A RADIUM STAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11805, 14 December 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

A RADIUM STAR.

A new star with radium in it is_the latest astronomical sensation. iius "nova," which, like its predecessors, is not a newly-born celestial body, but .an old one that has become suddenly lumi-nous-perhaps by the heat developed by collision with, some other star—was discovered several months ful measurements of the light that i gives out, made by the spectroscope, - dicate that it contains substances of the radioactive group, and in partcular radium itself. Says a writer m the Revue Scientifique (Paris): ■ "The discovery of \ new star in the constellation Gemini has alr reported, with the results obtained by the earliest photographic and. visual observations. -j • Numerous cent observations have confirmed and supplemented these, and besides thefe have been most interesting discoveries regarding the spectrum new body, published by =XG?beler mer of Bon University, Mr Uibeier. "This spectrum has becni pliotographPr i and not only do the P rm £ s obtained by Gibeler show c4carlv the absorption lines alreach noted, have in addition the remarkabepecu liaritv that thev show almost all oi tne known radium lines within the' region studied: there is coincidence in the case of fifteen lines,, and besides this there mm- be recognised some other lines the series of rndio-a-ctive elements—uranium, helium, and radium-emana-tion. The number of lines for which the coincidence exists would appear to be due to chance. Besides this, the measurements of Gibeler have b.e checked by Director Kustner, of Bonn. Observatory, and by the celebrated physicist Kayser; and the opinion ot these two scientific men is that tne presence of the radio-active elements m the nova is extremely probable. "The importance of such a discovery mav be imagined. It is desirable that Gibeler's measurements should be confirmed by the aid of the more powerful apparatus possessed by the American observatories. According to the observations made -at Bonn the radial speed of the new star reaches about five miles per second."