ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN.

I have noted on several occasions the presence of I3 type stars near the equator in non-galactic regions, especially near oh and I z h of right ascension.

Recently while investigating abnormally faint absolute magnitudes, chiefly among late type stars, it was observed that they showed a strong preference for the ecliptic, only two out of 14 being certainly related to the ga lac t ic plane. The preference was so marked that the case of the B type stars was recalled and their positions charted. Fig. I and 2 show the respective distributions of these two classes of stars and Tables I and I1 the data relating to them1).

Band 245. Nr. 5868. 12.

A close relation to the ecliptic in both cases is obvious. A rough determination of the distances from that plane gives for the 1 2 very faint stars, an average of 8". Three of these are in the region of the Milky Way at 1 8 ~ and some of them may belong to the galaxy in reality rather than to the ecliptic. The radically different proper motion of Barnard's star (and of uan Maanen's also) suggests such a possibility. If we omit that star and another in the same region, we have for the remaining 10 a deviation only 5". Five of these in the first I Z ~ of right ascension average only I".

Early Type Activity and Cosmic Absorption in the Ecliptic. By C. D. Perrine.

- 61900 /Gr. lSp. ~ n 1 1 ' ~

+ 14'38' 2m9 B2 -0!003 o"015 169" + 3 I 16:4 ll38 1 o.ozz/I ' 1

Obs. V q km km

+ 5 + 6

- 48..

- 60 . .

01250 0.050 0.067 0.126 0.398 0.097 0.022

0.183 0.341

-801 S a f a c l i c , d u n . e

22 20 I 6 I6 I 4 A2 1 0 8 6 4 3 0 9.2 20 I 8 14 14 a I

Fig. I . Stars fainter than abs. mag. 12.0. Cecchini's Catalog,

+14m +14 +13 +14 +16.5 + I 3 + 1 3

+13 + 12 .2

T a b l e I. Abnormal ly F a i n t Stars . T a b l e 11. EcliDtic B tvDe Stars .

61900 lGr.1 Sp. 1 n i M / I p

+ 4'55' + I S 29 + 1 8 19 + 7 2 1

+ 7 37 + I 0 I8 + 5 2 5 - 1 2 24 - 8 8

I Z ~ ((Fo) 15 14 13

13 16

1 2 (M)

13.5 (Mb)

9-5 (Ms)

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493

1700

1963 2403 2498 257616

578

1713

Oh43m9 3 7.6 3 38.9

10 45.9

1 2 43.0 15 5 2 . 2

16 24.8 49.6

I 0 51.6 166410 1796 2045 ' 2423

1 2443

27.5 1 1 29.5 ' 3 19.9 I 5 59.6 16 6.2

3101 1.740 1.250 1.190 4.840 I .030 1.540 1.240 1.234

1.2

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B I 0.007 0.029 198 n 3 0.013 0 . 0 2 2 193

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0.38 / + I I 1 1 1.315 1 203 0.340 1 + 15 I 2.688 291 0.780 1 + 15 11 3.76 1 283 0.094 + 9.3 1 0.104 291

The deviation of the li type stars is even less, the 10

averaging only 4". Eight of them average slightly over 2".

These preferences for the ecliptic are so marked and so suggestive as to call for a careful examination of all the facts which we can gather concerning them. I t is a long stretch from even Pluto to 40 or 50 light years but the importance of the matter makes imperative a study of all the evidence.

These deviations are of the order of the planets.

1181 6 40.7 1762 11 1 2 . 0

2195 14 22.8 2868 18 2 2 . 8

-16 35 -57 2 -62 15 + 6 -35

1) S' irius . *) G. Cerchznz.

B and van Muunen's star at 18"22"' are charted also in Fig. I . Catalogo Generale di Parallassi Stellari. Publ. Merate Nr. 4 (1931).

1 6

I99

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-40.

-60 ..

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5868

- - - 00-

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G a l a c t i c plane

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At first sight it may appear that such a number of these stars along the ecliptic is not surprising. But the closer the related facts are studied the greater the significance.

The most salient of these are: A. These abnormally faint stars are found so far only

in the Milky Way and along the ecliptic, and more of them along the ecliptic than in the galaxy. Of the sixteen (including Sirius B and van Maanen’s) 10 are better accounted for by a relation to the ecliptic. At least 3 belong to the Milky Way and probably z or 3 more.

*80 “I

A preference for the ecliptic of these stars is, therefore, assured no matter what the underlying cause may be. A glance at Fig. I is sufficient evidence.

The relation of the two extreme southern stars and Sirius B to the Milky Way is equally obvious.

If we admit a relation of these three stars to the Milky Way, as I think no one will question we must accept the very much stronger evidence of a relation to the ecliptic of the other (at least) 10 stars.

