Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-09-28
New Step to Be Taken In As
Economical Investigation.
CHIEF WORK BY MISS KLUMPKE.

Garrett r. Serviss Tells How the
Woman Astronomer Will Fry to As
certain by Photography Whether
Spiral Shaped NebulE That Glow In
the stars Are Subject to Visible
Whirling Motions.
Something entirely new is about to
be undertaken in astronomy, and the
brilliant American girl astronomer,
porothea Klumpke, Is to perform the
most important part Of the new work,
says Professor Garrett =. Serviss In
the New York Journal. IL successful, 1t
will afford us a wonderful glimpse into
the mechanism Of the universe. 1t Is
! no less than an attempt to ascertain by
the aid of photographs whether the
great spiral shaped nebulH that glow
here and there among the stars are sub
ject to visible whirling motion.
The forms of these strange objects
indicate that they resemble in their
nature vast whirlpools composed Of In.
candescent gases, mingled perhaps with
| y
by means Of forces and influences not
clearly comprehensive to us. But hith.
erto there has been no direct evidence
Of motion in these nebulR. So far as
any visible change Is concerned they
might be as motionless as frost figures
upon window pane.
Telescope observation alone does not
suffice to reveal their movements, be-
cause they are so immense and the
length of an observation Is so brief that
there is not time enough for the effects
of the probable motion to reveal itself
to the eye. Moreover, on account of the
faint and hazy outlines of the nebulr,
be rendered sufficiently accurate to
serve the purpose. But now that astro-
nomical photography has reached a
high degree of perfection all this Is
changed and it is hoped that by COM
pairing such photographs taken at in
tcrvals the whirling of the nebul;e will
be rendered evident to our senses.
The interest Of this experiment lies
in the fact that there is some reason to
think that the spinal nebulm represent
primordial condition Of the substance
out of which the stars, worlds and
suns composing the universe have been
formed. Our solar system may once
have glowed softly in the depths Of
space in the form of a rather small
spiral nebula before its cleaning at
oms had been whirled and compacted
into sun and planets Thus in studying
the spiral nebulH we are like the bota-
mist who is able to see locked up in the
shell of an acorn the germ of the unde-
veloped oak.
BY learning what laws control the
motion and contraction of such nebule
we shall approach toward solution Of
the old and always interesting question
Of how the world began. But the &, 4
should not be lost sight of thatl n
spiral nebulR now visible in the %'! i,
ems enormously exceed in extent .tale
entire solar system.
1t is probable that such nebuln as
the large one in Canes Venatici or the
still mightier one in Andromeda con-
tain enough matter to form hundreds
If not thousands Of solar systems. In
their case gigantic sun like ArcturuS,
exceeding our sun thousands of times
In size and radiant capacity, may be in
process of formation. And we are at
liberty to suppose that around such
giant suns giant worlds will revolve
when the process Of the ages has
brought them into existence.
In short, the aim Of the new step
that Miss klumpke is to take in as
Economical investigation is to clear up
some Of the mystery that now sur
rounds those objects in the heavens
which give in their appearance every
indication that they stand for the most
ancient form Of cosmcal order emery
ing out of primeval chaos.
If the method proves as effective as
Is hoped, We may not have to wait
very long for results. because fortu-
nately very excellent photographs of
the chief representatives of the spiral
nebulm began to be made by DIR. Isaac
Roberts in England ten or twelve years
ago and his series Of photographs has
been continued at more or less fire.
,quent intervals during all the inter.
vening time.
Miss klumpke's first work will con-
sist of most careful measurement
and comparison Of these accumulated
photographs of DR.. Roberts, upon
which, as already explained, the re-
suits of any change Of form undergone
by the respective nebule must be re-
corded, provided that those changes
have been rapid enough to reveal
themselves In the course Of decade.
Possibly as photography improves it
will become easy to detect motions in
the nebul@ Of far more complex
form than has yet been suspected. Ger
tainly astronomy has never presented
more important or more fascinating
problems than 1t does today, and the
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