Recently Discovered Star May Prove to Be Most Important Stellar Outburst Ever Yet Witnessed

A star which may prove to be the most important stellar outburst ever witnessed is growing steadily brighter and of increasing importance, according to a report issued yesterday by Dr. Harlow Shapley, director of the Observatory, as the result of observations received from several American observatories. This star, which is called Nova Herculis 1934, was discovered in England last Friday by an amateur astronomer.

The report goes on to say that "the examination of earlier Harvard plates shows a 15th magnitude star in the position of the Nova as measured at the Yerkes observatory. The star is new of the 2nd magnitude. The explosive outburst has therefore increased the brightness by more than 100,000 times in less than a month. The spectrum, observed at Harvard and at Flagstaff, now closely resembles the spectrum of the super-giant star, Alpha Cygni, with the addition of bright lines of hydrogen and from. Enormous velocities in the exploding atmosphere are indicated by these spectrum lines."

Dr. Shapley believes that this star may be of the utmost importance on account of the powerful equipment new available at American observatories for spectroscopic analysis.

The star is being observed at the Oak Ridge station of the Harvard Observatory in the Northwest after sunset and in the Northeast just before sunrise with photometrie, spectroscopic, and photo-electric apparatus. It is observed visually, photographically and spectroscope fealty at the Cambridge station.