54 NOTE ON THE NEW STAR. 



it having been assigned to me by Mr. Gore, the late Variable 

 Star Director of the British Astronomical Association, in order to 

 watch for variables and Novea, and I am quite sure that there was 

 no star of sufficient brightness to attract attention in the early 

 part of February. Hence it is fair to conclude that it has burst 

 out suddenly in the sky. 



The cause of these wonderful apparitions is an unsolved 

 problem in astronomy. There are three leading conjectures 

 that may be worth attention. 



i st. That they are the sudden condensation of nebulous 

 matter, causing intense light and heat in the forma- 

 tion of a new sun, a new creation in fact. 

 2nd. That they are the destruction of a sun and its planetary 

 attendants by a vast conflagration, such as the pre- 

 dicted fate of our own system. 



3rd. That they are the result of a collision between two or 

 more stellar bodies, the impact arising from the rapid 

 motion of such developing intense heat, and brilliant 

 light arising from the gaseous nature, or semi- 

 gaseous nature, of such bodies, not necessarily light- 

 generating prior to the impact. The large proportion 

 of hydrogen known by the spectroscope to exist in 

 half-formed suns gives some credibility to this theory, 

 though there are many objections to this supposition, 

 the chief being the electric propulsion inherent in 

 gases or their compounds. Of course, it is pre- 

 supposed that any or all of these causes are subject 

 to the control or arrangement of the Supreme, 

 according to laws at present unknown to us. 

 Any observations, however seemingly slight, will be welcome 

 contributions to the solution of these intricate problems, and the 

 members of the Dorset Field Club may assist if they will put 

 their observations in a permanent form and forward them to 

 Colonel Markwick, of the Ordnance Department at Devonport, 

 Colonel Markwick being the present experienced Director of the 

 Variable Star Section of the British Astronomical Association. 



