THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE UNIVERSE
Most astronomers are agreed, says Sir James Jeans, the astronomer, that the average star was born as a very fluffy baby of enormous size and weight, which decreased as it grew older. “If these views are correct oflr sun is not only losing weight at the rate of 4 million tons a second, but is shrinking in size and brilliancy. If we look far enough ahead in time we will see it shrunk to an old-man star, when it will not emit heat enough to keep everything on earth from freezing, so that life will, in all probability, have i disappeared from the earth before then.
“If Adam had been a wireless operator and had sent out an 5.0.5., it would not have reached the nearest globular cluster of stars yet. Tho second nearest star-city is the Great Nebula in Andromeda. the only one visible to the naked eye. It is worth looking at if only to reflect that the retina of vour eye is being affected by waves of light which have travelled uninterruptedly for 900,000 years to reach you.” Our race, says Sir James, is an absolutely newcomer in the universe.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 21 February 1931, Page 3
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196THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE UNIVERSE Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 21 February 1931, Page 3
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