Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-09-29

nave not on the astronomical records single
certain instance Of any collision between bodies
Of considerable size. But there have been sew
eral cases Of most remarkable phenomenon,
which, perhaps may owe It's explanation to such
encounters Stars never before visible. or else
known only as faint and minute, have suddenly
Dlazed out, shining sometimes with the bril-
lance OF Sirius, or even Venus, and afterward
faded away to their original insigniicance. Such
was the famous star Of 1872 SO carefully OBJ
served oy Tycho Brahe. As recently as 1865
ana again in 1876, similar things have hap
pened, though these later stars were less con-
sspcuous. The star of 1876 Gin the constea-
ton of Cygnus) had long been known and cata-
logued as telescope star of the ninth magni-
tpde, with nothing to distinguish it from any Of
the common herd. On November "a it suddenly
shone out as bright as the pole star. Schmidt,
OF Athens. who discovered it, had been observ-
Ing that very region of the sky only four days
before, and no such object was then visible.
cannot tell precisely the hour when it first blazed
up, but evidently its increase of brightness must
have been extremely rapid. Immediately after
schmidt's observation it began to fade, but it
was two weeks before It fell below the sixth
magnitude and became invisible to the naked
eye. and 1t was more than year before it re-
sumed its original faintness. It's whole course
was carefully watched with the spectroscope.
At first, and for some months like the star of
1865 it showed conspicuous in its spectrum
the lines of hydrogen, together with other lines
of uncertain origin. As its brightness decreased
the hydrogen lines faded still more rapidly leav-
Ing other lines more prominent until at last the
spectrum instead of becoming that of an Ordi-
nary star. came to consist simply Of three bright
lines, the spectrum of nebula. and it continues
such to this day. Whether this is or is not the
same spectrum it had before the outburst, no
one can say, as 1t had never been observed with
the spectrOscOpe before.
Now. l am very far from asserting that this
was case Of collision; and yet it is clear
enough that the whole course of phenomena
was very much what might have been expected
1t were. At any rate, the collision hypothe-
sis Is held and defended by several astrono-
mers OF authority, and the principal reason for
preferTing different possible explanation lies
In the fact that these Temporary stars" as
they are called, are far too common to be prob
ably due to stellar encounters. We have on
record eight since the Christian era. and no less
than three OF them since 1910.
1t is hardly necessary to say that If any reti-
nue. Of planets attends such q star its sudden
blaze cannot fail to carry disaster and destruc-
ton to all life upon them. We can conceive that
forms of life may be possible under almost any
imaginable physical conditions, provided only
the course of events by which they have been
reached has been gradual enough to allow the
necessary adaptations. One would not dare to
deny the possibility of life Of some kind on the
airless moon, or even on the sun itself. But all
we know makes 1t certain that no planetary lite
could survive the tremendous and catastrophe
change OF conditions involved in a sudden thou
sand-fOld increase Of the solar radiation.
STELLAR MASSES-SHOOTTN0 sTARS-TuOUoA EDc