The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-08-19
EARTH NOT. alone.
Many universes Besides Our Own
in Space. !
Recent Discoveries Have GreatIy Ex.
pdnded Mankind's knowledge Of
Astronomy-Now We Know
: the "sun % Move"

~ 70 a. +"
The high priests of Babylonia and
Egypt, 5000 years and more ago, had
a considerable knowledge Of astron-
omy; but, leaving out Of question the
few thus learned In science, creation
to the anclents was three-story af-
fair, or rather two stories and a GEL
lar, the latter being the abode Of the
dead, while on the second floor, orna-
mentally bespangled with stars, dwelt
the gods. :'...=s.s u ~ a>*>
Earth, Of course, was fiat. The sun
passed across the heavens once tin ev-
cry "a hours, and, going under ap-
peared again in the east next morn
ing. There was also the moon, which
had a similar habit; and that was
about all there was Of the cosmos.
Since then our ideas on the subject
have vastly expanded, and now, in
view Of recent discoveries: they seem
destined to expand enormously beyond
anything hitherto imagined. We are
beginning to grasp the notion Of 9TH
er universes outside of our own-at
distances from our own universe we'll
nigh inconceivable., = - =;
Rev. Jasper declared that "the sun
do move" He was right, Not only
does it revolve on its own axis "a,
may be plainlyi seen by the "spots"
which travel across its disc), but It is
moving in a straight line through
space, like gigantic projectile, at a
speed Of at least5ten3 miles a second.
As it thus moves, the earth and its
sister planets, Of course, 60 with it.
Astronomers. in the course Of cen
turtles, have actually been able to OBJ
serve this movement, by the closer
gathering Of stars in the suns wake
and the widening out Of consultations
ahead Of us-just as might be noticed
of trees and houses passed OF ap-
preached in railroad train. =
All the stars are suns, most ofSthem
much bigger than our own solar lumi-
nary, and every one Of them is trav-
cling at terrific speed. The, so-called
Runaway Star (known to astronomers
as 1880 Groombridge) is going%at a
rate Of 200 miles a second. What
imaginable power could have set all
these suns in motion? And why are
they all travelling in different sdirec-
tons, apparently? Our own seeming
destination is the constellation 5Lyra.
1t is now thought probable that our
universe, which we. call $the Milky
Way 1--WE seem to be not far from the
center of it, is in reality vastfspiral
in form, and that this spiral As re-
volving, SO to speak, in its Ow lane.
Assuming this to be true, the straight
line in which our sun appears to travL
ell is actually "a curve. Ii i. 4; R$f$sIs 49,
What has led to this BELIEF III OBJ
servation Of other spirals which are
now thought to be distant uniyerses,
many of them so far away that light
from them, travelling 10000 miles a
second, takes something like 10000
600 years to reach us. Their form
plainly shows that they are revuaving.
Everything in the cosmos se3rhs- to
go round and round. The moon tray
els around the earth, the earth arOund
the sun; and presumably the l1n Is
following an orbit about some center,
whether giant sun or merely point
in space. Our universe III the theory
above outlined be accepted) iskwhirl-
ing. Probably, as it whirls, it II max
ing a journey of its own about some
center, perhaps in concert with other
universes. -, - A.
Space being infinite in extent It is,
when one comes to think Of it., absurd
for US to imagine that ours is the only
universe. z
We shall never know. But at least
we may claim that our ideas On the
subject Of creation are expanding
Kansas City Star. ~. IT,
Women War Workers in Waxvvorks.
London is collecting in photographs
and wax figures a complete record OF