Astronomy and the Bible;

(Ann) #1
STARSINNUMERABLE 141

telescopeyetmade. Thesumofsomesixtyorseventy
millionseemsatpresenttobeamoderatereckoning."
"Therearestarsintheskysodistantthatthemost
hugeobjectglasseverconstructedcannotcatchenough
oftheirfeebleglimmertoimpresstheirimage inthe
human eye. Nomanhaseverseenthosestarsfrom
thisworld;perhapsnoman,lookingfromthisworld,
willever seea greatmanyofthem. Andyetthose
verystarsareknowntoastronomers;andtheposition
ofmanyofthemismarkedonthecelestialmap. You
donotneedtoaskhowthiscanbe. Youalreadyknow
thattheweakshining, whichcannot makeitself felt
bytheretina ofaman's eye, canslowly impressits
imageonthephotographicplate. Hundredsofstars,
thousandsofstars,utterlyinvisibletoman,havehad
theirphotographstakenastrulyasyouhavehadyour
photographtaken,onlyithasbeenalongerbusiness."
*Tfthe starswhich areknown,and which canbe
known,throughphotography alone,areaddedto the
listofthoseknownthroughthetelescope,thenumbers
again rise fast. According to one supposition, the
totalofonehundredmiUionmaybefairlygiven;ac-
cordingtoanother,twohundred millionmaybewell
withinthemark. Andeventhis vastmassmaystill
be,foraughtthatweknowtothecontrary,asamere
corneroftheuniverse."



''RadiantSuns."
Magnificent glasses now scan the heavens. The
photographicplatenightlyisturnedtotheskytore-
ceiveitssilentrecord. Butasnightfollowsnight,and
the record growsmore complete, the witnessgrows
alsomoreemphatic,andthedeclarationisforcedfrom
Free download pdf