NOT OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 40, 17 December 1920, Page 10

NOT OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED.

PEOFESSOE BICKEETON'S THEOP.Y,

Professor A. W. Bickerton writes to "Ihe Times" on one of his pet tliemcs - — the Theory of ' Solar Grazss. Many expknations of the phencmena of the n.ew star have been given, among them bemg that of the collision of suns, which the New Zealand astronomer character. "ses as "probably the only ihtelligent sugge.st.ion ever made." The Astronomical Correspon dent of "The Times" suggested that, in addition to coliisions of suns, th? new star may have been caused by a sun having been strnck by a comet or by met. eors. But it is Professor Bickerton's belief that neither of those altemative theories "would g'ive us the inconceivable amount of energy required. Solar coliisions are the only oc-currences yet conceiv,ed of that could produce such phenomeiia. But many astronomers say the stars ,are so thinly spread that random solar er.counters could not be numerous enougli to account for the number of noval, This isquite true of random encounter, but there are a score of agencies that tend to produce stallar coliisions that must increase the probability of solar grazes over random encounters many millions oi times. The studies of dynamics of solar coliisions shows that grazes would be much more numerous than dir.ect coliisions between similar stars. A graze oi two suns makes two stars into three and the new third body is an exploding sun. and it is this exploding sun that is thc temporary star. It can be dcduced that it will he 10,009 times as brilliant as the passing pair that have struck off this stupendous cosmic spark." For the last 40 years, he says, he has been trying to get this original theory of tlie third body seriously considered by northern astronomers, but without ava.il. "The theory was first published in N.Z. by the N.Z. Gov. in 1878. The original papers were sent abroad then, and recently becauso of the accumulation of evidence the New Zealand Government has again sent out the original transactions to northern astronomers. At the present time every current theory has been rejected or demolished, wffiilst the mass of evidence has not only established the truth of this induction, but has actually demon. strated all the anticipations then made. Nevertheless the theory is not yet officiaily 'accepted' in England — presumably because it was first thousrht of in New Zealand!"