Algernon Blackwood,
The Kingdom of the Heavens
“ The lure of the unknown is in his blood; he, luckily, has technique and a telescope; he is the man of science as poet. His imaginative mind discusses only the most recent star secrets, as revealed by the spectroscope on the “little dust particle we call the Earth.” The wonder and beauty of what he tells us are staggering—to the layman often incredible—but they are never fanciful. ”
Algernon Blackwood,
The Kingdom of the Heavens
“ We land next on the sun, which is only 93,000,000 miles away, whereas some of the stars are 400,000 light years away, light, of course, traveling 186,000 miles a second. The way the sun’s constant loss of heat is restored—by contraction—has interest. Its diameter grows 500 feet less annually, and this contraction engenders enough heat to replace what is poured out so prodigally. The process may continue some eight million years before we notice any difference. It had been held until recently that by the time our planets fall into the sun (their eventual fate) , the sun would be cold. ”
Algernon Blackwood,
The Kingdom of the Heavens
“ It is only a few seconds of arc per century, one second of arc being less than the 300,000th part of a right-angle, but that she should be apparently slowing down was a disquieting puzzle. The solution of the mystery lies in the fact that the Earth herself is the laggard, turning less and less quickly on her own axis. ”
