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24993 results in Astronomy: General Interest

Page 1188 of 1250

  • Foreword

  • James Jeans
  • Book:
    The Mysterious Universe
    Published online:
    07 September 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009, pp vii-viii
    First published in:
    1930

  • Summary

    The present book contains an expansion of the Rede Lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge in November 1930.

    There is a widespread conviction that the new teachings of astronomy and physical science are destined to produce an immense change on our outlook on the universe as a whole, and on our views as to the significance of human life. The question at issue is ultimately one for philosophic discussion, but before the philosophers have a right to speak, science ought first to be asked to tell all she can as to ascertained facts and provisional hypotheses. Then, and then only, may discussion legitimately pass into the realms of philosophy.

    With some such thoughts as these in my mind, I wrote the present book, obsessed by frequent doubts as to whether I could justify an addition to the great amount which has already been written on the subject. I can claim no special qualifications beyond the proverbially advantageous position of the mere onlooker; I am not a philosopher either by training or inclination, and for many years my scientific work has lain outside the arena of contending physical theories.

    The first four chapters, which form the main part of the book, contain brief discussions, on very broad lines, of such scientific questions as seem to me to be of interest, and to provide useful material, for the discussion of the ultimate philosophical problem.

  • I - The Dying Sun

  • James Jeans
  • Book:
    The Mysterious Universe
    Published online:
    07 September 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009, pp 1-12
    First published in:
    1930

  • Summary

    A few stars are known which are hardly bigger than the earth, but the majority are so large that hundreds of thousands of earths could be packed inside each and leave room to spare; here and there we come upon a giant star large enough to contain millions of millions of earths. And the total number of stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of grains of sand on all the seashores of the world. Such is the littleness of our home in space when measured up against the total substance of the universe.

    This vast multitude of stars are wandering about in space. A few form groups which journey in company, but the majority are solitary travellers. And they travel through a universe so spacious that it is an event of almost unimaginable rarity for a star to come anywhere near to another star. For the most part each voyages in splendid isolation, like a ship on an empty ocean. In a scale model in which the stars are ships, the average ship will be well over a million miles from its nearest neighbour, whence it is easy to understand why a ship seldom finds another within hailing distance.

    We believe, nevertheless, that some two thousand million years ago this rare event took place, and that a second star, wandering blindly through space, happened to come within hailing distance of the sun.

Page 1188 of 1250