Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1907-06-21
WORLDS IN THE MAKING,

VI ioCeht years Tie ODS6rVAClOnS OF
astI onomers have revealed the exjs-
tence OF small number of curiously
shaped stars. These strange planets
are not round like the earth, sun and
moon, but more closely resemble
pear or an egg In form. len such
stars are now known to exist, five in
the northern and five IN the southern
hemisphere.
This may seem a very meager result
to those who are unacquainted with
the difficulties that attend the search
for such stars. But to those who do
know and understand the difficulties
the discoveries already made would
seem to indicate that there are many
more of these pear shaped stars in the
universe than astronomers have yet
been able to observe.
The ten stars already discovered,
though grouped together under the
general title of pear-shaped, repre-
sent all degrees of oblateness. Among
the most marked of these strange
planets are stars as elongated as
torpedo or a modern cigar-shaped
balloon, while others are orbs nearly
spherical In form.
Heavenly Twins.
Although these strangely shaped
lights of the sky are called stars,
they are in reality systems, or, more
accurately speaking, twin stars. In
the case of two of the ten already dis
covered the component stars are so
near one another that they touch, and
at the point of contact they Emerge
into each other. 1t is very difficult,
therefore, to say precisely what Is the
shape of these figure of eight stars.
Such a system must be in a state of
the most unstable equilibrium; and
sooner or later the centrifugal force
will prove too great for the slender,
ever-chauglng nexus that binds these
Siamese twins OF the sky together.
Then the connecting link will be
|
born. When this takes place there
will be for both stars a period of
stupendous unrest. From center to
| circumference the vast bodies will
oscillate in great swelling pulsations,
until finally the more powerful of the
two gains complete control of the
other. Then the lesser of the two
will become the satellite of the
greater, and will revolveEar ound it, as
the moon circles about the earth.
Earth and Moon United.
1t is the belief of many of the lead
ing astronomers of to-day that the
earth and moon were once Joined
together in this Siamese-twin fashion.
There are even those who point to
the very spot where one satellite
broke away from its mother earth.
They insist that over the vast spaces
of the globe where the HPaciflc ocean
now rolls in long silver water breaks
the moon gathered to itself separate
existence. Nav, they even tell us
that beneath the surface of this spaci-
Gus stretch of sea, fully 5000 fathoms
deep. may still be found the scars
which mark the place where world
was born. But the truth of this can
not be verified until the seas run dry.
When was this wonderful birthday?
In the beginning of created things is
about the only answer that anyone
has attempted to give. But if more
positive answer is required, it may be
stated that the South African astro-
homer, Alexander Roberts, has assur-
ed, yet with some hesitation, and
with no small uncertainty, that at
the very least 100000, 600 years
measure the moons age as a separate
world. 1t was once so near the earth,
even after its individual life began,
that it modelled its mountains and
seas; but as the years came and de-
parted it drifted further and further
away, till at last a heave of the
ocean, rising and falling of tides,
is all the greeting the earth has to
give to its oldest born.
Worlds in the Making.
A pear-shaped star is a world in the
formative period; round globe Is
the finished product of many evolu-
tions. The substance of these
strangely shaped stars is as dIaphan-
GUS as summer cloud; in the space
of few hours their bulk, sometimes
as much as 800, 600, 600 miles in dia-
meter, contracts and expands through
range of over million miles.
Storm and strain are the spirits that
brood over their vast, tumultuous,
shoreless wastes; there is the cease
less clash of storms, and the surge of
sorely tossed, titanic waves. Majestic
IN their spaciousness, Impressive in
their stupendous movements, their
| Importance, their human attractive
ness and interest lies in their poten-
TALLY. They are the worlds of ages
| separated from the present day by un-
| accountable centuries of time. Our
own little planet may then be, like
the moon, burnt-out cinder, a dead
world, a desolate land of fierce ex-
| tremes OF heat and cold.-Globe
Democrat.
Long Lived Razors.