The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-05-18
THE NEW STAR SOON TO DISAPPEAR
1t Burns with Hydrogen Gas and Its
Fate May Already Be Sealed.

"The new star, about which SO much
interest is being taken, as in the case
of brand new baby, has not been
photographed in New York" SAYS
Astronomer Rees of Columbia College.
Nevertheless, Prof. Rees is very much
concernedover the somewhat startling
appearance of the stellar object.
at is not very often that new star
comes" he said to n. 7. Recorder re-
porter, "and hence astronomers all
over the world are watching the latest
arrival with the greatest interest. At
Cambridge over 1000 pictures have al
ready been taken of the new object,
including some 80, 900 additional Of the
heavens in general. 1t may be, after
one. If that is the case it would be a
temporary star is usually one in which
drogen gas, and as such is largely at
mospheric. Certain analyses of the
spectrum of the new star have already
tended to confirm this hypothesis.
"If this new star is merely tempo
rary it will soon pass away and may
never return. Thus, you see, science
stars are eternal, as the poet sings. A
temporary star is one which suddenly
flashes up, gains vivid maximum in
a short time and gradually and effect
ually 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 Tycho Brahe in 1872.
For three weeks it burned with great
brightness, First it was white, then
ruddy, then pale, with a vivid cast. In
two years it was suddenly extinguish-
ed. 1t has never reappeared.
similar experiences were noted in
1904, and for many years since. In
1848 there was another notable Illus
tration. In 1866 star of the second
magnitude suddenly blazed in the con-
stellation of the Northern Crown. 1t
flashed a brilliant orange, then white.
It declined in about ninety-four days.
In 1876 q star suddenly appeared near
Cygni, burning a bright golden, then
whitish tinge, then a dull blue.
Nearly all these stars have shown that
| they were composed largely of hydro
| gen gas, by spectrum analysis-that
is, they were largely atmospheric.
There are many interesting hypoth-
esis as to the cause of temporary stars.
Some contend that they are the result
of violent collisions in space between
stars or meteorites. 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. If it is hydrogen
star, there is a strong possibility that
it is one of those strangely interesting
temporary stars.
"As matter of fact, it may have
already disappeared. The same thing
might with equal force be said of any
star in the heavens. According to re-
cent 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 be-
fore it flickered and went out is as yet
on the way. Then suddenly we shall
know that the star is dead. But, in
reality, it was dead four years ago, al
though we knew it not.
"It may be the same with the new
+ star"