CHAPTER XI 

 THE HEAVENS 



On a clear night, when the stars are bright in the 

 heavens, it is easy to understand how the men of old 

 looked up at the skies with wonder. Lacking scientific 

 knowledge, they came to believe that the stars had power 

 to influence their lives. Imagination led them to see gods 

 and heroes and animals outlined in stars. 



We of today, aided by what the science of astronomy 

 tells us, have even stronger reason than the ancients to 

 be awed by the Universe beyond our world. True, we 

 know now that the stars have little effect upon us. The 

 small portion of the sun's energy which comes to the 

 earth means more to our lives than all the influence of 

 the countless other star-suns that dot the heavens. Our 

 imaginations cannot grasp the vast unthinkable spaces of 

 the sky, the enormous size of the stars far out in space and 

 the perfect law and order that govern all. 



We sometimes think that the range of our sight is only 

 a few miles long at best. When we gaze at the sun, 

 however, we are seeing an object 93 million miles distant. 

 When we look at the nearest fixed star we gaze millions 

 of millions of miles beyond the sun. We hardly have 

 words with which to express these distances. We cannot 

 begin to appreciate the vastness of space. 



The study of the heavens will repay the time we give 

 to it, especially the study of the sun and its group of 

 planets, of which our earth is one. Our knowledge of our 

 surroundings would be utterly inadequate unless we tied 

 it up with the source of all our energy the sun and so 

 linked ourselves and our earth with the entire Universe. 



The Heavens is a very inclusive term. It not only includes 

 the solar system but also the sidereal, or starry, system. The vast 

 dome of the sky filled with brilliant stars is one of the most 

 beautiful sights ever seen by human eye. It is impossible for the 

 mind to comprehend its extent. 



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