The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1913-06-05
DARK, DEAD STARS
Millions on Millions of Them Are
Flying Through Space.
THE PERlLS OF A COLLISION.
What Would Happen If One of the Lar
ger of These Erratie DereIicts Should
Whirl Itself Into Our Solar System.
The Birth of q NebuIs,

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 mathematicians
tell US, in a 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 q 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
star system much like our own. with
probably a central sun, planets and
moon.
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 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
a few thousands. With the best tele-
scope and other instruments 1t Is cal
culated we can detect about a hum
dred millions-not 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. OOO,O 900 dark stars chasing about
in space, most Of which we have never
seen and probably never will see.
say most Of which. for perhaps 1t
the earth we live in is a 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
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. as every one knows. to be dig
nified 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 a speed
as raises them at once to q 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 I'M
doubtedly 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 habitants.
II the intruder were of any respecta.
BILE size a collision with any of the lar
ger members Of the solar system would
produce such confagration as would
raise the temperature Of all the rest
above the point at which life as we
know it could exist "The earth and
all the inhabitants thereof would be
burnt up and the elements would melt
with fervept heat" Even II such a
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 ourselves
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 got
near enough for the sun to light 1t up,
probably fifteen or twenty years before
It arrived. according to its size and
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 slowly
advancing doom. Indeed. the passage
Of even a small star quite outside our
system by many millions Of miles
would still bRve a sufficiently disturb
ing effect on us to draw us out Of our
path and alter entirely our climate and
observation-disclosures Journal
Cheerfulness and content are great
beautifiers and famous preservers OF
youthful looks.-Dickens.