than the second magnitude), but within twenty-four hours it was
ablaze, outshining even the brilliant Capella, and far surpassing the
first magnitude. At the spot in the sky where it appeared nothing
whatever was visible on the night before its coming. This is known
with certainty because a photograph had been made of that very region
on February 21, and this photograph showed everything down to the
twelfth magnitude, but not a trace of the stranger which burst into
view between the 21st and the 22nd like the explosion of a rocket.

Upon one who knew the stars the apparition of this intruder in a
well-known constellation had the effect of a sudden invasion. The new
star was not far west of the zenith in the early evening, and in that
position showed to the best advantage. To see Capella, the hitherto
unchallenged ruler of that quarter of the sky, abased by comparison
with this stranger of alien aspect, for there was always an unfamiliar
look about the ``nova,'' was decidedly disconcerting. It seemed to
portend the beginning of a revolution in the heavens. One could
understand what the effect of such an apparition must have been in the
superstitious times of Tycho. The star of Tycho had burst forth on the
northern border of the Milky Way; this one was on its southern border,
some forty-five degrees farther east.

Astronomers were well-prepared this time for the scientific study of
the new star, both astronomical photography and spectroscopy having
been perfected, and the results of their investigations were
calculated to increase the wonder with which the phenomenon was
regarded. The star remained at its brightest only a few days; then,
like a veritable conflagration, it began to languish; and, like the
reflection of a dying fire, as it sank it began to glow with the red
color of embers. But its changes were spasmodic; once about every