Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1879 — THE CRASH OF WORLDS. [ARTICLE]

THE CRASH OF WORLDS.

Moons Hailing; into Planets, and Planets Into Suns. The ringed planet Saturn is generally supposed .by astronomers to proaent tt picture of planetary existence in its earlier stages. Although the planet already has eight moons, the matter forming the rings constantly tends to shape itself into new satellites. The attractive force of the great central mass as constantly overcomes this tendency, and is believed to be drawing the rings closer and closer. The Russian astronomer, Otto Struve, has predicted that in less than two centuries the inner ring will reach the planet and be united with it. While his views are not accepted by all observers, the fact is conceded that great changes are going on in the girdle of Saturn, and there ai'e strong reasons to conclude that the matter of which it is made up once moved in a larger circle than it now occupies. This conclusion is the basis of a paper contributed by Prof. Daniel Vaughan to the last number of the Pojmlar Science. Monthly, in which some interesting if not startling propositions are advanced. Various opinions have'been entertained as to the construction of the Saturnian rings. While they can hardly be wholly gasoous or liquid, there is ■ difficulty iu regarding them as composed of solid matter, since' but few solids are known which wofild endure the violent convulsions that frequently disturb the great circles. It is suggested in this paper that tho principal constituent may be water, at a temperature near the freezing point. In that case, the constant tendency to freeze w'ould slightly overcome the destructive forces and would account for such changes of form as are revealed by the telescope. Of course these changes could not go on without lidat from some source, but it is assumed that n sufficient quantity is evolved mechanically by the commotions themselves.' There seems to be no doubt, however, that the rings of Saturn are such stuff as moons are made of, but the question is whether this material is to form moons in the future or has already performed its function in this respect by forming moons iu the past? Prof. Vaughan adopts a view which indicates his belief that the planet has already entered upon the latter stages of its life. He thinks the two rings were formerly two satellites revolving about Saturn in a wider zone. A dismemberment and a conversion into a ring, he says, must be the general fate of every plane tarybody (and a moon is a planetary body) which, by a slow contraction of the path in which it moves, revolves at least too close to its primary - that is, too close to the larger planet around which it travels. But what causes the orbit of a satellite to contract so as to bring it thus dangerously near to the central mass it revolves about? Evidently some obstacle to motion would be sufficientsomething which retarded velocity, very slightly, it might be, but still somewhat. An influence of this nature must bo exerted by any substance, however tenuous or tetherial, which pervades all space, or that part of space, at all events, to which the stars and planets belong. Like many other men of science, Prof, Vaughan assumes the existence of a rare medium of this sort disseminated throughout all the known stellar regions; and to its action of retardation he attributes the transformation of the lost moons of Saturn into the mighty rings which now encircle that planet. Evidence that a resisting medium really exists has been supplied by the recent discovery of the satellites of Mars; and our author declares that not many million years can el nose before the inner moon, Phobos, will, have its path so shortened as to be brought within the atmosphere of the 1 planet. Then, he says, its career as a small secondary world will close with a meteoric exhibition. And why may not our own moon come to an end in the same way ? Indeed, is not such a result extremely probable? The same-cause muet be effective to check its rate of motion, and the chief difference between the two cases would be in point of time. The few millions of years requisite for the absorption of the l’liobon.would have to be multiplied by several hundreds to make up the period which will elapse before the moon Is similarly destroyed. The occasion wMI be a grand one, however, for wo are told that it will be signalized by a far greater display of meteoric effulgence. Dilapidation will begin before the moon actually touches the earth; innumerable fragments will be hurled off as meteors into our atmos■■phere; and the brilliancy of the scene will rival the light of the sun. Prof. Vaughan thinks that only a portion of the moon will bo appropriated by the earth at tho first near approach. Tho part that is left will haul off, as it were, into space, to give rise to a similar magnificent outburst some millions of centuries later, when it again comes too near. < . . - It is’ worthy of note that nothing whatever is said as to the probable effect of this gigantic convulsion of Nature upon life on theeqrth. This omission may be du,e to the fact that mankind pan hardly be said to have a vital presept interest in the event. Just as a moon may fall into-a planet, so a planet may fall Into a sun. The chief differencejs in the splendor of the spectacle. Twenty-three temporary stars have appeared in the heavens within tho last 2.QWI* of them within the present century. What has caused them to kindlo, in thp sky with sudden brilliancy, and then grow dim and constantly decline in brightness? An obvlous’aniwer is suggested by the» facta we have already considered. The mysterious effulgence which £ . I 1 J** 1

flashes nerosß the universe an th«*rtu»sitory glory of a temporary star ts the b%le tiro of a dying planet But it may be asked,' Why have we not seen the star before? It is not strange that the planets of other,, solar sy*teni«, which revolve around stars as their own suns, should be invisible to us here on the earth, since they do not shine by their own light; but ought not the stars themselves to be seen, since we suppose them to resemble our sun in character and constitution P The difficulty htrjfe preaeiftafllpeans fcdMldflNJtfftf hut ■itji simply.nm(. /There are/supposed to be vastcentfalbodfbs‘presiding oVer the movement of unseon planets, and yet totally dark- Black suns they may well b« called;. Their existence's revealed 1(6, uli, and tjo qnly know their places in the universe when they become luminous as temporary stars, through the destructive dismemberment of some orb in their own planetary family. The twenty-three temporary stars, then, indicate that twenty-three planets have been destroyed in 2,000 years. Prof. Vaughan estimates the entire number of primary and secondary planets in the universe as equal to half the population of the globe. This would make from 600,000,000 to 700,000,000. The average mortality of mankind is believed to be ons death a second. If we regard tho appearance of a temporary star as the record of the death of a planet these .facts enable, us to compare the length of human existence with the' duration of planetary life; aed it appears from suoh a comparison, that a' 'century is as small a part of the career of a planet as two seconds are of the life of a man. The period embracing,the history of the human race hardly equals two minutes of the vast age through which the earth will endure from the beginning to the end; and the observed facts of astronomy lead Prof. Vaughan to believe that a possible age of Sve hundred billions of years may be attained by a world. It seems most probable that when thfe earth falls into the sun, it will be in the form of innumerable meteoric fragments rather than as one gigantic meteor. As the shower of terrestrial matter rushes through the solar atmosphere, the sun will blaze outinto a glow such as astronomers have witnessed and wondered at in remote stars; and the earth will have passed away, with no more effect on the inhabitants of those distant orbs whence the light may be viewed than similar spectacles have produced upon us. The contemplation of a unality like this, however far removed, naturally leads to reflection upon the fate of humanity which it involves. And the thoughts thus induced are scarcely satisfactory unless one cah say, with Campbell's Last Man: “ Thin spirit shall return to Him Who save its heavenly spark; Yet think not, son, it Bhalt grow dim When thou thyself art dark! No—it shall live again, and shine In bliss unknown to beams of thine. By Him reoalled to breath, Who captive led captivity. Who robbed the Grave of Viotory And took the sting from Death!” —Chicago Tribune.