A CELESTIAL PROCESSION

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 709, 7 January 1910, Page 6

A CELESTIAL PROCESSION

'.A 1 most fascinating discovery has ,just been made 'by Professor' -. Boss regarding a;moving, cluster,.-of"thirty-nine, stars' : n the constellation Tafus (the, Bull). These stars represent literally a "flight .of suns,'-: all drifting in the same direction, with an averag 9, velocity of about twentyfive miles a .second. '■■;: There are stars "marching in. widely extended -ranks, by a concerted :plan, along' a .-prescribed track, ■ under, orders sealed ■' perhaps for-ever-to human' intelligence." 'They .are. all urging their way' onward -through, the star. ;depths with,:,a.-:.Velocity-compared with which: the swiftest motions known to .us are as;, absolute -rest. . .'■•■'-' ,-',:; •, • Each: star v in ; the celestial march is a glowing: .mass of. gas;: thousands of times -larger than: the globe on whielv- we live. They: may; even rival our, bright, day star the .sun-, in; all ~its. majesty.: and. glory,' as the sun exceeds the earth'. Each star in the celestial procession may be pouring forth r supplies • of-"heat .and -light /'and swaying by its attraction the' motions of attendant: earths', like "our own: ■•' /The fact that these stars' are: constantly urging-'.tbeir. way -through, the heavens, leads us. to: a consideration of: what has been termed, star drift. -Everv s J aT . j, s in motion;, for • the so-called. "fixed -. stars"; long- ago,. broke '■ away:.. from their moorings and bekan : to flit' at ■ large through space.,-.' It, -is 'a ■ slow- star - that moves, at ..the fate of only a: mile :"osec°nd» the average speed' being ten miles." At this rate,,, a star .traverses more' than three -hundred: and.'.fifteen -million miles a year. The stars are travelling forever on a, journey, of- which-we:know-neither the - beginning or -. the : end. ."As the" as-: tronomer, poet of. Persia, expresses it:— "There -was the Door to .which ' T found no '■-vkey;. ~ -\. ■: ■;>;'■ ','.,...;: ■::■■■■'.■ :\ .There ;was; the - Veil ■■ through 'which' I :'might not see.'.;-:-' ' - •'.