One hundred years ago such objects
offered no mystery. There was no reason to suppose that the
Creator of the universe had ceased His functions; and, continuing
them, it was perfectly natural that He should be making continual
additions to the universe of stars. But the idea that these
objects are really new creations, made out of nothing, is contrary
to all our modern ideas and not in accord with the observed facts.
Granting the possibility of a really new star--if such an object
were created, it would be destined to take its place among the
other stars as a permanent member of the universe. Instead of
this, such objects invariably fade away after a few months, and
are changed into something very like an ordinary nebula. A
question of transcendent interest is that of the cause of these
outbursts. It cannot be said that science has, up to the present
time, been able to offer any suggestion not open to question. The
most definite one is the collision theory, according to which the
outburst is due to the clashing together of two stars, one or both
of which might previously have been dark, like a planet. The stars
which may be actually photographed probably exceed one hundred
millions in number, and those which give too little light to
affect the photographic plate may be vastly more numerous than
those which do.
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