Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-10-01
4 NEW STAR.
The Attention of Star-Gazers At
traetcd to the Constellation of An
drOmeda
st. Louis Republican.


1t might be thought that one star
more or less would not make any Diff
ference among the {, 200 which can be
seen with the naked eye, and the 90
600, 600 which come into view when
the telescope is leveled at the silent
and solemn depths of space. But the
truth Is, astronomers who watch the
heavens night after night, become so
familiar with every celestial locality
that new star startles them like an
apparition, 1t is not a habit of stars
to come and go, and when new one
bursts into view, astronomers are puz-
zled by such strange and inexpfica-
BILE lrregularity in the serene and ex-T
quislte symmetry of the stellar order.
One OF these freaks is just now attract
ing the attention of the professional
star-gazers. A new star has made its
appearance in the constellation An
dromeda. The dim wisps of light
called nebulae are always objects of
study to astronomers, and it was while
observing the interesting and beauti-
full nebul8 IN Andromeda that one of
them was startled at the vision of a
star where no star had been seen bes
fore. Subsequent observations in
creased the interest, for it was found
that the new star is slowly brighten
ing. 1t has already become a sixth
magnitude, visible to naked eyes of
good power, and at the latest accounts
was still waxing. How bright and
large it may become before it begins
TO wane we must wait and see, for it
is a property of these irregular stars
to go as well as come; they do not
come to stay, but after reaching a
maximum brightness, fade away en-
tirely, or dwindle to an insignificant
and almost inperceptible point.
Curiously enough, the ''Blaze" star,
as the unexpected new visitor is call
ed, appears in a quarter of the heavens.
though not in d particular locality,
where the most brilliant and impress
sive apparltion of this kind was
wltnessed-TS cho Brahe's famous
star of 1872 This OBJECT, called the
Star of Bethlehem" burst into view
in a single hour one evening just at
dark, and was seen night after night,
waxing In brilliancy till it outshone
all other stars in the heavens and
threw out light almost equal to that
Of the planet Venus. After ten montAs
it began to wane, and finally at the
end of seventeen months faded out OF
view. A similar stellar apparation
was seen IN the same locality-the
constellation Cassiopela, in the year
1864 and 945, and the period indicats
ed by these dates would carry it back
to about the beginning of the Chris
tan era; hence the name, given it by
the Christian enthusiasts who regard
ed it as the, very 'star ia the East"
which guided the Magi to the manger
III Bethlehem, where the Savior was
born. It may be stated that botn
Lockyer and Proctor intimated fifteen
years ago that the temperance of
this notable star might be looked for
about 1886 or 1886. A more recent
appearance of a new star or sudden
exaggeratlon of an old one was that
which was SEEN in the Crown,
beautiful cirqumpolar constellation,
in 1866 This object laid down on the
star chart as of the ninth magnitude,
invisible to the naked eye, suddenly
flashed up on the night of May IL,
1866, and Increased in brilliancy In a
few days till 1t shone as star of the
second magnitude; then it began to
wane and by the end of the month
bad subsidized to its former insigni6-
canoe and ceased to be an object of
interest.
Astronomers do not know what to
make of these new stars. The one of
1866 was studied with the intensest
diligence and with the aid Of improv-
ed instruments, but without arriving
at satisfactory explanation of the
phenomenon. One theory suggested
is that the suddenly increased bril-
hancy is caused by an outburst of
flaming hydrogen gas from the body
of the distant sun-for every fixed
star is supposed to be the central sun
of its own planetary system, and it is
was remarkable outburst of hydro
gen flames In our sun September /,
1859, which was attended by per-
ceptible increase of light Another
suggested explanation is that the
sight is world IN confagration-be
ing set on fire by the enormous heat
evolved in the impact of some other
body brought in collision with it.
Neither theory is demonstrable, and
both are unsatisfactory. The interest
of the phenomenon is complicated by
the immense distances of the fixed
stars from our earth. The velocity at
which light travels is measurable and
is found to be about 1876, 900 miles in a
second, SO that if the stars are as res
mote from us as the astronomers teach,
the awful spectacle of world in con-
f1agration which we look upon in
the stellar outbursts are events which
took place weeks, months, and it
may be years before their light
reaches us. The star may have been
burned up long before we see the light
of its burning.
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