The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1913-05-30
DEAD STARS
Millions on Millions Of Them Are
Flying Through Space.
THE PERILs OF A COLLISION.

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THE PERILs OF A COLLISION.
Whist Would Happen II One Of the Lar.
ger Of These Erratie Dsrsiiots Should
Whirl Itself Into Our Solar System.
The Birth Of . Nsbula.
Possibly 1t has never occurred to
many people that there are such bodies
Al dark stars. but 30 great an authority
a. Sir Robert Ball has said thai the
dark stars are to the bright for num-
beers as the cold h%orseshoes in existence
are to the red hot ones. For every such
hot one there must be many hundreds
Of cold ones. so that II the aimile is
sound the heavens must contain an in.
credible number of these derelicts on
the ocean of space. which. having lived
their life. have grown cold and dead.
but are still racing about at star speed
until in their wanderings they meet
some other heavenly body In terrific
collision.
Such gigantic catastrophe as the
clash Of two suns. each perhaps mil
lions of miles in diameter, rushing at
each other at the rate Of twenty or
thirty or ever more miles per second
would result. 80 the mathematcians
tell us, in a world splitting explosion
exactly as II each were composed of
billions Of billions Of tons Of gunpow-
der. and as when g%unpowder explodes
nothing Is left but gas and smoke. 80
in the clash of stars nothing would be
left Of the two great solid bodies which
had collided but an immense whirling
mass Of incandescent gas called q
nebula. Of which. as most people know.
there are quite a number dotted over
the heavens. This maelstrom Of gas
would sail about among the stars for
ages, in the course Of which 1t would
naturally cool down and condense into
a star system much like our own. with
probably q central sun. planets and
noon.
Some Of these would sooner Or later
arrive at a condition Of temperature
suitable for the support Of life and as
the centuries passed would become
peopled with sentient beings. Grad.
ually they would grow toe cold for life
to exist and. finally become frigid. cold.
dark stars once more The number OF
stars visible to the naked eye - only
a few thousands. With the best tele-
scope and other instruments 1t is cal
culated We can detect about a hun
dred millions-not a large number
there are fifteen times as many peo-
pie az that living on this globe); but.
judging BY Sir Robert Balls horse
shoe amile and reckoning only a hum
dred dark ones to every bright one. we
may take 1t that there must be at least
1O.O0O.OO0.OOO dark stars chasing about
in space. most Of which we have eve
seen and probably never will zee.
say most Of which. for perhaps II
may come as a surprise to some that
the earth we live in IL q dark star.
80 are all the other planets and plane
toids of our solar system. which with
their moons. OF which bodies. shining
only by the reflected light Of the sun.
there are at least 600 known to as
tronomers. Nor must we forget to
mention those bodies called shooting
stars which may be seen almost any
clear night II patiently watched for.
These. though they look like stars, are
hardly, az every one knows. to be dig
niAed by the name. being mostly but