Abstract
DE. ROBERT G. AITKBN brings together some interesting information on this topic in Leaflet No. 148 issued by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The diameter of the universe made accessible by the 100–inch telescope is about 600 million light–years, and the 200–inch telescope will double the diameter of this sphere. In this smaller sphere there are 100 million stellar systems with an average content of 1010 stars, the diameters of which average about twice that of our sun. The stars fill about 10–26 part of space and it is believed that the space between the separate stellar systems—extragalactic space—is absolutely empty. In interstellar space, however, in which the stars are distributed at average distances of five or six light–years, electrons, protons, atoms, gas molecules, minute dust particles and also larger pieces of matter, ranging up to the size of meteorites, are known to exist.
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Empty Space. Nature 148, 253 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148253a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148253a0