"NOVA EQUILAE"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 245, 4 July 1918, Page 8

"NOVA EQUILAE"

WHO WAS THE DISCOVERER?

BIRTH OF NEW STARS

•At the meeting of the astronuiuical section 01 (he Wellington society, held tu the Uomin,-m -Museum a»t evening Mr. .1. C. (~ ~i m| , JI.A., faj.A.h., read n paper on »j Ur!) . - in the eourse of wiiirh Ji ß sustaiiijd in a very «Ijhj and iutelligible manner, hie ueliel 111 the partial mipiict Uawy originated by Prol'essor A. W. Hickertou ( oiinerly of Chnstchurch) as the cause 01 the birth or new stars, incidental to which iiu spoko ot _\ov.i Ayuilae, discovered Just month, and, fortunately lor Bcience, interestingly observed, us far us was possiole, 111 i\ew Zealand. .Mr. (.jifiord held Unit the smidetmess ot' its iippearance, its Uilli.uice, and jU less ■j'l'id aud fiimi decline, together wuli Ihe spectral changes which took place (illertHl support to the tlwory.uf grazin.' iiiipact-the impact of two Huns, immense iiiulies of gaseous matter, with the points "I impact loriunig it third, which, owiu« u the immense velocity at which the colliding bodies travelled, generated the nutoiiisliiiig radiance that was observed 'in Nova A..,uilue-u l>iillii\nco IO.OiIU nines that of our own sun, developed in II ij hour or two. il.r. tiiiJord informed his audience that tiio speed at which the two bodies would collide, would l«p 500,0uii,(K!« times greater than two express irains meeting, and the detonation wuuld be 27(l,li;i(l,O0U times greater than an eijilosiiiii of dyjiaaiite. Tim speaker rejoiced exceedingly U{ the fact that •Mr. (~, V. Jludsoii, of Wellington, had caught tho new 6tai- early enoii"b for oltecrvatioiw of Us speolrum to be taken in hngluud und America; before it reached its maximum radiance That was nil important, as it gave them data ot the continuous spectrum that was so helpful in theorising on tho subject, -is a rule new stare were nut caii"ht won enough to allow that to bo don't— they were usually found when at their maximum brilliance or in their decline Jo catch a new star young was (be most important lliiiij. When two suns in collision were referred to, the popular idea was Ihiit two solid bodies were meant,- but he pointed out that at tho temperature of such bodies, the inuredjeuts must bo of a gaseous nature, and Ihe fact that (he third body (caused bv tho two parls in contact travelled ~t the. rate of a thousand, miles per second, accounted for the rapidity of tho increase iu its brightness, ihc- stages in the birth and iiliv ,n' a I new star were first the outburst, then lie sudden rise, tho decline, and I In; changes in the *pectum. Any theory to bo accepted must explain all thos'a things, and in his belief the theory of I he grazing impact did explain those things, 110 also stated as an iiilcresliiifc' fact In t'stronoinr that new star* iiivnriably appeared in or neiir (he Milky Way. Of the new slaw recorded, 2(i were discovered in the Milky Way, seven .on its edge,, thveo close 'to tlio edge, and only six outside altogether, showing that in that comparatively small area of Iho heavens, new star's appeared preferably to other spaces. At tho 'conclusion of his paper, in which he gave a great deal ot valuable information from a purely scientific point of view, .Mr. Gilford showed a series of elides of the new star laken from photographs, iu which its relative brilliance to other well ki.wn fixed stars was convincingly established.

At tlio conclusion of (he reading of the paper, Mr. Ernest !;M congratulated Mr. Gin'ord on his interesting ami informative paper. Dr. C. 10. Adams (Government Astronomer) also added Ji is felieitiilioius, and suggested Hint if Sir. Clifford, ivilh his complete mathematical qualifications, could bo induced to Mβ up the setting out of the theory of partial impact, they would liiivo a better chance of it beiii" accepted. It ttill had to be projiuumled in a scientific way, and there was no person more capable of doing tin , work Ih.m Sir. GifYonl, and puwibly jio one had thoscientifio knowledge of the subject that Sir. Clifford had. He mentioned iw mi interesting fact that it was exactly forty years ago from to-day (.luly 4) since Professor Bickerton road his 'first paper propounding the theory before the Philosophical Society of Canterbury.

The Discoverer of Nova Aquilac. Dr. Adams said that n cablegram from England had given the credit lor discovering the new star to Hie Hector Observatory (Wellington). That was quite inaccurate, the observatory being only the transmitting agent. Ho had been'run? lup by Mi , . G. V. Hudson on Sunday night, June 9, in lime, to allow him to ring up Mr. Allison, at IVnngnmii. A cablegram was also sent that night to Dr. Baldwin, who had observations made at Melbourne and Canberra, to the, Astronomer Royal in England, and to the Lick Observatory (in America). H was unfortunate with regard to America, that the appearance'of the new star coincided with a_ partial celipap of (he sun, and most of the regular observers would )>e away from tlio observatories visiting the most favoured spots for that particular work, whilst generally the staffs had been depleted by war work. A bulletin had been prepared giving details of tlio time the new star was discovered in New Zealand. Mr. Hudson had reported by telephone that he had made the discovery at 10.45 p.m. on Juno 9. Mr. Alex. G. Crust, of Dunedin, reported by letter on, ilnno 10 (received June 13). giving the time of his discovery at 9.10 p.m. on June 9, and Sergennt-Major L. J. Comrie reported t'rom Suez by cablegram on July 14. Information had not yet been received from Mr. Comrio as to the time of his discovery. Jlr. Crust's letter was hs follows:—

I "Dear Sir,—Noticing in the 'Evening I Star' of June 10 your telegrams in reKard to the novaSn Aqnila, 1 thought it might bo of interest to you to know that 1 saw the star on the evening of the Dili inst., at 9.10 p.m. It was then of Ist mag. and of about 7th or Bth brightest, order. It shone with a somewhat inner white light than at present: time of vriting (0.1,5 p.m. on 10th inst.). Although I have little time (.bi'ing j n Upper V in Olago Boys' High School) to devote to the subject, since a small boy I have been keenly interested in astronomy, and in having a lookout on Sunday night at 9.10 o'clock discovered this stai\ which I knew had never appeared in that position before, and I am sorry that I did not write at once to you.-Yours faithSully, (Sgd.) Alex. Ci. Crust." Dr. Hector (Hull) also rend some interesting notes on his obst-rvat.ons taken on Monday night (June 10), which, hnp- "}'}■• fille 'lj n a gaP in the observations ? ¥ r ' .§ lS \ ori > w,lich na( i been intericred with by unfavourable weather conditions.