The chronicle=news., 1913-03-10
THE EARTH As
A DARK STAB

mt 50 great an authority a. Sir
Robert Rail- has said that thc dark
stars nr~ IN the hrish, for numbers
as the cold horF. .shofs in existence
are TO the rcd-hot ones. In these days
OF motor vehicles IL Is evident thut
h0rsshOcs are l-s, numerou, than
they were. hut doubtless the propor-
ton nf cold onrs 10 ihos" ~ any
given moment red uron the hlack-
smiths anvil remains much as II al
ways was. For every snch hot ono
there must he man, hundreds OF
cold ones. so thar II the simiic Ia
sound. tho heaven, mus; contain nm
Incredible number OF 'hes. drrci!cis
on 'hc ocean oi spaces. which, hav-
Ing lived their lie. have grown cold
und dead. hui are siiil racing nbout
at star speed uuril in their wnnd"r-
inES they meet som. other heavenly
hody In torrir~ collision.
Such gigantic "astrophcs as the
clash of two Funs. each perhars .
million milcs IN diameter. rushing
NJ each other At The rate Of 20 or 20
or even more miles per second would
rcrult. 30 the mlihsmat!cinns tell II.
In n world-sr.ii!ng explosion exactly
as N each wrTc composed of billions
OF billion Of tons of gnupowdor: and
ns when runD1wtcr cNolodcs no h.
Ing II loft hut cas and smoke. So In
IN" clash Of stars nothing would be
loft of III" TWO great solid bodies
which had mn immense whirlinr
mnss of incani"Ecsni gas called
r"hula. Of which. as collide. ~ most
h"orl. know. there are 1ultc - nnm-
her dotted oNc- the henvens. This
manistrom OF gas would sail abou,
among the stars for ages. In the
course Of which II would nntnraIi,
cool down ana rord"ns" into Il sta.
svs'cm much Ike orr own. with prob
hhly central run, planets and
moon.
Some of thee wOuid sooner or lat
~ arrive Al y condition ot tnmncra-
iur" sniiah!. for ~" support OF life
,rd ns tho centuries passed would
b"nomc prcpl.h with s"n,i.ncpt he.
invs. Grndna.ir they would grow TOO
"clG for life to "Nif,. and finally bn.
sn'r. fricii. cold. dark stars ones
Tor.. The number of stars visible 10
tho naked eve is only "a f"w thousand
Win the bss' ,"ir.csplc and other
Instruments :, j. calculated W. can
go. largo number ',her. are ~.
teen timer NJ many people &s thar
living on this ginhe,. but. judeins
l., S'r Robnri Esli's horseshoe SINH
Nc aud reckoning only oil" hundred
Gnrl ones - cyrTv bright on. "
rrv take u shai tber. niust hc ~
lcns' lev thoassand million dark star,
rbatkuxs xsAspqk In space. meat o.
ssih htS~fa SSRA a..N .ex.t.
ably mover Will sec.
say most of which. for pSrhnps
II NAV some us surprIs. - som"
thar the earth We live In * n dark
star: 20 are nj! :he nih". planets
and plnne'oIds ~ our solar sys,em
which with their moons. Of which
bodies. sh.niuo onlr nv III. reflected
light Of tn" snu. there are NJ least
'tS hundred known 10 Astronomers
Nor must We forget to mention thoss
MAY b.. sc"n almost any clear night
= patiently watched for. Thcsc.
though they lcok like stars. are
hardly. a. everyone knows. 10 he
iicnifici br the name. being mostly
int very small nnsFns nj matter fv.
tn ahnrr in sEacr. They ar. quite
1tmosnl.r.. which they do u; such
, snecd NJ E'ises them AT once to n
white heat bv friction Of their pas
are through II. aud thus they ar"
revealed to us. For every one we sce
there uuFi h, manv thousands who's"
maths miss Us entirely, ships that pass
IN ;hn night, silently aLd unknown.
These too. wn must class as dark
ia ,,,I
these are cold and dead compare
with our sun or any OF the stars VIC
sec. From tho ncarcs, they would he
quite invisible, and. vice versa. ""
cannot SOC the planets which revolvc
around the stars. if such there he. as
In likely enough: for II Is hardly
to he supposed that oui. sun alons.
among u hundred million others,
ncssnssos such attendants.
nut We have ono or two other rea. |
'nns for thinking that there arc dark
r.ars much IIrgor than any OF these.
Here and there nre bri cht ones which |
IRE found to vary in magnitude at !
regular intervals. Ono. hlgoi. in Per-
scns, no, FAR from Cassiopeia, varies
every three days from Il star OF the |
sccond MAGNITUDE 10 one Of the third !!
Hvht at its duliest as 1t does az its
brightest Il secms probable that Al |
gol Is really two stars revolving ,
about zach other much n, the two
ends Of a Jumbell would rcvolve
were IL sot sninning. One of these is
supposed to he dark and cold, or
SO. and the other |
bright: IL IL easy to see how at each |
revolution tho dark one might come |
between us and It's brighter conf
ranion. and rut off part of the light. |
thus causing the changes we sec.
About thirty of these variables
becn discovered. II seems n small
number. but it is plain enough that
for ono Of such n pair TO eclipse the |
thor its Dnti, would have to lie cx-
actlv hetwocn us and It's partner.
Probably there are many who's"
paths do not fnlfill this condition.