The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-11-07
Strange Astral Body
By GARRETT P. sERVIss.

There is a strange fish In the sky, a
kind of astronomical "What-1s-It, which
made its first appearance TO human eyes
on September 6, when a young Russian
astronomer named NeuJmin. in his re-
| mote observatory at Simeis. In the Cri-
mear found its image on a Photographic
plate that he had exposed to the sky
three nights earlier
1t did not look like comet. and Neu-
jmin thought that 1t must be little plan
ct. and as such he announced ii to the
astronomical world. The matter was
turned over to certain astronomers who
make q speciality of the study Of the as
teroids, or little planets, an dthey, after Il
careful examination. repudiated II. They
declared that 1t could not be a planet
and must be comet. They consequently
declined to put IT on their list.
But the mystery only deepened, for no
body could remember ever having seen
such comet as this. Ii looked like Il
star, but moved as no real star could
do. For few nights II appeared very
slightly elongated. but then It lost this ap-
pearance and became round again. There
was no tail-not even the root OF tail;
the great Lick telescope failed to show
the slightest trace of one.
Great difficulty was encountered in
making out the path in which It travelled.
According to some calculations 1t had
been nearest 10 the sun as long ago as
July 22, and was. al the moment of It's
discovery, fast gliding away again into
space, According TO others its nearest
approach TO the sun was day or two
after It's discovery.
At the Lick observatory, where they
do not call 1t either comet or planet, but
give It the non committal and mysterious
designation of the "ObJect Neujmin." a
period OF revolution around the sun Of
nearly seventeen and a half years has
| been assigned 10 the stranger. but the
add that while there cannot be any doubt
about the elliptical nature of the orbit.
the period OF revolution may he shortened
as the result Of further observations.
In the meantime the Object Neujmin"
has been Professionally accepted in the
cometary sheepfold- to be turned out into
the cold later. perhaps, II It's claim cam
not be made good.
An "object" in the sky, about whose
nature the astronomers themselves are
in doubt-that IS surely a new sensation
And yet we ought not to be very much
surprised by it, The heavens are full of
mysteries. Space is occupied by unknown
and ordinarily invisible bodies OF many
kinds
The sun Is carrying the earth contin-
ually into new regions. travelling north.
ward at least $4,000 miles per year. and
there is plenty Of evidence that the con-
tents OF space. through which we are
moving. vary to an astonishing degree.
In some places vast nebulae spread their
gIimmernG wings and sprawling spiraIs
over billions OF miles. The earth caught
IN one of those celestial maelstroms would
be less important than chip in the rap
ids OF Niagara. Some of the nebulac are
Invisible by direct vision. dark nebu-
lac" Professor Barnard calls them be-
cause they obscure hosts OF stars behind
them, like gigantic curtains OF black
gauze. These nebulous monsters may be-
set our course Ike the pitfalls. gins and
snares OF the Pilgrims Progress
Elsewhere we see great stars some OF
them far mightier than the sun stagger-
ing under the burden OF one or more huge
dark bodies or swagms OF smaller objects
which have attached themselves TO them
by the hooks of gravitation and cannot
be shaken off. II the sun should ever,
Ike Sinbad. fall int othe clutches of one
OF these "Old Men OF the Sea" that lurk
around the shores and shadows OF the
ocean OF space, he could never free his
neck from IS clinging limbs. There is
no wine that can inebriate gravitatlon
and paralyzc its grip,
Strange objects In the solar system! II
ever they begin To be seen IN considerab ble
numbers We shall have reason 10 fear
that the sun is running US into danger in
its headlong course. Every great dark
body IN space must have flocks OF them
ABOUT II. Every spinning nebulao must
be casting them Oft by millions
What occupation so fascinating as that
OF the watchers for these things. the as
tronomers, who regard the stars the sun
the planets. the comets with tlreless pa
tience. keeping account OF their behavior
and Of their motions, and once in while
Ike the young Russian, In his lone Crl-
mean observatory. spying something TO
which they can give no other name than
that OF an unknown object in the sky.