Abstract
THE DISTANCES OF THE STARS.-We shall here endeavour to present at one view the most reliable results of investigations relating to stellar parallax up to the present time. In making the selection parallaxes less than a tenth of a second of arc are omitted except in the case of the pole-star, for which independent researches have given values closely approximating to this amount. In estimating the “light-years,” we adopt Struve's determination of the time occupied by light in traversing the mean distance of the earth from the sun, viz., 8m. 17785. (According to Leverrier's last value for the solar parallax, and Clarke's diameter of the earth's equator, this would assign for the velocity of light, 185,360 miles per second, at which rate of travelling it would arrive at the planet Neptune in 4h. Iom., or the breadth of the planetary spaces as at present known would be traversed in less than 84 hours.) By “light-years” is of course to be understood the interval which light would require to pass from the star to the earth at the distances respectively assigned.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 15, 86–87 (1876). https://doi.org/10.1038/015086a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/015086a0