Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-03-16
Dargers from Comets.

" Afta-h II utNtt iiC SUN
\ within 10000. 900 miles. yet displayed
greater splendor and greater cometic de-
velepment than comets which have all
but grazed the solar surface, would be q
very dangerous visitor if its course
Il chanced to be so directed rs to carry il
sxstraght toward the sun. And there
sSmay well be comets rs far exceeding
s#1hat of 1911. az this exceeded the comet
sof 1888 while the course of any comet
B may well chance TO be 50 directed Is to
sSrarry ii straight toward the very center
83inf the sun instead of passing grazingly
sSsby his orb, as did the comet of 1913. OF
|&course the chance of very large comet
s. visiting the solar system on just such q
course is exceedingly minute. Still the
event is altogether possible. There can
scarcely be doubt That II the event oc-
Cured the result would be disastrous for
the present inhabitants Of the solar syS-
TEN. The downfall of millions and mill
lions of masses, each weighing many
tons Ga fair suppostion as TO the average
weight of the meteoric attendants ON SO
large comet as we are considcrinnl, ut
the rate of 800 to $50 miles per second,
upon the suns orb, could not fail to be
u an enormous, though short-lastinc, ac-
81 cession OF solar splendor and of solar
a heat, a change which could not butproye
sFdestructive to every form Of life exist
fAing on the earth or any other inhabited
&planet.
NJ The chance of such q catastrophe is
n Small. IL is so small that not one sun
n jim millions might be expected to suffer
Mn this way during thousands Of years,
81 (For we must remember that our sun is
Zone of very large family of suns, and
that whatever danger he is exposed to
y threatens presumably each member of
that family.) May we not in this way
I&&test ut once the reality and the extent
III the danger? II any sun among the
aSmillions, the tens, nay, the hundreds of
visible III the telescope should
#0ustain the direct impact OF very
sxshrge comet, and should thereby for a
S5xhort time increase greatly in heat and
Mstre, that sun would that time be Wis
s ible without 4 telescope aid. probab-
sE even the faintcst star which the
DO powerful telescope can Just show
ms would become visible to the naked
#rye during such an oHtbwst Of light and
46eat.
IN Turning to the stars to see what evil
Alence they have given, we find that
N3hcre have been occasionally just such
#ehanges among the stars rs we should
BE led to expect from what the comets
have taught Us. We find that on the
ION hand some stars have suddenly in
%areased in luster SO greatly rs TO pass
from absolute inyisibiljty TO great bright
SEness Gn one or two eases even to q
HNbrightness exceeding chat OF n first mag-
Multitude starr, while on the other hand
Bthese eases have been so few, when tho
enormous number Of stars is taken into
account, as 10 show that the danger in
hhc ease of any given star is exceedingly
Small, Among all the hundreds OF mill
Hons Of Suns working steadily at their
ask of ruling aad nourishing the worlds
3hat circle around them, not one in LOCO
has during the last I, 900 years met with
In accident Of the kind considered, even
IN we assume that every appearance of
Ibo-called ''new start is to be regarded
kas in reality case of solar outburst,
and has been in reality brought about
&s}S cometic or meteoric downfall. Con-
q living that Of two such cases submitted
spcctroscopc investigation Ghe So
4 Failed new star seen in Cygnus in Nov
4 kmber, 1850 one proved to be no new
E tar at ALL while in the other Ghe new
- tar seen in Corona in May, 1862,
hough It was undoubtedly u case in
which sun blazed for time with sew
eral hundred times its normal splcnd0r,
the change may possibly haze resulted
from some other cause OF danger to
which our sun may not be exposed, we
see that SO far as probabilities are
concerned, the danger that the solar
| system may be ruined BY solar out
burst of Soms sort is exceedingly small.
ss1he only kind of danger to which, SO
IN as we can Judge, our sun is exposed,
1that from cometic downfall upon this
globe, has not yet been proved to DO
serious in itself; while assuming that
such cause might produce great in.
crease Of solar light and heat for 2
while, we learn from the stars that the
actual cases of such change among all
the stars from all causes are very few in
number, considering the enormous
number of stars The chances are GER
tainly not one in million that our sun
Will undergo any change OF the Kind |
considered during the next thousand
years, even if the sun be supposed to be |
antecedently as much exposed TO such |
change as those other suns which appear |
to have undergone it. But the constan-
cy Of the solar light and heat during the |
past 1000 years. and even Gudging from
the geological record during hundreds
Of thousands of years. affords in reality |
strong evidence that he is less exposed |
than some at any rate among the suns |
to danger of this kind Indeed, it is |
worthy OF notice, that almost all the So
called new stars, that is, if our views are |
correct, almost all the suns that have |
undergone change destructive to lie
h on their independent worlds, occupy q
|Nrtain definite region Of the heavens
M near the edge Of the milky way.
b .2lling this into account, it may be said, |
e fms, that the danger of our earth's
e,truction by fire, the elements dissolv- |
NC under the feryent heat of the comet |
truck sun, is so small that it may to all |
Hlents be valued mt '.almOst naked |
utt hmm - - a a. ~ |