This is often called
``Kepler's star,'' because the great German astronomer devoted to it
the same attention that Tycho had given to the earlier phenomenon. It,
too, like Tycho's, was at first the brightest object in the stellar
heavens, although it seems never to have quite equaled its famous
predecessor in splendor. It disappeared after a year, also turning of
a red color as it became more faint. We shall see the significance of
this as we go on. Some of Kepler's contemporaries suggested that the
outburst of this star was due to a meeting of atoms in space, and idea
bearing a striking resemblance to the modern theory of ``astronomical
collisions.''
In 1670, 1848, and 1860 temporary stars made their appearance, but
none of them was of great brilliance. In 1866 one of the second
magnitude broke forth in the ``Northern Crown'' and awoke much
interest, because by that time the spectroscope had begun to be
employed in studying the composition of the stars, and Huggins
demonstrated that the new star consisted largely of incandescent
hydrogen. But this star, apparently unlike the others mentioned, was
not absolutely new. Before its outburst it had shown as a star of the
ninth magnitude (entirely invisible, of course, to the naked eye), and
after about six weeks it faded to its original condition in which it
has ever since remained.
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