Close Caller

Last October 28 a German astronomer, Dr. Karl Reinmuth of Heidelberg, noticed a faint white streak against the dark background of an astronomical photograph. A similar streak was discovered on a plate exposed at Johannesburg in South Africa. Such streaks reveal small, comparatively nearby objects moving across the sky at high speeds as contrasted with the relatively fixed positions of the stars. This wanderer, christened "Object Reinmuth 1937 U. B.," appeared to be several miles in diameter.* Its orbit was calculated from the streaks. Last week, after all danger was past, Johannesburg astronomers announced that in October the earth had had its narrowest escape from collision with a celestial body of such size in astronomical history.

At its closest approach "Object Reinmuth" sped within 400,000 miles of Earth, which is less than twice the distance of the moon. Collision with one of these small planets or asteroids which lope around the solar system is a perennial theme with lurid fictionists, but mathematical chances against the occurrence are extremely high because of the great distances o space. If a body the size of ''Object Reinmuth" struck this globe it would not only annihilate everything at the site of impact but cause a tremendous earthquake and fires which would destroy life and property hundreds of miles away. If it fell into the sea, ships would be smashed and coast lines inundated by mighty tidal waves. When a newshawk asked Dr. Harry Edwin Wood of Johannesburg last week what would have happened if "Object Reinmuth" had landed on Earth, he answered with wry circumspection: "It might conceivably have altered the international situation somewhat."

-The symbols "U. B." serve to identify the object in the series of asteroids discovered during the year.

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