Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims

Looking through the telescope, one saw a circle of deep blue and the little round planet swimming in the field. It seemed such a little thing, so bright and small and still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly flattened from the perfect round. But so little it was, so silvery warm — a pin’s=head of light! It was as if it quivered, but really this was the telescope vibrating with the activity of the clockwork that kept the planet in view.

As I watched, the planet seemed to grow larger and smaller and to advance and recede, but that was simply that my eye was tired. Forty millions of miles it was from us – more than forty millions of miles of void. Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims.

by H. G. Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946)
from The War of the Worlds, 1898
Chapter 1
image – jurvetson

Tags: Awareness, Science
Posted in H. G. Wells

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