the same star is made.
At that time the earth is 1876, ,000, 900
Of miles from where it was six months
before. Note is made of the inclina-
ton Of those two lines Of observation
toward oach other, so as to figure
out how far they would have to ex-
tend into space before they came
together. This is called the parallax.
For q long time it was impossible to
work this method on the fixed stars.
although it was easy enough with the
planets Of our own system. In that
way, also, the diameter Of the star or
planet was determined. To give some
notion Of the degree Of skill with
which these observations are made, it
is enough to say that the two moons
Of Mars, only about seven miles in
diameter, discovered by Professor
Hall, at a distance Of ITO millions Of
miles, are like apples seen on a tree
in Chicago by an observer in New
York.
II the millions Of suns now visible
to US. and the far greater number
which exist that We have not seen
and never will see, are each surround
ed by worlds like our own solar sys-
TEN, the thought rises: What is this
earth and its sorrows and sins, its joys
and virtues, compared with that num-
berless host beyond, and why should
a Redeemer have been sent to our
little speck in the sky by the Maker
of all, and that Redeemer the only
son Of that Maker? The answer Of
some wise men to this is, that our
earth is the only one in the universe
that is cursed with sin; that every.
thing else moves in perfect accord
and harmony with the Divine will. 1t
is certainly true that sin itself is mis-
directed energy and opposition to
order, and no one can look at the
magnificent movements of the heaven
ly machinery without being impressed
with its perfect order and harmony
with the Almighty power. which made
and keeps it all. So it seems that
man, supposedly the wisest, is also
L