“Astronomers place three stars close together in the sword of Orion; when I viewed the middlemost with a telescope, in the year 1656, there appeared in the place of that one twelve other stars; among these, three that almost touch each other, and four more besides appeared, twinkling as through a cloud, so that the space about them seemed much brighter than the rest of the heaven, which, appearing wholly blackish, by reason of the fair weather, was seen as through a curtain opening through which one had a free view into another region which was more enlightened.” GSAM 259.2
William Herschel says of this opening in the sky:— GSAM 259.3
“If its diameter at this distance subtend an angle of 10°, which it nearly does, its magnitude must be utterly inconceivable. It has been calculated that is must be two trillions of times the dimensions of the sun.” GSAM 259.4