Show SIZE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM the first scientific attempt to determine the suns dast distance ance according to J E gore knowledge october was that of the greek who by calculating the angles and sides of 0 ti F I 1 ight angled triangle formed by baan on fan I 1 sun ind and moon found as ho he thorent iho thou ent that the suna suits distance from rom tile the Is just juat nine nineteen teen times the 00 oo lb a 1 ridiculously small result since as we now nosy know the ratio of their thear distances la Is no legs ass than ass to 1 the most moat recent results tend to show that the suns distance Is miles al mr r gore then gives the following figures multiplying this number by the figures riven abobo wo we find ahna tile tho mean distances encis of tho the planets from tho the gun eun are as aa folio follows ws in ro round und number num bor Aler mercury cury 39 trilled Tri venua Ali mars Hlyn the minor planets la 0 cu to jupiter 9 SZ uranus and neptune 0 mem this makes the diameter of ne the el solar system so BO far as at present t known knon about 55 9 millions of across this vast vail space light traveling at the iho rate rat or of amm miles per second would take olpha hours nineteen to pasil dut vast an a this diameter really Is compared with tile tho size of our earth or oven even with tho the distance of 0 the lh moon meen it 14 1 very small indeed when compared with tile tho distance dla tanco at 0 even ill the nearest fixed star front light takes ovoy over four scars 5 oars to reach us tho the moot reliable measures of tho the at 0 alpha cen eaurl tho the of tho the fixed eta batora places it at n too times tile suns dis I 1 ance front from the earth or about DWI times tho the distance di stanco of neptune from tho the sun I 1 ac wo nt tho the diameter of nep tn tunca NO orbit bv a circle of 0 two inches in diameter ameter alpha Cent anit would llo ito at it a d diameter dj dl stance stanco of 70 feet or yards from tho the center of the small circle it if wo vio make tho iho ciralo representing langr neptunus Nep tunes orbit two foot in ili diameter tile then alpha would bo be distant from tho the center of this circle foet feet or about 1 F miles As the olun olur res ea of spheres vary as the cubes of their diameters wo have tho the volume of I 1 alio lie sphere which extends to alpha cen eaurl million times tile volume alu me of the sphere containing tho the whole solar eolar system to tho the orbit of N Tep tune if we represent cepres rit tho the sphere containing the ill solar system by a grain aruin of shot one twentieth of an ail loch inch in diameter tile tho sphere which extends to alpha would bo be rep app resented by bv alobe 38 feet in diameter it will thus bo be seen what if a relatively small portion of space tho the solar system on occupies compared with tho sphere which h h 1 extends to even tho the nearest sop llad star dut this latter sphere vast as aa tills la 19 Is again relatively small compared with tho the size of tho the sphere which contains tho the preat c at majority of tho the visible stairs alphs alpha Cont tn aurl tauri Is an except exceptionally near star most of tile tho stars are fit at least ton ten times its as far away and probably many a hundred times further on off A sphere w with ill a radius IW times greater than tile tho distance of alpha Cent aurl would have it a million times limes tho the volume N and therefore billion times tile olumn of the iha sphere which contains coni alna the whole solar systems from l rom these facts it clu bo be seen that enormously Or laro as tho the solar byli bysted tern abao luilly is 13 compared with tho the SIZO size of our own earth it as compared with the aizo sizo 0 of the iho visible universo iverso merely as a drop in tho the ocean |