B. The relation of the 10 B type stars to the ecliptic is even closer - 8 of them are strung along like beads, the majority sensibly on the curve, and the other two not over about 10’ away. Indeed the ecliptic is unmistakably outlined by these stars alone.

The B stars in the Pleiades as well as those in Orion were not included. The Pleiades phenomena probably belongs to the Milky Way although closer to the ecliptic. The Orion stars are more closely related to the Milky Way and generally accepted as galactic.

C. The R type stars charted in Fig. 2 arc those in strictly nongalactic regions. T h e y a r e f o r t h e most p a r t very b r i g h t a n d the only ones in those regions. Charts of all the B stars in the Draper Catalog were made to discover if there were fainter ones in the same or other regions which would test the dependence and aid in its explanation.

The fainter stars are restricted almost entirely to the galaxy - the fainter the apparent magnitude, the more closely they approach in general, the galactic plane.

There are no faint ones that suggest a relation to the ecliptic from which we conclude that it is only t h e few b r i g h t ones ( n a k e d eye s ta rs ) which show such a dependence.

D. The relation of the I3 type stars to the Milky Way zone is so pronounced, and the number so large as to emphasize the close preference of these few bright stars for the ecliptic.

E. The parallaxes and proper motions both indicate relative nearness, 10 to 50 light years, of the abnormally faint stars.

F. The B type stars are at a greater distance, roo to zoo light years.

G. The uniformity of the proper motions of the ecliptic stars of abnormal faintness, is striking. Out of 14 such stars 9 have proper motions between I Yo3 and I 1154 apparently inde- pendent of the region of sky.

This is not a condition which would result naturally from coincidence in a group of stars selected at random from those a m o n g which t h e S u n was moving but might prevail if they belonged to a system of which the Sun was a member, perhaps even without marked ))anthropocentric(( prejudices.

As I have observed elsewhere such prejudices may be carried too far.

Assuming that the preferences of these abnormally faint stars and those of B type for the galactic plane are not coincidences but have a physical significance, the question of interest is how can there be or how can such a dependence be explained.

As far as I know, no explanation of the position of the ecliptic has ever been attempted - it has just been accepted as an obvious fact. No physical reason for its position has been brought to light. If we find evidence, however, of a ring or disc of stars or more suggestive still, of cosmical matter in that plane, then we have a possible cause. And that is what these ;tbnornially faint stars point to.

These very faint stars, the faintest known, are among our nearest stellar neighbors. I t is also accepted that some- where between the Sun and the Milky Way exist extensive and numerous clouds of cosmical matter. If now we take the absolute magnitudes of stars according to spectral class, especially the late types, we find them to average sensibly brighter in the non-galactic than in the galactic regions. This

2 0 1 5868 202

is a result obtained in a colateral investigation on the spectral- luminosity relationship and absorption and will be published later. The same result has been obtained by other investi- gators recently on color index.

It is also a fairly well established fact that a certain luminosity accompanies a given spectral condition within narrow limits. The absolute magnitude of the Sun when reduced for distance unity of parallax, comes out 5.2. Now this is about a half magnitude fainter than the most reliable value for Go stars. The Sun is surrounded by cosmical matter in the Corona and Zodiacal Light. Have these envelopes reduced the solar magnitude? it seems quite possible.

If then we find, as in the Milky Way but much more strikingly in the ecliptic case under notice, abnormally faint stars in those regions, the natural inference is that some external cause has provoked the reduction in brightness. The known presence of cosmical matter in large quantities in the regions of the Milky Way to account for the abnormally faint stars there leads directly to a similar explanation for the very faint stars along the ecliptic.

The early I3 stars furnish evidence of such matter in a different way. They also are found only in the Milky Way and where there is reason to believe there is considerable cosmical matter. And the best explanation for the early types of spectra such as B, 0 and the planetary nebulae is that of activity and a rise of temperature due to such matter, encounters with small clouds at high speed in some cases and in others perhaps with large clouds of sparsely distributed matter a t low speeds.

Very strong direct evidence that cosmical matter is closely related to the B type spectral condition and also causes a reduction in brightness is found in the Pleiades where the matter is visible. There are a number of B type stars involved and there is a marked reduction in brightness of most of the stars.

The nearby Taurus cluster also shows well marked regional absorption but less than the Pleiades.

In this connection is of interest Turner's observation of a deficiency spiral which may be due to cosmical matter, or perhaps to streams of stars1).

These considerations suggest as the most plausible explanation a ring or thin disc of cosmical matter in the plane of the eclip.tic. I think the evidence warrants it and I propose such an hypothesis.

If there exists such a ring or disc of cosmical matter at the distance of the nearer stars it would surely be more than coincidence that the fundamental plane of our solar system should coincide so closely with it. For the very considerable reduction of four or five magnitudes in brightness of these faint stars and their close relation to the ecliptic enable us to con- clude that the agreement is as close as in the case of the planets, that the ring or disc must be comparatively thin.

