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Re: Old Astronomy Textbook

On 2/20/02 5:36 PM, Stephen Murray wrote:

Here's a question: did they believe that "spiral nebulae," such as
Andromeda, were planetary systems in the process of forming? I heard
that somewhere, but haven't been able to confirm it.

The following URL _may_ help, I haven't explored the site thoroughly.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/diamond_jubilee/debate.html

You want the "Scale of the Universe - Curtis/Shapley" link.

I also recall hearing (can't remember where) that just as the theory for
planetary system formation was losing ground, one of the spiral galaxies
exhibited a nova (or supernova?), which scientists of the time thought was
the central star for the planetary system lighting up. It set back the
"island universe" theory for a while.

I'll try to dig up the reference, it might have been one of Tim Ferris's
books.

Mike

--
Michael Porter
Colonel By Secondary School
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada