San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-06

ly for mans benefit to light him on his
way by night as did the sun by day. 1t
was belief very satisfying to mans van
ity, and he chung to it tenaciously down
through the ages. 1t was not until less
than three centuries ago that the vast
majority of intelligent men freed them
selves from these geocentric views of the.
universe and began to appreciate the true
place of the earth in the great plan of
creation. No thinking man today can
possibly believe that the earth is flat and
the center Of creation, and yet the belief
in literal creation of the heavens 5000
years ago still persists in the minds Of a
considerable number of otherwise intelli-
gent men, although for absurdity this idea
is fit to be classed with the belief in a
flat earth placed at the center of the uni
verse.
Although the old Ptolemaic theory of
geocentric universe was abandoned less
than three centuries ago, little was known
OF the form of the universe or the distances
of the stars until well into the nineteenth
century. For lack Of any evidence to the
clined to believe that all stars were equally
distant from the earth.
All efforts to measure the distance of
the stars failed until the year 1888, when
the astronomer Bessel finally succeeded in
measuring the distance of the faint star
81 Cygni by the same method of TRAN
gulation that is used by surveyors in de-
termning the distance between inaccess-
ible points on the earth surface. The base
line used in these measurements was the
diameter Of the earth's orbit. or 10000
900 miles, and 80 distant were the stars
finally found to be and so minute the
angles TO be measured that only the dis
lance Of the nearest stars could be found
by this slow and laborious method. To-
day. with the aid Of such modern acCcs-
sorics to powerful telescopes as spectre
scopes. inteTferometers and delicate heat
measuring devices. the astronomer knOwl-
edge of the nature Of the stars and their
distances from the earth is increasing by
leaps and bounds.
A hundred years ago the astronomer did
not know the distance Of single star
Today the distances Of objects in the
heavens have been determined that are 50
far from the earth that their light takcs
hundreds thousands. even hundreds Of
thousands Of years. to pass over the dis
idllGt LildA &c PAL dbNi hlIfll lIDlII AN
When the astronomer began 10 measure
the distances Of the stars he soon found
that all former units Of measurement were
hOpelessly inadequate. To give the dis
tances Of the stars from the earth in miles
was like giving the distance from New
York TO San Francisco in inches. So the
light year came into use. This is simply
the distance that light travels in q year
at its finite but Tremendously great speed
Of 10000 miles per second And il is
the light-year when applied to measuring
the distances Of the more distant objects
IT. the heavens that shows US some Of the
absurdities and incongruites that result
from a belief in literal creation Of the
heavens 5000 years ago.
The astronomer Of today has come TO a
realization of the fact that he is a student
Of ancient history. No object in the
heavens can be seen as il is now because
Of the finite interval Of time, small OF