Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-05
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Mystery galaxies in the far reaches of
space are being investigated by astron-
omers at the Mount Wilson Observatory
Of the Carnegie Institution Of Wash
ington.
These are the "elliptical nebulae, "
luminous patches appearing in the most
powerful telescopes, some of the nearest
OF which are so distant that their light
moving at the rate Of about 1So, 900 miles
second, requires approximately 800 900
years to reach the earth.
They obviously are quite different from
their companions in space-the spiral
nebulae and the globular nebulae. The
former now are universally admitted to
be Island universes" The Milky Way
system. Of which the earth is a part,
consisting of billions of stars, itself is an
island universe. 1t would appear like a
spiral nebulae to an astronomer stationed
a few million light years outside of 1t in
space. Some of the others-there are
millions OF them-may be about the size
OF this galaxy. Others probably are
much smaller.
determined by the discovery within some
OF the nearest of them of variable stars,
which reveals their constitution. They
are made up of millions, or billions, of
such stars-probably of all stellar classes
and sizes. The nature of the globular
nebulae also is understood by astron-
omers. They presumably are of the same
nature as the great star clusters, such as
the clouds Of Magellan, which are found
about the edges of the Milky Way
galaxy.
But the ellipitcal nebulae fit into
neither classification. They have not the
spiral form which an aggregation Of
stars comparable in size and evolution
to this galaxy would assume. They are
bigger than the globular clusters. 1t
has been impossible to distinguish any
stars in them. Their nature has been
the subject of much speculation.
Some have maintained that they are
giant stars "-enormous aggregations Of
very fine particles held together in a
creation would be dwarfs in comparison
with them. One reason for this assump-
ton has been their clearly defined out
lines. If they were clouds of stars, it
has been maintained. their borders would
not be clear-cut, but would continue
indefinitely into space, the stars becoming
thinner and thinner the farther away
from the center. This, in fact, is just
what happens, the Carnegie astronomers
claim. The sharp outlines have been
illusions due to too short exposures.
Another theory has been that they
consist of highly luminous centers COM
posed of all sorts of stars surrounded
by dense cloud of dust, through which
the light has difficulty in penetrating. If
this duSt.maSk theory were true, Of
course, it would be impossible ever to find
any individual objects within the nebulae
Still another theory has been that they
are enormous aggregations of very dense
dwarf stars such as exist in large num-
bers throughout the Milky Way galaxy.
The luminosity of star decreases with
its density. This would account for the
extremely feeble light obtained from
them.
If the latter theory were true it would
have far-reaching effects on theories re-
speeding the structure of the universe.
These elliptical nebulae, it could be cal
culated, might contain by far the great
est part of the whole mass of creation.
Such thinly distributed aggregation as
the Milky Way galaxy, or any of the
island galaxies, would weigh little in
comparison to one Of them.
The work Mt the Carne9ie Ob0eryae