Probing the depths of space

Abstract

Abstract Ever since the time when Copernicus advanced, with convincing logical argument, the theory that it is the earth that revolves round the sun and not the sun that moves round the earth, the problem of the distances of the stars has exercised a fascinating hold upon the attention of astronomers. When the Copernican theory was put forward there were three main arguments brought against it. The first, and for very sound practical reasons temporarily the most effective, was that the doctrine was contrary to the teaching of Holy Scripture, a very serious charge in those days. Possibly because his book was too recondite to be generally understood, Copernicus himself escaped persecution, but his book was placed on the index of condemned books in 1616. It was in 1633 that the Inquisition ordered Galileo to recant the doctrine under pain of death. The second, advanced it must be remembered, before the days of the telescope, was that, if the planets revolved round the sun, then the inner planets, Venus and M...