Evening star., 1938-09-01
STAR BLASTS SEEN
SOURCE OF RAYS
Explosions Once in Every
600 Years May Provide
Cosmic Ray Energy.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Stan Correspondent.

denly becomes almost as bright as all
the others put together-about 500,-
100000 times brighter than the sun.
What happens is one Of the out
standing mysteries of the universe
Perhaps trillions of tons of matter
are transformed in few days into
light and other forms of energy in
cluding the as yet inexplicable cosmic
rays forever bombarding the earth
from outer space and some OF which
are minute particles propelled with
such force that they will go through
foot Of lead.
That the so-called supernovae are
the sources of this constant lombard
ment Of cosmic rays, some of which
may hit earth with a driving force
of as much as 100O0.000, ,0O0, 600, ,0O0.-
900 volts, was proposed by astronomers
and physicists of the British Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Science
here a few days ago. The terrific
star explosions are the only known
| events in creation which could pro-
vide such energies.
Particles Would Prove Origin.
Although the suggestion has been
made before. 1t was explained two
possibilities now are opening up of
putting it to some sort of proof.
Supposed supernovae explosions have
been recorded two or three times in
human history. One instance, 1t is
possible, was that Of the Star Of
Bethlehem Another was that Of q
star recorded by the Danish astrono-
mer. Tycho Brahe, approximately 400
years ago.
Now primary cosmic rays entering
the earth's atmosphere are known to
consist chiefly Of electrons and pro-
tons, the fundamental units OF mat
ter. The latter, being much heavier,
move much more slowly. It is calcu-
lated that the protons from Tycho
Brahe's exploding star, propelled with
an energy of several hundred electron
volts. should reach the earth during
the next few years. If quantities of
these heavy particles Of the proper
voltage could be detected entering the
earths upper levels of atmosphere it
would almost settle the cosmic ray
origin problem.
The actual proof, it is stressed.
would be accompanied by very great
difficulties. 1t would be necessary to
make observations almost at the outer
limits Of the atmosphere and approxi-
mately above the North Pole. This
would have seemed fantastic except
for the vast strides made by the
United States Bureau of Standards
toward the perfection Of the radio
meteorograph by which automatic
recording instruments are sent aloft
in small balloons and send back to
earth a continuous radio account of
what the brass-and-rubber Drained
robots are observing.
Photographs IS Evidence.
The second outstanding possibility.
it was stressed, is coming from work
recently undertaken at the Mount
Wilson Observatory Of the Carnegie
Institution Of Washington. Another
two centuries or more may elapse be-
fore there will be another supernova
in the Milky Way galaxy. which in
cludes essentially Ill the visible stars
But it now i known that this is only
one galaxy among at least a million
OF relatively equal size scattered in the
far depths OF space over distances
which light moving at nearly 100000
miles second requires a million years
or more to traverse. In each of these
galaxies it is probable that a super
nova occurs once in every few hun
dred years so that, somewhere in crea-
tion, the phenomenon should be taking
place every few days This would pro-
vide for an infinite amount of cosmic
radiation, if the great star explosions
are the real source.
The exterior galaxies, while for the
most part far beyond human visibility
even with the most powerful tele-
scopes, can be photographed, dozens
OF them at time. and the plates
examined for evidence of the phenom-
enon. A supernova is easily apparent,
even in the most distant galaxies, be-
cause such vast aggregation of stars
becomes almost twice as bright as
before.
Six Supern0vae Found.
The investigation, it was announced,
is being undertaken by DR.. P. Zwicky,
Carnegie Institution astronomer, who
in few months has discovered six
OF the supernovae at vast distances
from the Milky Way galaxy. The
findings. however, to date have only
brought a new mystery. For the
most part astronomers can tell what
is the composition of any luminous
object, however far away, from the
spectrum Of its Light, owing to the
fact that each of the 90 elements
OF which all things are composed
emits only radiation of specific wave
lengths which are not duplicated by
any other element. The spectra of
DR.. zwicky's new supernovae seem
to defy Interpretation. They consist
chiefly Of one great band of blue
violet light comprising many wave
lengths seemingly all jumbled to-
gether, and another lesser band Of red
light. 1t is impossible to pick out
the wave lengths of any specific wave
lengths. If this could be done there
would be some possibility of deducing
what actually was happening.
The one thing certain, astronomers
at the British association meetings
stressed, is that the cosmic rays
come from outside the atmosphere
Of the earth and probably from out
side the solar system. Efforts of Prof
Arthur Compton of the University of
Chicago to prove that they come
from outside the Milky Way galaxy
itself have been inconclusive. But
nobody has been able to prove that
the energy rain does not come from
these far ranges of space. Even
Tycho Brahe's star, the Star of
Bethlehem and a few others which
may have exploded during the time
Of man on earth may prove, once
the phenomenon of a supernova is