It is a well known fact that the Zodiacal Light is a lens shaped envelope of cosmical matter about the Sun in t h e plane of t h e ecl ipt ic , and that it extends out to and beyond the Earth.

Summing up the evidence we have a considerable extension in the plane of the ecliptic. of an envelope about the

Sun of cosmical matter, the planets, satellites and comets also in the ecliptic, and a ring or disc of similar matter out at the distance of the nearer stars.

The fundamental plane, the ecliptic, also requires a cause for its position in the sky. Such a cause exists in such an extensive plane or ring as here indicated. It is not necessary to assume that the Sun is the original, central cause - merely that the stars which we have been discussing are in the plane and have by their peculiarities brought to light the actuating cosmical matter.

In other words that there is a fairly extensive local s ys t em containing hundreds or even thousands perhaps, of stars formed out of a thin disc of cosmical matter, containing besides the ones of B type and the very faint ones of late type, many more of types G. Such a local system is indicated also by the large angular motions and general behavior of the late F and G types as well as by the spectral similarity to our Sun. These peculiarities have been noted by all investigators and have served to place them in a class by themselves as diffe- rentiated in some way.

As proper motion appears to be the most outstanding feature, all stars of motion greater than lo not in Tables I a n d I1 were charted to see if they show ecliptic relations. Most of these stars are of G type and there is a fairly well defined belt of 24 of them along the ecliptic. This belt is separated from another belt about 30 degrees to the north, and a less well outlined belt to the south at about the same distance.

These latter streams may also be arranged in spirals winding out around the poles of the ecliptic in some such way as Turner's spiral of star deficiency.

Although fairly well defined, these streams are not the narrow belts of Figs. I and 2. They give however fairly definite evidence of some kind of relation to the ecliptic.

The trend of some modern study has been toward a local system although not so closely defined and related as that here suggested.

There are two further facts that may have a bearing: it) the position of the axis of ellipsoidal stellar motion, and b) the directions of the aphelia of the bodies of the solar

The two vertices of a ellipsoidal motion are approxi- mately the intersections of the ecliptic and the galaxy.

An investigation by the writer in 1 9 1 9 ~ ) of the orbits of the different classes of bodies in the solar system showed among other things that the aphelia of the major planets were confined to the half of the ecliptic about the intersection with the galaxy in longitude 270°, and a general preference of the aphelia of the asteroids and short period comets for longi- tude 195'.

The explanations of these preferences are not clear, although some are suggested, and they are merely alluded to here in passing.

In conclusion it may be remarked that the number of very faint stars and those of B type which show the relation to the ecliptic is not large. On the other hand the restrictions both in character and in distance from the ecliptic are so very

system.

203 5868 204

definite as to impose great weight. As a result of the evidence considered above I propose the following H y p o t h e s i s : That there is a t the distance of the nearer stars a thin stratum, probably discontinuous, of cosmical matter in the ecliptic plane. That this matter and the stars involved indicate a primeval, extended system or plane in which and from which our Sun and its dependents were formed.

There are many interesting consequences of such an hypothesis being true. .The system would in essentials resemble a small spiral nebula. The Sun would not be the central, dominating body of the system. There would be many other similar suns and undoubtedly these would have their families of planets and satellites - all of them having the same funda- mental plane, that of the ecliptic. The general direction of rotation about their primaries and revolution upon their axis would be the same as in our solar system. The inclinations of

their axes would be inclined, some the same as our solar system, in others differently due to the differential effects of the system itself combined with the larger, more massive galaxy.

There would certainly be many planets somewhere in such a system with animal life and human beings.

Thus instead of our Earth and its inhabitants being unique, there would be a deadly sameness !

The course of evolution would be condensation of the central sun and planets from nuclei, including the satellite sys- tems -not the condensation of the planets and satellites from thegaseous rings of Laplace, nor capture in the usual sense.

The existence of other and yet more distant planets than Pluto is to be expected.

But these are speculations and further consideration is not yet timely.

Cordoba, Observatorio astron6mico, I 931 Dec. 26. C. D. Perrine.

