Side-Lights on Astronomy and Kindred Fields of Popular ScienceNewcomb, Simon
Science
Side-Lights on Astronomy and Kindred Fields of Popular Science
Newcomb, Simon
Astronomy; Compass; Flying-machines; Hyperspace; Learning and scholarship; Rain-making
We have already alluded to the conclusion that an absolutely infinite
system of stars would cause the entire heavens to be filled with a
blaze of light as bright as the sun. It is also true that the
attractive force within such a universe would be infinitely great in
some direction or another. But neither of these considerations enables
us to set a limit to the extent of our system. In two remarkable papers
by Lord Kelvin which have recently appeared, the one being an address
before the British Association at its Glasgow meeting, in 1901, are
given the results of some numerical computations pertaining to this
subject. Granting that the stars are scattered promiscuously through
space with some approach to uniformity in thickness, and are of a known
degree of brilliancy, it is easy to compute how far out the system must
extend in order that, looking up at the sky, we shall see a certain
amount of light coming from the invisible stars. Granting that, in the
general average, each star is as bright as the sun, and that their
thickness is such that within a sphere of 3300 light-years there are
1,000,000,000 stars, if we inquire how far out such a system must be
continued in order that the sky shall shine with even four per cent of
the light of the sun, we shall find the distance of its boundary so
great that millions of millions of years would be required for the
light of the outer stars to reach the centre of the system. In view of
the fact that this duration in time far exceeds what seems to be the
possible life duration of a star, so far as our knowledge of it can
extend, the mere fact that the sky does not glow with any such
brightness proves little or nothing as to the extent of the system.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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