Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-22
MILKY WAY Constitutes
SKELETON OF NEBuLAE.
Jarrett II. Scrviss Declares We Arc
Living in Cloud OF the
Universe.
NEW ASTRONOMIC
THEORY
AT Least 10000 Spiral Ncbuloc
Hisibly Surround Our Particular
Universe OF Stars, and Ench APP
pears to BE Of Universe Itself.

pears to BE Of Universe Itself.
mere Is growing disposition among
astronomers TO look with favor unn,
."e theory that the spirii ncbulae are
outer univcrscs," t. e. cvste,ps com.
posed OF stars and other celestial hodics
lying outside of our own similar svy-
tenn. TX this be true those STRANGE
looking nebulae the most cxtraorli-
nary objects that the tclescop. show,
are Tor us like mirror imaues of orr
own particular universe. OF which the
Milky Way constitutes the anatornic,,
plan. or skeleton.
1t is reckoncd that there arc nor
1eSs than 10000 OF these fantastic
forms scattered around the limits of our
stellar system. within reach OF the
modern Photographic telescope. Words
cannot depict the wonderful apuear-
"hGe mat most of them present 4
a o'iecti3n OF photographs Of them looks
through an o!d-timc Fourth-of-July
nlsht celebration. filled with whizzIus
tocheis ana spinning coils OF fire or
hiCher hight, your Imagination
.na! see IN them the phOsvhurcsccut
Mraiths OF Archmedcan spirais yvhir,iu,
dream. e'"!t
oossEScs are AS thick in space as butter.
m.ea around Il summer pool! Fling our
nacal cnc!rCluing Galaxy. the vast star
kcnmcd baldiic Of the Zodiac and an
the mighty constcllaiIous fro,, ori,,n
an round the sphere back TO Oriou
"nd ms daunt!css Iiound'--Niug them
, INTO the outer abyss. and they would
appear on some celestial photorrapn
oniy as another spiral ncbula and an
uhoo'hmonly faint one, perhaps
me ne usen to be daunted by tho i'm
,Mrhsity OF the Milky Way. Nobody
was bold enough 70 actually assign 10
the dimensions that parailax
meas urcmcnts on the nearer stars sug-
Sested But we have got over that
tiinidity now; our ideas have expandnd
ana before long We may he spcakinp
OF what we formerly called Tho Cr,I,
aSrsc. as hoppantly as We nov ,alk
oil our little sun" or our insight. cant
sonar system. The human spirit il
cQual TO anything. only give it facts
~ lam , on studies in RELATIVELY
ana the forth dimension" seem 10
more than nalf promise tina, NC may
YET corral mfinity Itself
nut let us i've up TO tho privileges
,hat are already ours and TAX. a din
ny" 70 Spatiai ocean whcr. the spiril
uhlEerses throng. First let us carry
WIN US clear notion o; the dimensions
ni our own spiril The cubic space
Included within it's boundaries has n
Itnticu!ar outline
MILKY WAY CIRCUIT
INDICATES '!IIT: SYSTEM
The circuit OF the Milky Way, sur
rounding the SKY for us indicates the
Inc pane OF the greater extension OF
NE system. The outer diameter OF the
:il!ny Way appears to be not less than
!-;Vuo light years, or say about 10000
inil!ions OF millions OF miles The
MINOR diameter of the system at RICH,
angles 10 the plane OF the Milky way,
Is probably not more than quarter
OF slrth as great az the other
NNh!n this spac" the stars are not
trif
Thcy are thicker. not merely in an
pearance hr, in fact In a kind of ring,
shown by tho Milky Way. This SPIRAL
has many divisions and branches and
arrays and pendants. like "a loosely
mace wreath Although the stars seem
10 lie In banks in the MILKY Way. vet
mat Is an effect OF pcrspcctlvc- crowd
ihE, while in fact there Is what seems
where 49,
You con see how that must he when
you reflect that the nearest star TO
our own star. which we call the sun,
Is Is at !east twenty-five millions of-mil-
Il"hs or miles away and that even in
me apparently most thiChiy packed
siar-ciustcrs the individual oybs are
billions of miles apart
IMAGINE OURSELVES
OUTSIDE or SYSTEM
IL now We Imagine ourselves TO 20
outside our system, far beyond the
greatest extension or the Milky Way
we snhIi ilnd ourselves in AN incom-
parabIY vaster region Of space, where
the waste seems greater than within
our system. The scattered "outcr uni
verses. l. g. the spiral nebulae are
so widely separated that there are left
between them gaps enormously greater
IN diameter than the longest axis OF
the MILKY Way.
There is one OF these spirals whose
distance has been calculated at not
less than $4,000 light years, while. az
we nave Just seen, the greatest extent
OF our system. measured by the diam
eier OF the Milky Way. is only 10000
HGht years Even more stupendous
abysSes OF apparent emptiness yawn
between the outer spirals
These objects are so unthinkably go
mote that IL seems Incredible that we
should be able TO study their internal
motions and constitution. But photog-
raphy and spcctroscopy have detected
the fact that the spiral nchulae are.
AT least in many cases. at an earlier
stage OF development than that reach { d
by our system: that they contain more
and greater masses OF gaseous ncbulae:
that more new stars are born in them
and that they are in very rapid motion
both OF translation through space, and
OF rotation around their own axes
Some OF them travel at the rate of
600 TO 700 miles per second and whirl
with speed which. at Il long distance
from their centers. amounts TO as
much as 30 miles per second
O.