Vorgange in Reiberohren und Beziehungen derselben zur Chromospharenphysik. (Vorlaufige Mitteilung.) Von H. Strebel

Untersuchungen an evakuierten, elektrodenlosen ,Reibe- rohrencc gaben mir die Gelegenheit fur einen Beitrag zur experimentellen Astrophysik. Bekanntlich kann man soge- nannte ))Reiberohrenc durch einfaches Reiben zum Auf- leuchten bringen. Ich personlich bin im Besitze einer sehr trockenen Handflache - dies ist namlich Voraussetzung fur das Gelingen der Versuche - und wenn ich z. B. eine so- genannte stickstoffgefiillte Halbwattlampe rnit der Hand leicht rotierend reibe, so treten im Dunkeln folgende Er- scheinungen auf: r . ein Wandeffekt, d. h. Fluoreszenzleuchten der Glaswand, 2. deutliches Volumleuchten der Gasreste innerhalb der Lampe und 3. es zeigen sich lebhafte 2 - 5 cm lange, bliiulich-violette, verastelte, blitzartige Entladungs- erscheinungen als Effluvien. Speziell letztere scheinen immer von kleinen Erhohungen in der Glaswand auszugehen, und zwar in dem Moment, wenn die reibende Hand das Glas ver- 1aBt. Steckt man die Lampe in eine Hulle von Seidenpapier und zicht sie dann rasch heraus, so erfolgt das Aufleuchten erst in dem Moment, wenn die Lampe rnit ihrem groaten Durch- messer die Hiilse streifend verlaBt. Bei ganz s a n f t e m Strei- cheln rnit der Hand kann ich das Phanomen stundenlang unterhalten. Ich betone, daB nur Menschen rnit ganz trockener Handflache die Erscheinung hervorrufen konnen. Dagegen gelingt der Versuch leicht, wenn man z. B. die Lampe in eine Drehbank einspannt und nun einen Bausch Seidenpapier leicht gegen die rotierende Glaswand anstreifen lafit. Merk- wiirdigerweise habe ich die Erscheinung rnit Wolle, Pelz und Seide, Leder nicht hervorrufen konnen. Meine Unter- suchungen gehen nachweislich schon auf 2 Jahre zuruck, und ich konnte durch Variation derselben folgende interessante Resultate erzielen, iiber die ich im Interesse der Prioritat hier, wenn auch nur kurz, berichte.

Das Leuchtphanomen laBt sich auch bei groBen Ionen- Rontgenrohren hervorrufen, obwohl das Vakuum derselben so bemessen ist, daB eigentliches Glimmlicht nicht mehr auf- treten kann. Offenbar erzeugt aber doch das induzierte Feld durch IonenstoB Emissionen an noch vorhandenen Ionen. Nach meiner Erfahrung kann jedes evakuierte GefaB, ob ohne

oder mit Elektroden versehen, zum Leuchten gebracht werden. Ich untersuchte nun, ob die Intensitat der Erscheinung so weit getrieben werden kann, daB deutliche Kathodenstrahleffekte wie Phosphorenszenzleuchten erzielt wiirden. Dies trifft zu. Leuchtsubstanzen in ein evakuiertes Rohr als lose Stucke eingebracht oder als Uberzug auf eine Platte aufgetragen innerhalb der Lampe von Puluj werden durch IonenstoB zu einem, giinstigenfalls sehr hellen Kathodolumineszenzleuchten angeregt. - Es gelang mir auch, Elektronen-verstarker- rohren zum lebhaften Phosphoreszieren der Wand zu bringen an distinkten, 1insengroBen Stellen rnit einem Nachleuchten von bis ca. 12 Sekunden Dauer. In der Coolidgerohre tritt, als total ionenfreiem Rohr, ein Leuchten nicht auf. - In so- genannten Glimmrohren, die mit einem Helium-Neon- Gemisch gefiillt sind, zeigt sich ein sehr eindrucksvolles rotlich- gelbes Leuchten wolkiger Gebilde, die sichtbar der rotierenden Hand nachfolgen rnit einer an Protuberanzen erinnernden Konfiguration.

Da diese Zeilen nur im Interesse der Wahrung meiner Prioritat geschrieben sind, kann ich naturlich auf die intimeren physikalischen Vorgange hier nicht eingehen, weil es zu weit fuhren wiirde. Nur so vie1 sei gesagt, daD es sioh bei dem Leuchten um reine Wirkungen aus StoBionisation handelt, die durch einfachen Reibungsvorgang, welcher einen starken Eingriff in die Struktur des Ionen-Elektronenbaues eines Atoms darstellt, mit dem Endeffekt einer Ionisation hervorgerufen werden. Die im Laboratorium des Physikers Dr. du Prel vorgenommenen speziellen Untersuchungen ergaben, daB die auf der AuBenflache einer solchen Lampe vorhandenen elektri- schen Spannungen ca. 700 Volt betragen, wahrend die Messung am Braunschen Elektrometer fur die Spannung im Innern der Gaskugel mehr als 2 0 0 0 Volt ergaben. Bei den Elektronen- rohren konnten nur I 20 Volt abgelesen werden. Bei reinen Elek- tronenrohren treten die hellen Phosphoreszenzflecke auch bei Erdung auf, womit wohl der Nachweis erbracht ist, daB das Leuchten nicht eine durch rein elektrischen Effekt erzeugte Erscheinung ist, sondern durch Abbremsung eines von irgend- welcher Stelle ausgeschleuderten Elektronenstrahlbundels an