Evening star., 1952-03-12
Lonely Blue Stors Found
Between the Universes
Carnegie Institution Reports
On New Space Discoveries
BY Thomcs R. Henry

By Thomas R. Henry
There are lonely blue stars between
the univerSeS.
Discovery Of these strange celestial
objects has just been reported by astron-
omers of the Carnegie Institution Of
Washington. They apparently wander
in space between the outey limits Of
the 100-billion star Milky Way galaxy.
of which the solar system Is part. and
the nearest external galaxies.
In this space also, At Is reported by
DR.. F. zwicky Of the Carnegie stan,
there are swarnas of stars, each swarm
separated from its nearest neighbor by
distance about ten times its own
diameter.
There still may be some question, the
Carnegie astronomers report, whether
the blue stars are lonely objects In space
or so-called white dwarfs," stars weigh
ing as much as 1,00O tons per cubic inch
OF matter, which are relatively near. The
dwarfs, however, move quite rapidly in
the Milky Way galaxy. These particu-
lar stars have been found on photo
graphic plates exposed 20 years ago.
Their position has not changed.
This raises high probability against
the white-dwarf hypothesis. It is likely
that they are extremely hot stars OUT
side the attraction Of other galaxies.
Exit in Great Void.
They apparently exist In q great void
between the Milky Way galaxy and its
closest celestial neighbor which light.
moving at 1876, 900 miles second. crosses
in somewhat less than million years.
Only toward the south are there nearer
islands Of matter, the two Clouds of
Magellan, only little more than $4,000
light years away. but both these are
considered as small galaxies in their
own right.
The galaxies themselves form clus-
terS in space. Two Of the largest Of
these are In the northern heavens--one
appearing in the constellation Of the
Crab and the other in the Coma Bere-
nices constellation. That is, they appear
in the general direction of, but far be-
yond, these configurations of stars Of the
Milky Way galaxy D.
DR.. Zwicky reports extensive studies
of these two. The Coma cluster may
well be the largest aggregation Of mat
ter in creation. Light crosses from one
side TO the other in about a million
years. Within this area he has been
able to count about 5000 galaxieS-
about $50 of them relative giants and
the rest rather small He found similar
conditions in the Crab cluster, except
that both diameter and population are
smaller.
The earth is about 1900 ,000, 900 ,000,-
100000 miles from the center of the
Milky Way galaxy, distance traversed
by light in approximately ESQ., 900 years,
according to study of the galactic nu-
cleus by DR.. Walter Baade Of the Mt.
Wilson staff. This study. in progress
for several years. now has been COM
pleted.
It has been recognized for some years
that the center Of the galaxy was To-
Gated in the southern sky in the gen.
eral direction Of the constellation of
Sagittarius. the Archer. This center is
forever hidden in an immense black
cloud Of cosmic dust, of such enormous
dimensions that light does not 60 en-
tirely through it.
Distance by Brightness.
DR.. Baade formed his estimate of
the distance on study of the brightness
- - ~ANoVSA Va ovaAo AOlk4u CLltlI61Y en-
bedded in the ecosmic cloud. 4.
Much attention has been given dur
ing the years to the so-called planetary
nebulae" within the Milky Way galaxy.
These are enormous spheres Of gas sur
rounding otherwise bright stars, as
planets surround the sun. According to
the investigations of DR.. Jesse L. Green
stein Of the Mt. Wilson staff of DR..
Thornton Page Of the University of
Chicago the visible parts of such nebulae
are spheres of gas whose atoms con-
Stantly are being stripped of outer elec-
irons by the light of the central star
passing through them. This causes
own.
But actually. it was found, these
spheres themselves are inclosed in very
much larger clouds which are invisible
because the stars radiation does not
come through to them with sufficient
strength to cause the atom stripping
phenomena. The visible spheres, they
found. terminate abruptly within the
distance calculated for the stars 'ioniz-
ing" effect.
The clouds are, for the most part.
made up Of hydrogen. the primal and
most abundant element in the universe.
Within the ionized spheres was found a
light effect not hitherto reported-a
constant emission of blue light.