The bright star in the constellation of the Lyre, termed Vega, is the
brightest in the northern hemisphere; and the combined researches of
Struve, father and son, have found that the distance of this star from
the earth is no less than 130 billions of miles! Light travelling
at the rate of 192 thousand miles in a second consequently occupies
twenty-one years in passing from this star to the earth. Now it has
been found, by comparing the light of Vega with the light of the
sun, that if the latter were removed to the distance of 130 billions
of miles, his apparent brightness would not amount to more than the
sixteenth part of the apparent brightness of Vega. We are therefore
warranted in concluding that the light of Vega is equal to that of
sixteen suns.