TIME AND SPACE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 63, 15 March 1934, Page 17

TIME AND SPACE

AN ASTRONOMER EXPLAINS

Time—apparently relentless arbiter of human measurements and duration— is itself actually the plaything of planetary movements and positions, according to Di. Hailow Shapley, director of the Harvaid College Obscivatory, who won the 1934 medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of England, states the "Christian Science Monitoi." / "If the earth weie moonless, kept the same face always towaids the sun, as does Mercury, and had its polar axis peipendicular to its orbit, we would not have days, oi months, or seasons, and we would be practically unconscious of yeais," Dr. Shapley asserted in the thiid annual James Arthur lecture at Gold Memorial Libiary, New York Umveisity. - Explaining that it is the rotation of the eaith which dominates the terrestrial time concept, Dr. Shapley declared that the tact that the globe spins on an axis conditions, not only the subdivisions of time, but also the flow of time dnd tho complicated social and cconojriic life that runs on daily schedule. Should the conditions of the eauth be Jeananged as ho* previously explained "the philosophy of, time would be unrecognisable, he added. ' "The lelativistic umveise, our intuitive conception of time, is purely a local affair," he continued. "Time on Jupiter or on Arctuius or on tho speeding galaxies would involve quite other dissections of the space time continuum, but in speaking of the lifetime of a galaxy, we agreo to use our naive, local, intuitive time, and intrudo our local units of days and yeaia into the discussion ot galactic history." t ,- ' Readings fiorn the Bonk of Stars which is already inscribed—-although as yet only partly deciphered—m light waves that started on their way more than 1,000,000 years ago and aie now within our own, galactic pystem show that tho' universe is '| lopsided," with 50 per cent, moie galaxies oji the north than on the »outh s.ide, on which tho earth is located, Dr. Shapley said. "All that we ,shall ever know, or that our descendants will know during the next 2000 or 3000 years, concerning these millions of oxternal galaxies is already written*out in the light waves that aro now within our own galactic system," he declared, "With the-Har-vard telescopes, we shall make within the next year 1000 photographs of external galaxies, which aro at distances of more than 1,000,000 light years; but thoso photographs will be made by the flux of eneigy—light—that is- already far this side of our nearest star. <' v "lt appears th,at our 'own galactic system' is a member of a small group, all' members within 1,000,000 light years of our galactic centre. But the most important of the new results on met^igalactio structure is the increasing cvi dence that theie is a measuiable donsity gradient in this part of the universe—that is an' indication that galaxies become move frequent in number as the suivey^ goes fiom the south side to the north side of bur galactic system. '<At a distance of some 70,000,000 light yeai s the frequency is, 50 per cent, higher in the north than in the south; but Dr, Edin P. Hubble's recent-ly-published investigations show that that the equality in density is restored at a. distance of 200,000,000 light years.' ".This result^se^ms a, clustering b'f* galaxies oh a larger scale £h"an heretofore recognised, but much fur-' r ther work t will, be necessary, and literally hundreds*-* of. r thousands' '6£ new galaxies will be catalogued and studied \>ofore«wo can com© to definite quantitative conclusions concerning the motajgalaptie^gradient;.", ,-^ y v I * ANOTHER j»Bo^V ACHIEVEThßibiggßst'*pn"otoKrapbio triumph of the year^MThjK^Priyate Life of Henry Vlll"—was jja^ia England by London FDm Productions and photographed .throughout pn^Agfa" negative film, photographic dealer can' supply ,the same superb 'quality in "Agfa" rollfijms, for and insist upon 'fAgfa."—Advt.