The Eternity Of Distance

sr Rob't. lia 1. oí royal lostitute mu Su 1 11 tii.i aíternoon, dellvered t-he !ast oí h:s le ".iiii-s on astronomy. He tdi.k íor lis subject '"The Stara," be b b.1 -ii. thougu ap-pearing -.1 smal] Id es. i. of thefr Imiii n -! ili.-t : 1 1 1 e. are, n reallcy, goeai and .iKifuiii .-.un-. If, lie s:iii!. we were ni es nape from Ui-1 eturl b Itito spaee, tiic moon, .1 u j ; í ; i ei-, s.-ituii!. ;i mi Sventtually sum would : ■ ■ :i . Invisible; ar as n e are trom Vbe b1 ars, bey BtlU Blv.as liriulitly to as. Many o atara are UeavJcr than oar sun. For example, M'.z;n-, tlie mtddle nt;uIn li.r t.iii ol Oreat Bear, i torty times as havy as the sun. To ii' naked eye tliero atv live or sis tlumn' I i! ge hea vii'y I DdTos virihle. ín ;iil probabílllty tlnere are worl !a it-m!' fng round thera. S:ty-i, -.ir 'ynni ba the ueareel star tu '.ii iú parí oJ the sky. Mpha j Ontaurl, in the conetellation oí Centaur, In the sauthern lieinlsphere, la tb.' néare! ol all the stars. The sun le o long way off, 93,000,000 miles. Now multiply tlis ly 200.000, and th-e ï-r-ult :s. nnn'niï spenking, 20,000,000,000,000, ;unl thïa is th-e ü-srau ■ we are trom Alpia Ceotauri. Tak ■ the 1 o'' an elestric current, wliicli s ïK.u-ly saine as I i.ii oí Ught, 180,000 mil-e per geooad -sup!.(,-■ ,-i me -süvci' ti) be S'-a; :;i this s)ic ■■i (rom a po-lnl on the earth's sur'.-i r. t UDiiiil go seven times aiounii the i-ai-tli in one sesond. A.j?aiin, let it be Biipposed thai mea-:■._'!■. were nen) o?t to the iljffereni iir.-:v, nly bodies. To i-r.-r-h tho moon at this rat ■ 11 uiMiiil take aboul one Becond. n cinlit minutes a message wonld u-et to the snn, and, allowing a eouple of minutes ili-lay. one could si-.nil a message to t de emn and gel an aoswer all witliin -O minutes. Bul to rea li Alpha (Vntaun it would three years, and as this s ili ni.-ncst of llic stars, what time must ;t tiik-si.im-! to the others ? If, when Welling-ton won the battle of "Waterloo in isi.". tlue neus haii been tclegraphed ui immedla-tely, there are Borne stare bo remóte tha-1 it would ooi j el i:a e readied them. To go a step t ii 1 ii. ■ i-. -oni.1 In 1066 the reul1 oí the conqueat have been wired to BKm o' ili e s ars. r e message would :r;;i );, i, Lts v:i.v. IÍ tldlngs "Í ili" il:s; CHir ',8t raast kle In Bethlehem had i een senl bo the stara there are Bioi v. ajtuiated in turthernio-it dcpih o! space, whilch could not re :elv the m?esage tor a long time vet.