The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-03-11
THE NEW STAR 10 DISAPPEAR.
It Burns With Hydrogen Gas and It's
Fate May Already Be Sealed.
From the Ne.o York Recorder.


From the Netc York Recorder.
The new star, about which SO much In
terest 10 being taken, as in the case of a
brand-new baby, has not been photographed
in New York." says Astronomer Rees of
Columbia College. Nevertheless, Prof.
Rees Is very much concerned over the
somewhat startling appearance of the
stellar object.
ut is not very oftsn that new star
comes" he said to the Recorder yesterday,
land hence astronomers all over the world
are watching the latest arrival with the
greatest interest. At Cambridge over 1000
pictures have already bsen taken of the
new object, including some so, 000 additional
OF the heavens in general. 1t may be. after
all, that the new star is a temporary one.
II that is the case 1t would DO a doubly in
teresting circumstances. A temporary star
is usually one in which the illumination is
largely due tn hydrogen gas, aad as such 10
largely atmospheric. Certain analyses of
the spectrum Of the new star have already
tended to confirm this hypothesis.
IF this new star is merely temporary it
will soon pass away and may never return.
Thus, you see, science has fully determined
that hot even the stars are eteKnaI as the
poef sings. A temporary star is cue which
suddenly flashes UP, gains vivid maxi
mum in a short time and gradually and
etfectually disappears. leaving nothing TO
mark the spot where it once shone as the
pride Of the heavens.
There are eighteen such examples known
to science. Among these is the noted
stranger star of Cassiopeia, discovered by
Iycho Brahe in 1872. For three weeks it
burned with great brightness. First it was
white. then ruddy, then pale, with q vivid
cast. In two years it was suddenly ex-
tinguished. It has never reeppeared.
''Similar experiences were noted in 1904
and for many years since. In 1856 there
was another notable illustration. In 1S4S
star Of the second magnitude suddenly
blazed In the constellation Of the Northern
Crown. 1t flashed aIbril lillian ..orange, then
white. 1t declined in about ninety-four
days In 1876 a star suddenly appeared
near Cygni, burning bright golden, then
q whitish tinge, then q dull blue. Nearly
all these stars have shown that they were
composed largely Of hydrogen gas, by
spectrum analysis-that is, they were
largely atmospheric.
There are many interesting hypothesis
as to the cause of temporary stars. Some
contend that thew are the result Of violent
collisions in space between stars or meteor
ties. At any rate the matter is largely as
yet beyond the development of practical
astronomy. and perhaps your theory is just
as good as mine. No, we have no picture Of
the new star. II it is hydrogen star, there
is strong possibility that it is one of those
strangely interesting temporary stars.
AS a matter of fact, IL may have already
disappeared. The same thing might with
equal force be said of any star in the heav
ems, According to recent computations it
takes light over four years to travel to us
from the nearest star. Now that star may
have ceased to exist quite four years ago,
and the last beam Of light it shed before it
flickered and went out. is as vet on the way,
Then suddenly we shall know the star is
dead. But, in reality. it was dead four
years ago, although we knew it not.
ut NAV be the same with the new star. "