WONDERS OF THE HEAVENS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 December 1919, Page 8

WONDERS OF THE HEAVENS.

AN INTERESTING LECTURE. BY SIR ROBERT STOUT. Under the auspices of'the New Plymouth Astronomical Society, Sir Robert Stout gave a lecture in the Good Templar Hall last night, entitled "The Wonders of the Heavens." Mr. S. Percy Smith, president of the Society, occupied the chair. There was only a small attendance.

Tiie chairman, in introducing the speaker, expressed pleasure and gratification that Sir Robert had found time to give an address here. Mr. Smith, also made an announcement to the effect that Mr. P. O'Dea, of Hawcra, who regretted not being present, gave .111 open invitation to the members of the local society when in Hawera to visit his own private observatory. The chairman also apologised for the absence of their energetic secretary, the Rev. 0. Blnndell. He then introduced the speaker, who was well received. Sir Robejt said he desired to ppe'alc witli a view to interesting those wlio were not actually students of the subject. This is, admittedly, not an easy task, but the speaker was certainly successful in a large measure in bringing his subject down into the realm of the understanding of average intellects. At the outset, he said, the number of stars visible to the naked eve, if those in the skv of both hemispheres were observed, was from 7000 to 8000. Yet the more powerful the telescopes were made the more stars) were revealed. The most powerful telescope had found 110 place in the heavens devoid of stars. He then said he proposed to study tile heavens in four main aspects: (1) The immense distances of the universe, (2) The size of many of the stars. (3) The beauty of the heavens, and (4), Some theories of the beginning and end of the universe. Hp said that if, from the Wanganui Observatory (which was the best in New Zealaiid), a view of the Southern Cross was taken, it would he seen to be in the portion of the sky which was the richest in stars, and its beauty was most striking. Sir Robert drew attention to the brightness of the pointers of the Cross, the brightest of jvhich was named Alpha-Centauri and was reallv a double star. This was, as fa* as was at present known, the nearest ffiar to the earth.

THE IMMENSITY OF THE DISTANCES. The speaker gave some striking illustrations of the immensity of distances between different bodies in the universe. At the rate at which light travelled it would take one second to travel seven times round the earth. To travel from Alpha-Centauri light would take 41 years to reach the earth, so that when it was looked at only what it was like 4y, years ago was seen, and in the meantime it might have perished. Calculated on this basis this star was 25 "billion of miles from the earth. The \ lecturer illustrated this by saying that if j an object representing the sun were placed on the table and the earth were ! place a yard away from it, the comparative' distance to Alpha-Centauri would be 150 miles. That gave some idea of the distance between the earth and the nearest star. Sir Robert impressed this upon his hearers in another way by supposing that an express train were dispatched off to the sun at the rate or" CO miles an hour. It would take, he said, 175 years to reach its destination, and to reach the nearest star would occupy 40 milliort years. Some of the mure distant stars, such as Sirius. could not be reached under SO million years. As a final illustration he referred to a brilliant star which burst nut in the constellation of Perseus in IflOl, and increased so rapidly in brilliancy as to become about one-third brightest star in the sky. It then commenced to fade away. The star was so far away that what was seen, bv Dr. Anderson, of Edinburgh, actually occurred in the reign of Henry Vlll—it was trillions of miles away. !• SIZE OF THE STARS.

Sir Robert next dealt with the size.* of some of the stars. Alpha-Cenlauri was really two stars of about equal i-ize, and each was more than seven times the size of the sun we know, and they took 81 years to travel round their orbit. In comparison, with the sun the star Arcturus was about 100 times greater in diameter, so that if that star came between the earth and the sun it would almost fill the whole space. There were doubtless hundreds cf thousands of stars as large as Arcturus. Antures I in Scorpio was said to be 200 million j miles in diameter —more than twice the i distance between the earth and the sun. j The earth, relatively to the size of some ! heavenly bodies, was as a grain of sand I to the earth Sirius was about 'Ay, times larger than the sun, and about 4S times as bright. Referring to fixed stars, the lecturer said they appeared immovable, but, as a matter of fact, their movements were very rapid, and their movements were further evidence [of the immensity of the universe. Jt had been estimated thai Arcturus traI veiled at the rate of fi7o miles per second or nearly 32 and a half million miles per day. 'The lecturer referred io l.lie number of ■stars, and the valuable aid photography had been in the study of astronomy. According to a recent estimate then 1 were said to be about 21-; i million stars brighter than the twentieth magnitude, within range of a (iO-ine.h reflector, and that a 100-inch telescope would probably add 1 (X) million fainter stars, mam lying beyond the bounds of the present known universe. THE BEAUTIES OF THE HEAVENS.

The lecturer passed on to note the beauties of the heavens. Clusters of stars were of absorbing interest and caused the observer to stand and wonder, There was a surprisingly large number of these dusters. Sir Robert referred to many of these by name, and described the effects seen in observations with the ability of a keen student. The beauties of these clusters grew on the observer. There were 220 elui-ters in the Milky Way and 38 outside it. Some of the most beautiful objects were double stars.

The most striking object in the skywas perhaps the planet Saturn, with its series of rings, made up of innumerable moons, the rings being 40 -miles in depth and 40,000 miles in breadth. Sir Robert also devoted a sood portion of time to descriptions of the nebulae in some of the more important constellations. DESTINY OF THE UNIVERSE. Speaking of new stars, the lecturer said various suggestions for their advent were made, one being that two dead.sunt; might collide and so form one. new hot gaseous body or star. If that was so, he said, it might be that there Would be an endless succession of life tor »n Innff a. time that may he called

eternity. "However that might be, man's duty lay before him, which was to do the "work before hiin as well as lie could and be kind. The destiny of the universe was not in human hands. Sys-. tems were being formed, and were dying, and with the aid of the spectroscope different stages of star development could be traced. Recent scientific discoveries in physics and chemistry had altered our conceptions of matter and life, and in view of them there should be hesitation in speaking either of the beginning or the end of the universe. He doubted if it was possible to conceive a time when the universe was not, or a time when it would cease to lie. The discovery of radium had increased the appreciation of' the potentialities and powers of the universe of which a few vears ago nothing was known. The proper attitude should be that of the patient observer, remembering that human knowledge was limited and that-the brightest intellects of men could have but a poor conception o[ the universe. AN UP-LIFTING STUDY.

In conclusion, Sir Robert said some people held that, astronomy left no place for Deity, but he doubted if a man's religion was changed by his study of astronomy. An old philosopher had said that the eve sees what the eye is prepared to see, and men would read their creed into the stars. He knew of no study so glorious, so up-lift-ing, or. so impressive as astronomy. A man became imbued with ideals that must be of immense service to him in his pilgrimage through life. High ideals in life were needed by men. But whether the stars were an ethical help or not they would ever brighten the imagination and develop the aesthetic and artistic senses.

At the conclusion of the address there was a hearty sound of applause, which was repeated when Mr. M. Praser proposed a vote of thanks to the lecturer for his interesting and instructive address.