The star (short story)

The star 

 “The Star” by H. G. Wells is an interesting story which gives a vivid account of the consequences of disturbing the balance that keeps our solar system going. On the first day of the new year it was observed that the motion of planet Neptune had become erratic. Later a tiny speck- of light was seen near that planet. It grew in size and brilliance as the days passed. On the third day of its appearance, an astronomer- announced that strange speck of light was in reality a heavy mass? of matter. It had fallen away from its orbit somewhere in the distent parts of the black empty outer space. It was heading for a collision with Neptune. 
People all over Europe could see it growing brighter with every passing night. The master Mathematician, tired and gloomy, He had kept himself awake and active for four nights to calculate the course of the new strange star. He had finished his work. The next dav at noon he entered his lecture theater and announced, “Circumstances have arisen which will not allow me to complete the course”. He paused and then announced, “Man has lived in vain.” He turned to the blackboard and explained why man had lived in vain. 
That night, the star rose later but it had become extremely night. The whole humanity was awake that night watching the star Or waiting for its appearance. The faithful prayed to God to save them from the coming doom. Crowds of people began fleeing to mountains. Still the great majority of human race went about its usual occupations. The master mathematician’s forecast about the end of the world was taken seriously only by a few. The next night the star appeared an hour later than the previous night ]t had now grown brighter and larger. Many people thought that,the danger of the star’s collision with the earth had passed. But then all at once it began to grow rapidly, becoming brighter and hotter every hour. By now the ice on mountain tops had begun to melt. In many parts of the world rivers were swelling. Hot winds had begun to sweep and heavy clouds to gather across the continent of America. The whole of Asia was under water. Then came a wonder
The star and the earth swung about each other and the star missed the earth and crashed- into the sun. Clouds covered the entire sky. For days and weeks heavy rains lashed the earth and quakes shook and tore the earth. When at last the rains, storms and quakes stopped, the survivors - there were not many found that the earth had undergone a great change. Nothing looked familiar. Most of the polar ice had gone. The sun had become larger than before. The moon had shrunk to a third of its size and took eighty days to go round the earth. 
The cities, the factories, the laboratories and the libraries man had built during thousands of years were all destroyed. A whole civilization had been wiped out.A few million miles away, Martian scientists were observing the effects of the missile they had hurled through the solar system. They thought that it was surprising that the earth had suffered so little damage - only the shrinking of polar ice. They could not see the destruction of hum civilization.