Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-06-20
DEAD STARS
Millions on Millions of Them Are
Flying Through Space.
THE PERILS OF A COLLISION.

What Would Happen If One Of the Lar.
ger Of These Erratic Dsrsiicts Should
WhirI Itself Into Our Solar System.
The Birth Of . Nsbuia.
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 NUN.
bers as the cold horseshoes In existence
are to the red hot ones. For every such
hot u there must be many hundreds
OF cold ones. so that II the simile Is
sound the heavens must contain IN 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 NIL
lions OF miles In diameter. rushing at
each other at the rate Of twenty or
thirty or ever more miles per second
would result, so the mathematicjans
tell us. in a world splitting explosion
exactly rs II 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 colIided hut an immense whirling
mass Of tncandescent gas called a
nebula. Of which. as most people know.
there are quite a number dotted owe
the heavens. This maelstrom Of gas
would sail about among the stars for
ages. III the course Of which 1t would
naturally cool down and condense into
Il star system much like our own. with
probably a cent al sun. planets and
moon.
Some of these would sooner or later
arrive at a condition OF temperature
suitable for the support of life and rs
the centuries passed would become
peopled with sentient beings. Grad.
ually they would grow too cold for life
to exist and finally become frigtd. cold,
dark stars once; more. The number OF
stars visible to the naked eye Is only
q few thousands, With the best tele.
scope and other instruments it Is cal
culated we can detect about a hun
dred %millions-not u large number
there are fifteen times as many PEG.
pie as that living Oh this globe): but.
Judging BY Sir Robert Balls horse
shoe simile and reckoning only a hun.
dred dark ones to every bright one. we
may take it that there must be at least
10.OOOyOOO, 900 dark stars chasing about
in space. most of which we have never
seen and probably never will e {.
say most Of which. for perhaps 1t
may come as a surprise to some that
the earth we live in is a dark star.
So are all the other planets and plane
toids Of II 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
Nor must we forget to
mention those bodies called shooting
stars which may be seer almost any
night If patiently watched for.
These. though they look like stars. are
as every me knows, to be dig
nifed by the name. being mostly but
small masses Of matter flying
about in space. They are quite cold
and dark until they enter our atmos.
phere, which they do ut such n speed
"A raises them ut once to II white heat
BY friction OF their passage through
t, and thus they are revealed to US.
For every one we see there must he
thousands whose paths miss US
entirely. ships that pass In the night.
and unknown. Some Of these
ire of immense magnitude and are I'M.
1oubtedIy regular In their course.
are doubtless flying about the
on haphazard paths. and 1t
t conceivable that one might come
llong and collide with us or our sum-.
The result Of such a collision would
he tho end Of this earth
md its inhabitants.
Ii the intruder were Of any respecta-
lie size a collision with any OF the lar
'er members Of the solar system would
such n c0ntlngratiOn ~ would
aise the temperature Of all the rest
|bove the point ut which life as. we
now It conld exist. 'The earth and
the inhnhitants thereof would be
'nrnt up and the elements would melt +
With fervent heat" Even ii such a
tar did o collide. but merely passed
our system. the effect OF its
TRACTION would altogether upset pres
mt conditions and almost certainly +,
ring about the cessation Of life on the
irtfl& il
Neither can We encourage ourselves
Nth the hope. that the collision would |;
e too sudden for us to know much
bout'it No such thing. Our astrono-
would see the star directly 1t got
ear enough for the sun to light 1t up. I.
robabIy fifteen or twenty years before
arrived. according to its size and
peed. They would be able to caicu- !
tie its path and foretell to a few min
ties the pHPcise moment Of the catas. q