Vestiges of the natural history of creation / [Anon].

  • Robert Chambers
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vestiges of the natural history of creation / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    all. A motion of our solar system with respect to the stars, first suggested by Sir William Herschel, in 1783, has since been verified by the exact cal- culations of M. Argelander, late director of the Observatory at Abo. The sun is proceeding towards a point in the constellation Hercules. It is, therefore, receding from the inner edge of the ring. Motions of this kind, through such vast regions of space, must be long in producing any change sensible to the inhabitants of our planet, and it is not easy to grasp their general character; but grounds have nevertheless been found for supposing that not only our sun, but the other suns of the system, pursue a wavy course round the ring, from west to east, crossing and recrossing the middle of the annular circle. “ Some stars will depart more, others less, from either side of the circumference of equilibrium, according to the places in which they are situated, and according to the direction and the velocity with which they are put in motion. Our sun is probably one of those which depart furthest from it, and descend furthest into the empty space within the ring.”* According to this view, a time * Professor Mossotti, on the Constitution of the Sidereal Sys- tem, of which the Sun forms a part.—London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, February, 1843.
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