The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-03-15
BY David Dietz
NEA Serrice Writer

MT. WILSON, Cal, March 10
Our universe is only one Of many
existing in the vast stretches of
space.
There are million universes with
in the range of the great 1000-inch
telescope here at the Mt. Wilson OBJ
servatory, the largest telescope in
the world.
1t is impossible to tell how many
universes would come within the
range of an even larger telescope.
It may be that the number of
untverses in existence is infinite,
literally stretching out through space
forever.
The largest of these. universes
measured so far is about one-seventh
the size of the universe in which
our sun and earth are situated.
But there is no reason for supposing
that this is the largest one.
May Be Larger Universes
There may be universes out il
space as large as our own ana even
larger.
These facts, the most amazing
which have been brought to light in
modern astronomy, were unearthed
by DR.. Edwin Hubble, a member Of
the Mt. Wilson staff.
OF course there had been prelim-
mary work in this direction. But
il remained for DR.. Hubble to cllnch
the matter by direct observation.
The stars which shine in the
heavens constitute our universe. At
first astronomers thought this was
all that existed. But later they
found that the stars constituted a
system confined to certain portion
Of space, while other objects lay
far out in space beyond this sys-
lem or universe of ours.
These objects are the so-called
spiral nebulae. They are invisible
20 the naked eye, but in the tele-
scope look like whirling spirals of
luminous cloud-like material.
Proving the SpeculatiOns
There was much speculation about
their nature. Finally some astrono-
ners suggested that these nebulae
might be other universes of stars
which were so far away that they
appeared to be condensed into lu-
minous cloud-like stuff.
Now DIR. Hubble has proved that
that is actually the case!
He turned the big 100-inch tele-
scope on the outer portions of the
nearest of these spirals and took
photographs with exposures Of sew.
eral hours. The resulting photo.
graphs showed that the outer arms
of the spiral were actually composed
of stars.
The 100-inch telescope differs from
the more familiar sort of telescope
in that it has mirror at the bot.
tom of the tube instead of a lens
at the top. The observer, instead
Of looking into an eyepiece at the
bottom Of the tube, looks into an
eyepiece set in the side Of the tube
at it's top.
This mirror weighs four and a
half tons. 1t is set at the bottom
of a forty-five-foot open-work tube
of steel. The tubs, mirror and other
parts which have to be 4noved as
the telescope is used, weigh 100 tons
The telescope stands in the center
Of a great dome which is 100 feet
high. The observer stands on a
platform which is hung from the
top of the dome. Motors move this
platform, so that when the telescope
is pointed at an object, the platform
can be brought alongside the tele
scopes top to permit the observer
to look into the eyepiece.
And so, as the motors pointed the
great telescope and moved the plat
form across the great dome, DR.
Hubble discussed these distant uni
verses.
1.-The nearest of these universes is
hundreds of thousands Of light years
away" he said THAT is, they are
so far away that it takes the light
from them hundreds of thousands
of years to reach us. The speed OF
light is 10000 miles per second.