Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-07-20
SECRETS OF SPACE
What MIGHT Be Revealed u Ma
ture Lifted the Veil.
WONDERS or THE INVISIBLE.

EvIdsnes That What We Call the Uni.
verse 10 Only . Part Of . Far orsndsv
and Perhaps InfInits System Of Suns
and Worlds and pIansts.
Men of science have found reasons
for believing that there may be, far
or In innnite space. other material
systems besides the one visible to Us
We seem to bc able with modern tele-
scopes 10 reach the boundaries or
farthest limits OF the stellar system
TO which our sun belongs.
II n found that with increase OF Dis.
lance tho relative number Of stars do.
creases until. In most directions at
least, q point IL reached beyond which
virtually no more stars can be seen.
Then. too. II has been found that the
stellar system has a fairly definite
shape-a fact which In itself implies
boundaries. The shape is that Of q
vast spiral. with curving arms sur
rounding Q central agglomeration. II
you will imagine floating In the middle
Of tho room where you sit roughly
globular swarm Of bright particles.
distributed with n fair degree Of uni.
formity no to distance from one an.
other. and then outside Of the swarm
surrounding II. but separated from II
by space which IL nearly but not
quito empty, an irregular spiral ring
Of similar shining particles. you will
have before you picture Of one Of
the latest astronomical conceptions Of
the form Of the visible universe
The central swarm win represent the
assemblage OF stars Of which our sun
y a modest member. while the envel-
oping spiral win represent the i'm.
mense system Of the Milky way. whose
stars are yasty more numerous than
those composing the .globuiar swarm.
Tho stars of the Milky way are the
most distant members Of the entire
system. which appears to be shut In
all around by black space. Viewed
from afar or In the ebon depths OF
that space. this universe Of ours would
resemble phosphorescent Jeilynsh,
with family sparkling tentacles. nfioat
In the sea Of immensely.
This being 80. the question naturally
arises. May there not be. or must there
not be. an indefinite number of other
such systems scattered through the
limitless expanse Of spacei That Ques.
tion would forever remain a matter Of
pure conjecture IL we did not have Ger.
tain very suggestive facts which seem
TO indicate that It ought to be an.
swered In the Affirmative
The facts Of which ! speak are oh.
jects Of visual observation. But that
does not necessarily make them parts
Of the visible universe" because they
appear 10 be unconnected with It and
10 lie beyond its boundaries.
These objects are known a. spiral
nebulae. The photographs that have
been made Of them In the past few
years are simply amazing. The forms
Of many are surprisingly like that
which has been described above as
characteriring the stellar system. They
have central agglomerations with en-.
veloping spirals. They have knots Of
light which recall the globular clusters
Of stars found In the visible universe,
but they are 30 distant that no sepa.
rate stars can be detected In them.
They look like masses Of more or less
condensed glowing gas. but the spec.
troscope shows that the light coming
from them Is not that which Is charac.
teristic Of gaseous nebuiae. but that
which belongs to true stars. The iniiu.
ence is that these wonderful objects
may actually be other universes lying
out In the ocean Of space beyond our
shores.
This inference is strengthened by
what we know Of the distance Of some
Of these objects. The utmost diameter
OF the great spiral Of the Milky way
probably does not exceed from 1000 to
1000 "parsecs." or from 800 to 100
million times the earths distance from
the sun. A parsec. which corresponds to
. parallax OF one second Of arc. equals
about 10000. .0o1000. 900 ,nipeteen tril.
lion) miles. But some or the spiral
nebulae appear to be at least 10000
parsecs distant, .E
III that n NO there existn hetveen
them and the outer frontiers Of the Wis.
ible universe III gap far broader than
the entire diameter Of that universe. II
can hardly be eisupposed. then. that they
are outlying parts OF or attendants
upon our universe, but It's much more
reasonable to conclude that they are
other universes constructed on a slmi
lar plan, but 10 far away that as view.
Cd with our utmost visual powers, our
mightiest telescopes. they are but
cleaning specks, Perhaps the nearest
OF these strange objects IL the Androm
eda nebula. which. In a small tele.
scope, looks like faint spindle shaped
wisp.-Garrett p Scrviss In New York
Journal ,.n
Vengeance on the caddle, q
what! Buying more golf clubsf 1
thought you had a pretty complete out
AZ before" v
II have, but that caddle Of mine had
A.