Evening star., 1937-06-07
SPIRAL NEbU[AE
REPORTED FOUND
New Cluster May Be "Biq.
gest Thing in Crea-
tion."

tion."
Discovery Of what may prove the
biggest thing in creation has Just been
reported to the National Academy of
Sciences here.
1t is about 1900 0OO, ,00O, 900 .00O, 900
miles long and 1000 ,00O, 600, 900 900 900
miles wide. It Is about 150, ,OOO, 900. :
000, 900 ,O00, 900 miles from the earth.
from which 1t Is moving away into
depths OF outer space at the rate of
approximately 1000 miles a second.
This Is not single object. but 4
cluster Of between 800 and 400 spiral
nebulae, each An enormous agyrega-
ton Of stars possibly as large As the
80 600, 900, ,o00-star aggregation Of the
Milky Way galaxy, which includes all
the stars in the visible heavens. The
point is, as explained in the journal
Of the National Academy by DR.. F..
Zwicky Of the California Institute of
Technology, the hundreds OF star
galaxies in this Super-titian OF the
heavens seem to constitute a system
which, from its shape. appears to be
revolving around common center.
For purposes Of study it may be con-
sidered As 4 single object.
Families OF galaxies have been
known to exist almost since the ma
ture OF spiral nebulae as island uni
verses-cut on by thousands of light
years OF empty space from other star
aggregations-was correctly inter-
preted flrst by astronomers of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The Milky Way galaxy itself is sup
posed to form one unit Of such a sys-
tenn, other units being the great clouds
OF Magellan which are visible in the
southern heavens. probably the great
nebula in Andromeda which was the
FIRST OF the island uniyerses discov-
cred, and three or four others.
Mass Photograph Needed.
But only from an enormous dis
tance away, where the movements OF
individual units no longer could con-
fuse the picture, could the existence
OF such a system as that described by
DR.. Zwicky be discerned. 1t was pos
sible also only with the use OF a Spe-
cial telescope which covered an un-
usually wide angle Of the sky SO that
the various nebulae would be photo
graphed all together Only such 4
mass photograph would reveal their
relationship to each other.
Within this system are at least
three places where the nebulae seem
to be clustered very closely together
This may represent the existence OF
system within systems, the smaller
perhaps corresponding to the Milky
Way-Magellanic clouds system.
A closer study Of the monster of
the heavens is planned by Dr. Zwicky
and his colleagues at the California
Institute Of Technology Clusters OF
nebulae," he says in his report to
the National Academy, represent the
largest aggregations OF matter known
1t may be expected that an investi-
CATION OF their distribution in space
and OF their composition and physical
properties will throw new light on
such problems as the determine ton
Of nebular masses. on the red shift
Of light from nebulae, and or the
evolution OF stars from nebulae AZ
well as the evolution OF the universe
as whole"
The great cluster Of nebulae was
found by Or. Zwicky in the con-
stellation OF Pisces. or the Fish, Close
to the Andromeda constellation. where
the nature Of island universes was
first determined. One OF the vital
questions to be answered with the
return Of good observing conditions
DR.. zwicky points out, is the "red
shift" Of the cluster as a whole. II
has hitherto been determined that
these island universes seem to be
moving outward at a speed which
increases with their distance away
from the observer. Whether this i.
an actual outward movement, or some
sort OF inexplicable illusion, has not
yet been satisfactorily determined
New hght will be shed on the problem
II the red shift evidence of thi.
outward movement, is found to apply
to an aggregation of hundreds OF
nebulae. The approximate distance
can be conjectured from the bright.
ness Of the nebular bodies and from
this the speed OF repression which
should obtain can be calculated.
There are evidences, DR.. Zwicky says
that other clusters of nebulae, pre-.
viously described. may be member.
OF systems of much the same magni-
tude. A recent discovery from the
Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Ariz
Is OF considerable number of clus-
tiers with from 20 to 80 members
The real nature Of these, he says, only
can be determined with the use OF
the wideangle telescope.