The Universe and the Stars

Title

Year

1935

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In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

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April 1.935 THE YOUNG CITIZEN Cfhe Universe and the Stars 0 N a clear night, we see many at last they shine forth as stars. starn in the sky. The sky Some of them can be seen with looks like a big bowl cover- our eyes; but others are invisible 75 ing the earth. The earth also because they are very far away If many of these stars are very looks like a big room with the from us. much bigger .than the sun, then heavens for its round roof. But After millions of years, the universe must he very, very the truth is that the sky is not stars lose their heat and b~::: large. It is millions of millions the roof of the earth. \\'hat we dead. There must be many, many of miles. It is beyond our imsee as the heavens is but a wide, dead stars. They are black, in- agination. wide place which we call space. visible masses moving in space. The distance between the stars It is so large that no one has One dead star at times collides is so greaf that it is not measnred yet measured it. This vast space with another. Just imagine the anymore in miles. Instead of surrounds the earth. result of such a collision! The saying that a star is so many \Vithin thfa space we find stars, impact is so strong that. it prn- billions of miles away, astronomillions Of them. So large is duces terrific heat. That heat mers say ~hat the distance from the distance in this space that changes the dead stars into the earth to a star is so many the star nearest our earth is clouds of gas again. And from light-years. This means that about twenty-five million million these clouds new stars are prob-- light takes so many years to miles away. All this vast space ably formed. reach us from any star. Light is called the unive·rse. Even if two stars do not col- travels 186,000 miles per second, lide, a nebula, would be formed if or 5,876,068,880,000 miles in a The earth where we live is but they come very near to each year. That is the distance of a very tiny thing compared with other. The friction of the two one light-year. Thus the light one of these stars. Have you stars passing so close to each by which we see our nearest star ever asked yourself where the other would be enough to divide left that star more than four stars come from? Scientists think them into small fragments, each years ago, because our nearest that a long time ago in the uni- one of them becoming a new star. star is twenty-five million million verse there was nothing but Oar sun is a star. This sounds miles away. Other stars are clouds of gas or smoke. After strange perhaps because we do 30,000 light-years away. millions of years this gas became not see the sun at night. The thicker, and afterwards it hard.. other star.s which we see at night The ancient astronomers saw ened and so became the first are also suns. Many of them that the big stars· were found in stars. This is merely a guess of are thousands of times larger groups. These groups are called great scientists. \Ve know, how- than our sun. ever, that right now there are constellations. They gave these No one knows exactly how groups the names of their gods thousands of clouds in space, probably making stars. These many stars there are. There are an<l heroes. \\'e still use their clouds of gas are called nebulae. perhaps millions of them. \Ve names today. Among these conSome of these nebufoe have no can see only about 4,000 stars stellations are the Great Bear, shape. Others are like wheels of with our naked eyes. However, the Little Bear, Cassiopeia, Pegavapor. They are continually whirl- by using an instrument called sus, Andromeda, Perseus, Orion, ing. Astronomers, or persons who the telescope, about 1,500,000,- and the Great Dog. \Ve already study about sta1·s, believe that 000 stars can be seen. But there learned something about Orion this whirling nebulae move so fast are very many more which can- last February. In the next issue that as they become harder they not be seen even by a very we shall study the other constellaalso get hotter and hotter until powerful telescope. tions.

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