"NEW" AND VARIABLE STARS. m 



ing a maximum of light. Considered from this point of view, these 

 novce, as they are termed, can not correctly, perhaps, be classed 

 among the variable stars at all. They appear once only, and then 

 die out, never to return ; at least, no return of a true nova has yet 

 been recorded. 



A remarkable peculiarity about these temporary stars is their 

 usually sudden appearance. In all the well -authenticated cases 

 the stars have blazed out with startling rapidity. Such were the 

 brilliant stars of 1572 and 1604 ; and in later years, those of I860 

 in Corona Borealis, and of 1876 in Cygnus. Tycho Brahe's star 

 of 1572 made its appearance near the star Kappa Cassiopeia, the 

 faintest of the four stars forming the well-known square in Cassi- 

 opeia's Chair. It appears to have been first noticed by Cornelius 

 Gemma, on November 9th of that year, and it seems to have blazed 

 out very suddenly, as he states that it was not visible on the pre- 

 ceding evening in a clear sky. The attention of Tycho Brahe, 

 whose name is generally associated with the star, seems to have 

 been first attracted to it on November 11th. When first seen, it 

 surpassed Jupiter and rivaled Venus in brightness, and was visi- 

 ble at noonday ! At this brilliancy, however, it did not long 

 remain, but gradually diminished in luster, and in March, 1574, 

 had completely disappeared, at least to the naked eye. Its curious 

 changes are thus described : " As it decreased in size, so it varied 

 in color ; at first its light was white and extremely bright ; it 

 then became yellowish, afterward of a ruddy color, and finished 

 with a pale livid color." Tycho Brahe has left an elaborate rec- 

 ord of his observations of this wonderful object in a work of no 

 less than 478 pages of printed matter. 



" Kepler's nova " of 1604 appeared in the constellation Ophiu- 

 chus in October of that year. The planets Mars, Jupiter, and 

 Saturn were near each other in this region of the heavens, near 

 Eta Ophiuchi, and one evening Brunowski, a pupil of Kepler's, 

 remarked that a new and very brilliant star had joined the plane- 

 tary group. When first seen the new star was white, and exceeded 

 in brilliancy Mars and Jupiter, and was even thought to rival 

 Venus in splendor. It gradually diminished, and in six months 

 was not equal in brightness to Saturn. In March, 1606, it had dis- 

 appeared. It was also observed by the famous Galileo. Kepler 

 wrote a work on the subject, which is still preserved. Only faint 

 stars are now visible with the telescope near the positions assigned 

 to these bright stars of 1572 and 1604. 



In 1670 a star of the third magnitude was observed by Anthelm 

 near Beta Cygni. It remained visible for about two years, and 

 increased and diminished several times before its final disappear- 

 ance. 



A small temporary star was observed by Dr. Hind in Ophiu- 



VOL. XLI. 30 



