The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1921-12-02

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington, D.. CO
Man takes many trips on the face
OF the globe; it might be well for him
to soar beyond the clouds to observe
the time table and routes of the
spheres and note the relation of his
earth to the celestial scheme Of things.
When a mighty storm sweeps over
the ocean,, when a great war devas-
tates a continent, when a Katmai
blows off her head, when an earth
quake destroys a pspulOus city, men
stand overwhelmed and awed at the
spectacle.
But how little and insignificant are
such forces, measured by the majestic
might of the earth as 1t sweeps on
It's course around the sun
An eminent physicist has estimated
that the power developed by a million
Niagaras in a million years would not
equal the energy expended by the
earth in a single second as 1t circles
round the sun.
And yet so perfect is the mechanism
that, flying around It's axis at an
equatorial speed Of more than
1000 miles an hour, and around its
orbit at more than LOO miles a min
ute, all the mundane influences Of
which astronomers know could not
change the length Of It's day as much
as a second In 100000 years.
pVtf rs cnnn OK nnn t.nnkG nIIf into
space with the eye Of the astronomer,
there comes the discovery that In all
It's seeming greatness the earth Is so
small that even a telescope 10000
times as powerful as the strongest in
strument nov In existence would not
reveal IL to an astronomer on any
fixed star.
Compared with the sun, our planets
insignifcance becomes evident. More
than 100000 spheres like our would
be needed to make a bulk equal to-
that of a single SUM-.
HerscheI's Picture of Solar System.
Perhaps our most graphic picture Of
the solar system is given by Herschel.
Imagine a circular field two and a half
miles in diameter; place a library
globe two feet in diameter in the very
center, 50 feet away put a mustard
seed. The globe Will represent the
sun and the mustard seed Mercury.
At a distance Of I42 feet place a
pea, and another at 215 feet. These
will represent Venus and the earth,
both as to size and distance. A
rather large pinhead at a distance of
427 feet will speak for Mars, and q
fair-sized tangerine a quarter OF q
mile distant will stand for Jupiter. A
small lemon at twe-fifths of a mile
will play the role of Saturn, a large
cherry tree three-fourths Of a mile will
answer for Uranus, and q fair-sized
plum at the very edge Of the field
will proclaim Neptune.
Whether studied as the head OF the
planetary family to which the earth
belongs. or whether as an average
member of the great household Of suns
that dwell In the distant skies, Ole
Sol has many thrills for the student.
To the inhabitants Of the earth the
fact that he shines Is the most impor
tant physical consideration In lire
From him we derive warmth, Hgh
and power; without him the ocean!
and even the afr itself would freeze
and, Of course, under such conditions
life would be impossible.
While the stars appear to us abou
as much like the sun as the 1refiie
of a summer night, yet the patient In
vestigations of astronomers show no
only that the sun Is q star, but tina
II Is by no means either the largest o
brightest Of the celestial family. A
sured that 1t Is a star and KNOWN
that the next nearest n Is 10000
times rs far away, astronomers &C
dressed themselves to the task o
learning about the other stars b
studying our own. They found tina
there are some like it, giving out tn
same kind Of light, though most q
them send us, through the spectrum
messages that tell quite differer
stories.
All In a Vast Migration.
When we consider the solar systel
with It's great sun, Its eight planet
and their q moons. and it's o aste
oids-as occupying an area whose d
ameter Is nearly 6.0O0, 100000 mile
(some 6,OOO,0O0 times as far as fro
New York t o Chicago), 1t Is amazir
! to think that there may be millions
other solar systems as large or larg'
than our own, comparatively close
us as star distances GO. though SO r
mote that their planets could not
seen by the astronomers Of the cart