The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-05-15
DARK, DEAD STARS
Millions on Millions of Them Are
Flying Through Space.
THE PERILS OF A COLLISION.
What Would Happen if One Of tho Lar
ger of These Erratic Derelicts Should
Whirl Itself Into Our Solar System.
The Birth of Nebula.


Possibly it has never occurred to
many people that there are such bodies
as dark stars. but so great an authority
as Sir Robert Ball has said that the
dark stars are to the bright for num-
bers as the cold horseshoes in existence
are to the red hot ones. For every such
hot one there must be many hundreds
of cold ones, so that If the smile 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 even more miles per second
would result, so the mathematician
tell us, in world splitting explosion
exactly as If each were composed of
billions Of billions of tons of gunpow-
der, and as when gunpowder explodes
nothing is left but gas and smoke, so
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 a
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 it would
naturally cool down and condense into
a star system much like our own, with
probably a central sun, planets and
moon.
Some Of these would sooner or later
arrive at 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 too Cold for life
to exist and finally become frigid, cold.
dark stars once more The number Of
stars visible to the naked eye is only
few thousands With the best tele-
scope and other instruments it is cal.
culated we can detect about hun
dred millions-not a large number
there are fifteen times as many peo-
pie as that living on this globe); but.
judging by Sir Robert Balls horse
shoe smile and reckoning only hun
dred dark ones to every bright one. we
may take it that there must be at least
| 10000 900 dark stars chasing about
in space. most of which we have never
seen and probably never will see.
! l say most Of which. for perhaps it
may come as a surprise to some that
the earth we live in is dark star
So 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
stars which may be seen almost any
clear night If patiently watched for.
These. though they look like stars. are
hardly, as every one knows, to be dig
nifed by the name. being mostly but
very small masses of matter flying
about in space. They are quite cold
and dark until they enter our atmos-
phere, which they do at such speed
as raises them at once to a white heat
by friction Of their passage through
it, and thus they are revealed to US.
For every one we see there must be
many thousands whose paths miss us
entirely. ships that pass in the night.
silently and unknown. Some Of these
are of immense magnitude and are un-
doubleday regular in their course.
Others are doubtless flying about the
heavens on haphazard paths. and it
it conceivable that one might come
along and collide with US or our sun.
The result Of such a collision would
undoubtedly be the end Of this earth
and its inha bitants
If the intruder were of any respecta.
BILE size collision with any Of the lar.
ger members Of the solar system would
produce such a confagration as would
raise the temperature of all the rest
above the point at which life as we
know it could exist. 1.-THE earth and
all the inhabitants thereof would be
burnt up and the elements would melt
with fervent heat" Even if such O
star did not collide, but merely passed
through our system, the effect of its
attraction would altogether upset pres
ent conditions and almost certainly
bring about the cessation Of life on the
earth
Neither can we encourage ourselve.
with the hope that the collision would
be too sudden for us to know much
about it. No such thing. Our astrono
mers would see the star directly it go
near enough for the sun to light it up
probably fifteen or twenty years before
it arrived. according to its size ant
speed They would be able to calcu
late its path and foretell to few min
utes the precise moment of the catas
trophe, and we should have the added
horror Of the anticipation Of our slowl.
advancing doom. Indeed, the passag'
OF even small star quite outside ou
system by many millions of mile
would still have a sufficiently disturb