The Washington times., 1918-06-14
~ GARRETT r. sERvIss.

The wonderful new star in AQuiila-
which made its sensational appear
Ancs coincidently with the total
eclipse OF June s. is the most bril-
liant nova" that has been seen with
in three centuries, and 1t would be
difficult to name an astronomical
event of greater interest and import
ance than the sudden entry OF this
dazzling stranger into the great COM
pany OF fixed stars. making itself in
stantly the "cynosure Of all behold
ers" and outshinIng every other star
in the visible sky.
Only two new stars in all history
ever exceeded It in brightness-'"ry-
cho'S Star OF 1872 and "KepleFs
Star" of 1904 Indeed. Il is not GER
tain that Kepler's star was brighter
than this one, but Tycho's certainly
was, since it exceeded the planet We
nus at her brightest, and was for a
time visible in broad daylight
The famous new star of 1901,
known as Nova Persei." although
the most brilliant that had appeared
since kepler's day, was considerably
inferior to the present phenomenon.
1t attained the zero magnitude. but
Nova Aquila on Sunday night, June
Q, went far beyond that. reaching
magnitude-1.4. according to the awk-
ward system adopted by astronomers,
in which indicates a higher magni-
tude than ]. and i a higher than o.
Accordingly. IL appears that the
new star. on June 0. was very nearly
as bright as Sirius. the brightest per-
manent fixed star. whose magnitude
is -1-6. When first noticed, on June
:. the magnitude was only 0.5. so that
It more than doubled in brightness in
the course OF twenty-four hours, the
difference Of brightness that corre-
spends to a difference OF one maEni-
tude being about in the ratio OF 1
to ~.
The immense value OF the Photographic
charts Of the heavens which have been
regularly made within recent years is
shown by the fact that the moment the
discovery OF Nova Aquila was telegraph.
ed by large number OF nearly simuIta-
neous observers to the Harvard College
Observatory, search was made among the
stacks OF stored photographs Of that part
OF the sky, and Immediately the history
OF The stranger vas extended back for
thirty years anteccding its sudden drive
for fame. its insihnifcant image being
A~bAAA OlA - plrAAG udlt4 Aldg 1879. Wnen
II was OF only the eleventh magniture,
far down below the range Of visibility 10
the naked eye
Others Of the teIItaiIe Photographic
plates revealed the fact that the little
star was always justly open to sus-
plclon' since 1t frequently changed in
brightness, although never to
greater extent than half n magnitude
There are many faint stars however.
which behave in a similar way. so
that astronomers could hardly have
foreseen that this particular one
would make so amazing a break
Nevertheless its image. as is now
known apepars on several hundred
OF the Harvard plates, and il any
astronomer had happened to examine
carefully the plate taken June Z ne
would have anticipated the naked
eye discoverers Of June :. because,
as the photograph shows, on the
night OF June Z the star had suddenly
risen from the eleventh to the sixth
magnitude. which just brought ii
within the range Of naked eyevIsIon.
Exactly when the sensational in
crease Of brightness began is not
known, because cloudy skies had
prevented the taking OF photographs
on June 4. and G. but the plate Of
June . had shown no abnormal ap-
pcaran""s. II was then Of the usual
eleventh magnitude. TstV cen June :
and Jun" % rose tro nthe siNth
HaEnitud" O." MAGNITUDE ~. an in
'r"as" iu tNentl four hours 0f 80
magnitude. while tn th. preceding
tw"nty four hours 70 had apparently
risen another nyr magnitude. MAX
inE ~ least ten Wuguitud's "a forty
eight hours which means an increase