CHAPTER V 



LIFE IN THE SUPRA-WORLD 



OUR speculations up to this have indicated, as the 

 most probable structure of the universe beyond the 

 stars, a collection of some 100,000 million galaxies, 

 making up a "supra-star," and this supra-star 

 forming the unit of a higher stellar universe, greatly 

 resembling our own in outward appearance. 



The ordinary common-sense difficulty which 

 arises at once may be put in the form of the 

 question: "Where are those 100,000 million 

 galaxies? Why can we not see them?" The 

 answer is, They are too far away. A simple calcu- 

 lation shows that our galaxy, when placed at the 

 distance of the nearest outer galaxy (10 28 cm.), 

 would appear as a star of the 27th magnitude, and 

 when placed at a distance equal to the radius of the 

 supra-star it would appear as a star of the olst 

 magnitude both magnitudes which are quite be- 

 yond our most powerful instruments. Indeed, all 

 the stars and galaxies which constitute the supra- 

 star, if lumped together and placed at the limit of 

 our galaxy, would not be brighter than the moon ; 



and if placed at the surface of the supra-star with 



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