Evening star., 1951-07-02
NebuIue Are Filmed
At Enormous Distances
Objects Outside Milky Way
Seem to Be Moving Away
By Thomos R. Henry


Man has penetrated 1000, 900. .o00,-
100000 100000 miles into outer space.
This is the greatest distance observed
to date with the 200-inch telescope on
Mt. Palomar, California, with which
the f1rst observations were made about
two years ago. according to sp an
nouncement from the California Insti-
tute Of Technology. joint operator Of
the great observatory.
The object photographed at this vast
distance from the earth is a group Of
nebulae in the general direction Of the
constellation Of Hydra in the southern
heavens. The light has been on its way
for more than 100000. 900 years, moving
at speed Of about 10000 miles
second.
The object is a cluster Of "universes,"
each roughly as large as the entire
Milky Way system which consists Of
millions of stars Of which the sun is
q fairly typical example. This galaxy
itself Is one Of q group OF seven or
eight, most Of which are somewhat
smaller.
Short Of Ultimate Range.
This is considerably short Of the ulti-
mate range at which it Is expected to
ind objects in space. The work is in
line with the present aim to establish
a new and more accurate scale OF dis
tances in the universe. sky survey
Is being made in cooperation with
the National Geographic Society.
Most significant finding is that the
mysterious "red shift" continues to hold
at this distance
This still confounds astronomers. OBJ
jects in space outside the Milky Way
Galaxy appear" to be moving away
from the observer at speed which In
creases with distance at q rate OF about
100 miles per second for each million
light years. That is. an object whose
light required two million years to reach
the earth would be moving away from
the earth's position in space at twice
the speed OF an object a million light
years away.
The Hydra constellation. for example,
Is moving outward at a speed Of about
$4,000 miles second, or about seventh
the speed Of light. That, at least, was
what it was doing $50 million years ago.
BY this time it is probably about 10000
600 light years deeper into space.
No Explanation Seen Possible.
This increasing speed Of recession with
distance Is an outstanding conundrum of
the universe for which no entirely salts
factory explanation appears possible. It
may be some sort of illusion. It NAV be
that the speed Of light changes with
distance
q H4
cept the explanation that the phenorn-
enon means just what 1t seems to mean
that Creation is expanding and that
the rate Of this expansion Is greatest at
greatest distances from the center of
things. assuming that such q center
exists and Is not anywhere an observer
happens to be stationed.
The new observations show that the
law holds for so per cent greater dis
tance than had been penetrated before
and 1t may be assumed that 1t will mold
as far as space extends
This. Of course, raises the entirely
metaphysical question of infinity-where
time and space are bounded or limit
less-and to this question there never
can be any real answer
May Match Speed Of Light.
Eventually. it might be assumed from
the red shift law. the speed Of recession
OF galaxies will reach 1876, 900 miles a
second, or the speed Of light. This pre-
sumably is the absolute limit Of speed
IN Creation and would. Of course. be i'm
possible ever to observe.
Closely associated with the new OBJ
servations are theories as to the age Of
the universe. 1t now Is generally ac-
cepted as about 1000 ,00o, 900 years-not
much greater than the age Of the Oldest
rocks on the surface of the earth. A
change Of the red shift with distance
would indicate greater age. The time
span OF existence hardly could be re-
duced.
Once the red shift of an object Is
measured. assuming the law to mold true
universally. it is possible TO determine
the distance with considerable accuracy.