t
BERKELEY. Calif., Dec. 17.—Three
newborn stars, which blazed up as a
result of collisions or other disasters
in two far-distant spiral nebulae, and
4
then within a few months dimmered
their fires until thej- could no longer
be detected by the most powerful
telescopes—this is a discovery just
announced by Astronomer Herber D.
Curtis of the Lick Observatory of the
University of California. He believes
that it is perhaps twenty-million years
ago these catastrophes occurred. But
so vastly distant are these two spiral
nebulae that only now has the light
sent forth by these collissions com
pleted its journey through space and
brought the of these catas
trophes of the heavens' that happened
perhaps twenty million yfeys ago.
The special importance of the dis
covery of these three “New Stars" m
spiral nebulaeis is the evidence giv
en in support of the belief that each
of the spiral nebulae outside the Milky
Way is in itself an enormous uni
verse of stars, comparable in vastness
to the Milky Way, in which we dwell.
That the Milky Way itself is a vast
spiral nebula is an opinion which is
finding increasing support among the
world's leading astronomers.
Especially significant is the fact
that these three new stars now dis
covered at the Lick Observatory are
in spiral nebulae, and not in our owi
unlversg of stars. Astronomer Cur-j
tis's discovery doubles the number of(
news stars discovered in spiral ne
bulae, since only three had previous
ly been recorded, although twenty-six j
new stars have been rcordd in our
own galaxo, the Milky Way.
No human eye has been these three
new stars—they were found by Dr.]
Curtis by the examination of stellar
photographs. Recently Astrosomer
Curtis examined a photograph taken
.. . i
March 20, 1915, with the great Cross
ley reflecting telescope at tne Lack
Observatory. The subject of this
photograph was the nebula known as
N. O. C. 4527. There Astronomer Cur
tis found the image of a star which
did not show on a photograph of the
same region taken two months earl
ier. Examination of a photograph
taken a month later showed that this
new star had grown fainter; on a
photograph taken six w'eeks later it
was barely perceptible, and then it
faded from the telescope’s photo
graphic eye.
Both the other new stars discovered
by Astronomer Curtis were found in
the same way—by his examination of
photographs of a spiral nebula—
known as N. G. C. 4321. The first of
these. Nova A, was first photograph
ed with the Crossley telescope at the
Dick Observatory on March 17, 1901,
and twice in the following month,’
(
but it was not detected until this
year, and by that time had long faded
from possibility of observing or photo- ]
graphing. The second new star in
j this same spiral nebula, Nova B. was]
photographed on March 2, 1311, with
the Crossley telescope ar the Dick
Observatory, but not detected until
this year. Several photographs taken
since April. 1916, reveal no trace of
its presence.
These new stars, of which announce
ment has just been made in Lick Ob
servatory Bulletin No. I'.bO, are sup
posed to have become v isible because
of increase of their light through rome
collision of heavenly bodies, and then
within a few months to have so de
creased fn radiance as no longer fo
send forth enough light to affect the
most delecate photographic plates,
used with the most powerful teles
copes.
Notable in itself as is the discovery
of these three newborn sun, which
doubles the number of new stars thus
far found in spiral nebulae, the great
est value of the discovery is the op
portunity it has afforded Astronomer
Curtis to strengthen the “island uni
verse" theory of the spiral nebulae.
This “island universe” theeory is
that each of the spiral nebulae be
yond our Milky Way is in itself a
vast universe of suns, at an almost un
thinkable distance from our own uni
verse—the Milky Way. These new
stars just found showed of an aver
age brightness of about the fifteenth
magnitude. A star of the fifteenth
magnitude in our own galaxy woulc
be at least twenty thousand light
years away—that is to say, it woulc
take twenty thousand years for the
light to come from such a star, al
though light travels at the rate o
one hundred and eighty-six thousanc
miles a second.
Dr. Curtis thinks these new start
may possibly have been of the thir
tieth magnitude before their outburst
and so as far distant as twenty mill
ion light years. He believes that th<
smaller spiral nebulae are ten to t
hundred times more remote than the
nebulae of ten minutes of arc In the
heavens, which would have an actual
diameter of nearly sixty thousand
light years. Dr. Curtis suggests the
possibility that there may be absorb
ing material in the spiral nebulae
which would reduce the apparent
brightness of these new stars and
thus make them seem farther away
than they really are. However, in
discussing the difference between the
new stars which have been discover
ed in our own galaxy, which on the
average are of the fifth and a half
magnitude, and the three new stars
which he has now discoverea *n spiral
nebulae are on the average ten mag
nitudes fainter, and therefore a hun
dred times as far away as the average
I of the twenty-six newf stars which
have been recored in the Milky Way.
This is evidence that the spiral
l nebulae are far outside our own stel
lar system, each constituting of itself
, a whole universe of suns, comparable
j in vastness with our own Milky Wav.
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