Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-14
SPIRAL NEbULAE
CREATION SECRET.
Man May Solve Origin in
Discovering Cause of
PinWheeI Light.
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.

Associated Press Science Editor.
NEW YORK, July l3.-In the spiral
nebulae, like the new one just dis
covered at Harvard which is SO close
by that it looks as big as the moon,
lies one of mans hopes of some day
discovering the origin of creation.
If he can ever figure out the cause
of the shape of these spirals-objects
which resemble pinwheels of light
he will be a long way on the road
to understanding the forces which
brought creation into being.
If a nickel pinwheel were lighted on
two sides, so that it spouted sparks
from two points on its circumference,
that would be an almost perfect pic
ture of the structure of a spiral
nebula.
Two arms of light, streaming OF
in circular paths that wrap them
selves around center which is a
glowing mass of light-deScribes the
spiral nebula.
The reason why this shape is SO
intriguing is that there is probably
nothing in the entire heavens except
spiral nebulae. Every aggregation OF
stars, it is beginning to appear, Is
spiral.
Milky Way Spiral.
Evidence is piling up even that the
milky way to which earth and the
sun belong, is only another spiral
nebula. To us on earth it is COL
lection of countless individual stars.
But seen from the distances at which
the other star collections lie, our part
of the universe would be just another
small pinwheel.
1t was 200 years ago that the
astronomer Herschel discovered the
first of these nebulae He didn't call
it that-but named it ar island uni
verse" vast star collection incredibly
remote from our own sector OF space.
Today about 100000 of these
"universes" have been counted with
the aid of telescopes. They lie in all
directions from earth, at all distances
up to more than 100,000.000 light
years.
Just now the new estimate is that
the 2OO-inch telescope when COM
pleted will reveal 100000 OF them.
Herschel did not call his island
universe" a spiral nebula because 1t
didn't look like one. Nor do many
of them look like the glowing pin
wheels they probably are.
This is because some are seen edge
on and others at every possible angle.
Furthermore, some seem to be PIN
wheels just about to form, others. old
whirls which have been spinning their
long arms of fire for countless ages.
Difficult to Understand.
This is another reason for think
ing that solution of their universal
principle of spin may help to under
stand their origin. They lie out in
space, apparently an open book, tell
ing the story of creations evolution,
every step in it.
The trouble Is to read the print.
Larger telescopes will help. It is be-
ueved now that most of these spirals,
which look like mere nebulous masses
of light, are actually collections OF
individual stars, as widely spaced as
those in our own part of the sky.
The newer shapes-pin wheels
about to form-may be something diff
ferent. The telescopes may sometime
reveal what they are.
Those in the beginning stage are
round masses of light-shaped like a
jellyfsh. They are believed at pres
ent to be merely masses Of glowing
gas. Such a nebula is CONGO 1919.
That is how most of them are named,
by symbols, testifying to the over
whelming immensely of their num-
bers.
The second step-shown clearly by
others-is swelling Of the central mass
of light. Third-it elongates-takes
the form of platter. Fourth-the
spirals show up, shooting out from
the ends of the platter.
Finally the thing winds up into
true whirlpool of stars. There is rea-
son to believe that each one of these
certainly in its later stages Of evo-
lution-is composed Of from 2,000,-
600, 900 to 10O,o00,0o0,0o individual
stars.
That is shown by the closer spirals.
The nearest is only 10000 light years
away. Once it looked like big spiral.
Lately the larger telescopes have Gre
solved" this spiral-M 81 in Andro-
meda-into huge collection Of stars.
Forming of Spiral.
These stars are strung out to form
the spiral-the same spiral as all the
spiral nebulae.
It is guesswork to say that our own
milky way is spiral nebula, for earth
is a part Of it, and we are too close
to see.
But there is one piece of startling
evidence. That is the proven whirling
motion Of the whole milky way. 1t Is
spinning round its center with its
outer edges travelling at something like
100 miles second. 1t takes several
hundred million years to make one
revolution.
In that whirl the earth lies about
two-thirds of the distance out toward
the rim.
The distant spirals seen edge on
show unquestionably that most of the
spirals are fairly fiat, like wheels with
extra bulky hubs. There are reasons
for believing that the milky way is
such a disc-shaped collection of stars.
Although much remains to be proved
yet as to whether all the big star COL
lections are spiral nebulae. there is
enough to show that this shape and
Uhirlino Is the most Universal nrinci-