What We Learn from the Sun 



credulous as in reality they are exacting and 

 scrupulous, where new facts and observations 

 are in question. 



The real end and aim of the telescope, as 

 applied by the astronomer to the examination of 

 the celestial objects, is to gather together the 

 light which streams from each luminous point 

 throughout space. We may regard the space 

 which surrounds us on every side as an ocean 

 without bounds or limits, an ocean across which 

 there are ever sweeping waves of light either 

 emitted directly from the various bodies sub- 

 sisting throughout space, or else reflected from 

 their surfaces. Other forms of wave also speed 

 across these limitless depths in all directions - 

 but the light-waves are those which at present 

 concern us. Our earth is as a minute island 

 placed within the ocean of space, and to the 

 shores of this tiny isle the light-waves bear their 

 messages from the orbs which lie like other 

 isles amid the fathomless depths around us. 

 With the telescope the astronomer gathers to- 

 gether portions of light-waves which else would 

 have travelled in diverging directions. By thus 

 intensifying their action, he enables the eye to be- 

 come cognizant of their true nature. Precisely as 

 the narrow channels around our shores cause the 

 tidal wave, which sweeps across the open ocean in 

 almost insensible undulations, to rise and fall 

 through a wide range of variation, so the telescope 

 renders sensible the existence of light-waves 

 which would escape the notice of the unaided eye. 

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