Milford chronicle., 1902-02-14
A SYSTEM IN FORMATION.
One of the Most Wonderful Of A.
Economical Discoveries.


omy has such an announcement been
made as comes from the Lick and tbe
erkes observatories. For the FIRST time
what is apparently a system of worlds
IN visible process of formation has been
revealed.
Last February there suddenly appear-
ed IN the constellation Perseus naU,
star. 1t leaped from invisibility TO an
oDJect OF the first magnitude and was nj
once recognized by astronomers as being
the most interesting of its class since the
FAMOUS new star of Tycho Brabe in
1912. After remaining very bright for
rev weeks it slowly began to fade
until now it is visible only in large teIe-
scopes. As in the case of other new
stars several theories were advanced to
account for such enormous increase in
| light and energy followed by such do.
cided fall. One was that the new star
had been rent by some internal explosion
| SO violent as to cause it to flare IN and
reveal its existence to watchers on our
own planet Another suggestion was
that two bodies of great size and rushing
! through space at tremendous rates of
| speed had suddenly come into collision
Nelther theory could be proved, but il
! was evident that there had been a celes.
hal catastrophe on the largest scale.
On the 18th and 10Th of August pho-
tographs of the new star taken nv NM
tlammarion and Antoniad in Europe
showed it surrounded by "a nebulous
! aureole with a sharply defined contour"
somewhat resembling the umbra and
penumbra of sun spot. Professor Max
Wolf of Heidelberg explained these an.
pearances as an optical effect. On a
-FOUR hours exposure. however, he Sc
cured plate Of the region showing n
faint but extended nebula surrounding
the star, and yet with no evidence Of
connection between the two.
month later Professor Ritchev of
the ferkes observatory found that the
nebulous cloud recorded by the other oh.
servers was very nearly circular. some
ten minutes of arc in diameter. bur of
varying intensity in its different parts.
with the new star situated near the mid
die Of the nebulOsity. Apparently There
was some connection between the new
star and the nebula This. while inter.
esting. was not without precedent In
August, 1885. a new star appeared in
the great nebula in Andromeda. Derhans
the best known in the heavens This
star to the spectroscope exhibited no diff
ferences in constitution from the nebula
itself.
Now however. Professor Perrine of
the Lick observatory and Professor
Rltchey have secured new photographs
which, on comparison with those nre.
viously taken. show that the brightest
portion of the nebula in six weeks has
moved to the southeast more than n
minute of arc. Such inconceivably swift
motion has never before been observed
outside the solar system. The greatest
known motion of a star is that of nm
eighth magnitude object in the southern
heavens, which shifts its position nearly
nine seconds of arc a year. The star
1880 Groomblidge." long known MS
the runaway star" moves about seven 1
seconds annually. But the photographs
of the new star in Perseus show motion |
a hundred times as fast. The disturb !
ances IN that distant system are on .
scale totally without known parallel.
10 complete the marvel Professor
Ritchey's photographs show some eyi.
dences that the observed motion is n /
rotating one and go far to support those
who believe that Laplace was correct
when he propounded his famous nebulo
hypothesis. The latter theory sunnoses
that the space now occupied bv Tho SIM
and the orbits of the planets was once
filled with a great nebua. which was
somehow set in rotation and as il con.
densed threw off rings which subse-
quently formed planets, the central mass
becoming the sun.
Astronomers have long hoped that
with the lapse of centuries of careful
observation some changes in the forms
or nebulR might be recorded which
would throw light upon this great prob
lem' but 1t is pretty safe to saw thcv
never expected to see motion in the brief
space OF SIX weeks. Interest now CEN
ters IN determining the parallax of the
new star and nebula so that by knowing
ITS distance some notion may be gained
OF the actual velocity displayed IN its
changes of FORM This is difficult
TASK and 1t may be that the new star
VIII show no measurable parallax. If
such is the case, all that can be said IS
that the observed motion cannot be less
than certain amount. In any case if is
sure TO be incOnceivably swift.
Speculation will also be redirected IN
the original cause of the blazing ont of
the new star Did the star antedate the
nebula or vice versa? Was the nebulo
formed and set in rotation by a collision
between two great suns? And. If So is
that the origin of our own system? Do
We owe our existence to some great catb
clysmE 1t is easy to Outrun the bor :
p Verncation' but all these problem
|. I,reslsuoly suggested by the St
the new discoveries about this
Die addition to the family of
NpW KorLr 10; 81