The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-09-30

this month by the favorable observa-
tional position Of the Milky Way
or Galaxy. At map-time 1t streatches
from the northeastern to the south
western horizon right through the
zenith. Almost overhead Is the bright
star Deneb, in the constellation Of
Cygnus the Swan, which lies en-
tirely within the Milky Way. To the
unaided eye the Milky Way looks
like q continuous, dimly Illuminated
path Of very irregular shape, which
passes entirely around the heavens;
but, Of course, 1t is really made up
of millions on millions Of stars, the
great majority Of which are very
faint to us and which are so close
! ly packed that they give to the eye
the effect Of continuity. A telescope
Is required to reveal the true struc-
ture Of the Milky Way and to note
the masses Of nebulosity or cloudlike
material which are found In copious
quantities In the same region Of the
sky.
The stars themselves are in many
instances of great brightness, many
times greater than the sun and the
majority Of the stars must undoubt-
eddy be larger than our own solar
orb. Only the great distance which
separates them from us serves to
dwarf them to such an extent.
Deneb, for example, which looms so
brightly against the background of
the Milky Way Is only about six
hundred and fifty light-years away.
Compared to the stars Of the Milky
Way, 1t is quite close.
Astronomers are in agreement
that the Milky Way gives us a
clue to. the shape and dimensions
Of the island" universe of stars to
which the sun and its planetary sys-
tenn belong. It is a fiattened lens
shaped collection Of stars which Is
seve- Il times greater along its long
diameter than in thickness. An OBJ
server standing at the center of
such q space, even II the stars were
uniformly distributed throughout its
extent, would see many more stars
along the long dimensions and they
would naturally appear much more
closely packed in the sky. AS a
matter Of fact, the stars of our mi
verse are by no means uniformly
/ spread through its space but show
distinct crowding down toward the
central plane Of the lens-shaped
space. In many places the Mill'y
Way shows dark patches almost en-
tirely devoid Of stars and there is
also q very prominent and easily
III txsf~f ssskA Ann
parent laner which starts in Cygnus
and runs for a considerable distance |
toward the south. Such areas Of APP
parent absence Of stars are now ex-
planned as due to a comparatively |
dense, light-absorbing and dark |
medium lying between us and the |
starry background. It is undoubted- |
" gaseous, that is. nebulous. in form |
! and for some as yet indefinite rea-
son is not excited to the emission !
II light. Within the region Of the !
milky Way there is also a tre-
mendous amount Of bright nebulous |
material
Although one cannot speak def
initely of such q thing as the dis |
lance OF the Milky Way from us.
because Of its nature as explained
above, the longer diameter Of the |
galaxy Is probably not less than |
two hundred and nifty thousand
light-years in extent. Some esti-
mates Of the total mass Of matter
belonging to this system would dou-
BILE this figure. The sun and the
earth are not at the center but
some fifty thousand light-years from
the center in the direction Of the
constellation 6agittarius. Estimates
Of the total number Of stars with
In the galactic system run rs high
as one hundred billion. This would
include Q guess az the great NUM-
Der OF stars which are hidden from
our view b. the dark nebulous
clouds Of matters: the number az