The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1910-05-21


2&lM4EE a suspected retardation In its We
locity in December. Such piece
of news was scarcely calculated to interest
world the greater portion Of whose inhabitants
were unaware Of the existence or the planet
Neptune, nor outside the astronomical profes'
sion did the subsequent discovery OF faint
remote speck of light in the region Of the per
turbed planets cause any great excitement,
Scientific people, however. found the intel
ligcnce remarkable enough, even before 1t be-
came known that the new body was rapidly
craving larger and brighter that its motion
was quite different from the orderly progress
of the planets and that the DETECTION Of Nep-
tune and It's satellite was becoming now OF
an unprecedented kind.
Few people without training In science
can realize the huge isolation Of the solar sys-
tenn. The with its specks of planets, its
dust of planetolds and its impalpable comets
swims in vacant immensely that almost de-
feats the Imagination. Beyond the orbit OF
Neptune there IS space vacant so far as hui
man observation has penetrated without
warmth or light or sound, blank emptiness, for
twenty million times a million miles. That Is
the smallest estimate Of the distance to be
traversed before the nearest OF the stars is
attained. And, saving few comets moro I'M
substantial than the thinnest fame no matter
had ever to human knowledge crossed this
gulf of space, until early In the twentieth cen
fury this strange wanderer appeared.
vast mass OF matter It was, bulky, heavy,
rushing without warning out Of the black mys.
terry Of the sky into the radiance of the sun
BY the second day II clearly visible to any
decent instrument, as a speCk with a barely
sensible diameter. in the constellation Leo
near Reguus. In a little while an opera
glass could attain 1t.
On the third day Of the new year the news
paper readers of two hemspheres were made
aware for the first time of the real Importance
OF this unusual apparition in the heavens. "A
Planetary Collision" one London paper headed
the news and proclaimed Duchaine's opinion
that this strange new planet would probably
collide with Neptune The leader writer's en-
Iarged upon the topic. SO that in most OF the
capitals of the world on January g. there was
an expectation however vague, of some immi-
nent phenomenon in the sky; and as the night
followed the sunset round the globe thousands
OF men turned their eyes skyward to see
the old familiar stars just as they had always
been
Irntn II was dawn In London and Pollux
setting and the stars overhead grown pale.
The winters dawn 1t was. sckly, hItering
accumulation of daylight, and the light Of gas
md candles shone yellow in the windows to
show where people were astir. But tho yawn-
ing policeman saw the thing. the busy crowds
I'm the market stopped agape, workmen going
to their work betimes, milkmen. the drivers
OF news carts, dissipation going home faded
and pale homeless wanderers, sentnels on
their beats and In the country, laborers trudg-
ing adeld poaChers sinking home, all over the
dusky, quiCkening country II could be seen
and out at sea by seamen watching for the
day-a great white star, come suddenly into
the westward sky
Brighter 1t was than any star In our skies;
brighter than the evening star at its brightest.
II stil glowed out white and large, no mere
twinkltng spot of light, but small round,
clear shining disk an hour after the day had
come And where science has not reached.
men stared and feared, telling one another of
the wars and pestences that are foreshad-
owed by these. fiery signs in the heavens.
Sturdy Beers, dusky Hottentots. Gold Coast
negroes, Frerchmen, Spaniards, Portuguese.
stood In the warmth Of the sunrise watching
the setting Of this strange new star.
And Ia hundred observatories there had
been suppressed excitement, rising almost to
shouting pitch, as the two remote bodies had
rushed together, and hurrying to and fro
TO gather Photographic apparatus and spectre
scope and this appliance and that to record
this novel astonishing sight, the destruction
OF n world. For II was n world, a sister planet
OF our earth far greater than our earth indeed,
that had so suddenly flashed into flaming
death Neptune II was had been struck, fairly
and squarely. by the strange planet from
outer space and the heat of the conclusion had
inContinently turned two solid globes into one
vast mass OF incandescenCe Round the world
that day, two hours before the dawn, went the
palid great white star, fading only as II sank
westward and the sun mounted above It. Ev-
erywhere men marveled at IT. but % all those
who saw IL none could have marveled more
than those sailors habitual watchers Of the
stars who far away at sea had heard nothing
Of its advent and saw II now rise like q pgmy
moon and climb zepithward and hang over
head and sink westward with the passing OF
the night.
And when next It rose over Europe every
where were crowds Of watchers on hilly slopes.
on house roofs, in open spaces, staring east.
ward for the rising of the great new star. It
rose with white glow in front of IT, like the
glare OF white fire, and those who had seen
II come into existence the night before cried
out at the sight OF It. 1T is larger they cried
1T is brighter" And indeed the moon quar-
ter full and sinking in the west was in its
apparent size beyond comparison. but scarcely
in all its breadth had il as much brightness
now as the little circle OF the strange new star
1T is brighter" cried the people clustering
in the streets. But in the dim observatories
the watchers held their breath and peered at
one another, 1T Is nearer" they said Nearer "
And voice after voice repeated 1t IS near.