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Show I Noted Astronomer Discovers What Produces Variable Stars 'ijWfjg By Associated Press. , ojjHfi VALLE.IO. Cal., Aug. C. Announce- I inaHti ment Is made by Professor T. J. J. See, iSffiff United States nnvy, the noted nstrono- H it mer m charge of the naval observatory U33 M at Mare island, lliat he has succeeded MH I in cstablislilng Die general cause of varl- ifcH v a,,'e stars. For the past two years Pro- fatW fessor Sec lias been connected with ex-tensive ex-tensive researches in cosmlcai evolution, pMI which have given an entirely new aspect iW ft to tne "ebular hypothesis, and have MlS become celobrated under the name of the awMRK "enpture iheory." 3mfS The main cause given to explain the EwfflfiP round form of planetary orbits and other aBlhi heavenly motions Is a resisting medium iHr of nebulous material which is shown to UpT he diffused everywhere In apace. Within the fifteen years many hundreds jyB a of variable stars have been discovered 'Mr f f. in star clusters, especially at the Har- vard observatory, by Pickering and Hal- Jlriy 9 ly. some of those having been critically hiV 5 studied by Barnard of the Yerkcs ob- SM tk servatory at Chicago, and the periods of light variation found to be as regular UUB ' as n. tnotlon of a perfect clock, so that fluctuation of light of these vari-i'jM vari-i'jM 'i ablcs could be used to measure time b almost as accurately as the rotation of inM'f enrth ahotit Ibj axis. In certain clus- tTiB't ters llic varlaules aro to bc counted D" thc hundred, in others very few can he found. Heretofore this fact lias been very perplexing to astronomers. After careful care-ful Investigations. Professor Seo finds that the cluster variables are suns attended at-tended by planets which revolve in close proximity in short periods, and that after passing through perlholion they plunge in a resisting medium of nebulosity nebu-losity so that the light suddenly blazes up and afterwards dies down gradually Some clusters arc full of nebulosity, while others arc quite free from it, and, according to Professor See, this accounts for the abundance of variables in certain clusters and their almost total absence In others. Professor Sec says he has established also that tho blazing forth or new stars now and then in the heavens is caused bv the actual collisions with planets revolving re-volving about them. The fixed stars generally gen-erally are now proved to be attended by systems of plnnots similar to those which revolve about the sun. Professor Sec asserts that any star, such as our sun, will have, In the long run, a collision once in a nunared billion bil-lion years. The great length of period between the collisions shows .that in general gen-eral 3uch catastrophes do not affect the safety of tho universe. |