THE “SPLIT STAR.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 18 July 1928, Page 8

THE “SPLIT STAR.”

FRESH DEVELOPMENTS

JOHANNESBURG, May 2. The latest observations here suggest that the star Nova Pictoris has split into four, and a series of rings has also appeared round the star. Two thebries 1 are entertained as alternative explanations for this development. The first is that the rings are accounted for by waves of light travelling from the star following an explosion, the second and more important is that they represent matter expelled from the star, or, in, other words, that the star lias blown off its outer layers. In either case it has become possible to calculate the distance of Nova Pictoris from the earth. If the first theory is an accurate one, the distance of Nova Pistoris from the earth is not an extraordinary one for a star, but, if the second and much more significant explanation holds good, the star is comparatively much nearer the earth. Many months, however, will, probably elapse before the two theories can lie conclusively tested. The view that the system of rings round Nova, Pictoris is accounted for by travelling matter rather than by travelling light- is now supported by —"in addition to Dr. Wood, the TJhion Astronomer —Dr. Spencer Jones./ the Astronomer Royal at the Cape. Dr. H. Jj. A!den. who is in charge of the- huge Yale photographic telescope at Milner Park, and Dr. W. H. Vandebos, of Leyden, who has come to Johannesburg to study the double stars of the Soutliern Herni sphere.