The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-10
BRILLIANT NOVA PERSEl
Popular Attention Directed Toward
the New Stellar Attraction.
Flashing in the Heavens Millions OF
Miles Distant From the Earth
Nothing Equal to 1t Has Occurred
for the Last Three Hundred Years.

The ordinary man is star gazer by
nature. The spacious ornament on
high" whether by day or night, mas ever
been a source Of attraction TO dWeIIeIs
mon the duh earth. It is questionable il
there have been in recent years Stars
that at intervals fly into the heavens anu
either stay there or fy back AGAIN mo
the realms from which they came. that
in The minds Of astronomers amateur Vi
professional. have attracted more atteh-
r., ,t,ar tho latest arrival which took mp
its zboIe in the constellation Persons.
Is,,arv one VINO has time and inclination
"a NOTE he tracks. the 5rilliancy ana the
General conduct of planets generally nave
,,iyen more than ordinary attention 70
tbis. newcomer in the nocturnal SKIES
Among the amateur astronomers WioSe
.,,,,nan y. REGARDED as valuable in the Cd
servance Of the wonderful spangies that
,nsL,a night glorious is ). W. Burnham'
cIerl, of III. United States Circuit Court
In Chicago. who, although a young man.
has discovered and catalogled over
thousand double stars
Nothing in the whole universe ever
stands STILL" said Mr. Durham, ana
changes are constantly taking place IN
the heavens, just the same as any "heIe
else Discoveries OF new things among
,be stars are continually being made and
win probably continue to be made 10Y an
time TO come. Within the last decade CT
TWO n number of interesting things nave
been discovered in regard TO Nafl'LDiS
stars. double stars, comets, ETC. pu' 4e"
of them have been Of character 10
arouse so much interest as the hho'ns
of the new star -.
..Often the discoveries which lhItIeSO
- ,,t,Iic most and which from popu-
lar standpoint, are more or less Oh d scr
s1tional character. are made with the aid
sr,aI four or five-inch telescope.
,l'bese small instruments are easily han
died and can be swept over the heavens
without the least dif!iculty-much more
readily than the larger and more cumber-
some telescopes, which can be turned only
slowly. Most comets are discovered with
these smaller instruments. The new star
IS SO large. however. that ii needs no tel
escope to be seen plainly. for it is be
tween the first and second magnitude IN
size
Among the interesting facts adduced in
regard to the new md are the following:
The new star is 6,OO5.UOO times as FAR
from the earth as the sun: roughly speak
Ing $50 trillions of miles. This Is 50 FAR
The sudden illumination that now has
attracted the attention OF the aStrohom-
ers must have occurred about lblS. IL mas
taken the light ninety-eight years to dart
across the abyss Of space to the earth;
II there had been a wire TO telegraph
the news, and the message was filed at
the time Of its occurrence, people would
receive IL about the year 2iOls
II the explosion caused by the rush of
this gigantic world into the gases Of some
nebular body (which, the scientists be
lieve, caused the sudden flare up was
loud enough to reach the earth, people
will hear the sound OF the crash some
thing like 81. e0d0O0 years from now;
II the new star Is travelling toward us.
even at the average planetary rate,
there is no occasion for alarm. 1t VIII
take it to reach our neighborhood 50,vJ'
years. ,-,
eity has carefully observed the new star
N both as regards the star itsclL and ais ,
in comparing ii with other extremely
brilliant stars which have appeared In
the past. - At
star" said Prof. LaYcs. Nothing to equal
IL has occurred for the last 800 years.
ONLY two stars Of such brllliancy have
appeared since men first began 10 STUDY
the heavens. The first of these was Ty-
chos star in 1872 This star suddenly APP
reared in the constellation Cassiopeia,
grew as bright as Jupiter and then dis
appeared, never TO return. IN lb0i KEEPER
discovered a new star In the constell2-
ton Opliiuchus. II became SO bright that
n could be seen in daylight, but in two
years IL faded away and disappeared al
together.
There are two explanations by which
asst ronomers account for sudden apear-
ttar of previous significance, say of the
twelfth or thirteenth magnitude, has en-
countered meteor1c shower In the
>-.xse of its travels, and that Its energy