New-York tribune., 1874-08-18
NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF FINED
SEARS.

BY PROF b. A. GOULD OF CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
The great work Of Argelander undertook no
less than complete census Of all stars the Northern
Hemis phcre TO the ninth magnitude inclusive, with as
many az possible OF the magnitude %. This was sue
c,ssfully executed, and association comprising the
rca. majority Of Northern OOseryatores is now en-
ployu the working list thus obtained for the construc-
on OF a catalogue TO fix sarplacc3 with the utmost
atainabe accuracy The magniiudes are given TO the
tenth Of unit from number OF observations on each'
in the published catalogue, after having been first es
mated bv half units.
prof Littrow OF Vienna made careful enumera,ion
of for each magnitude, 10 a-ccraih i..leI an
approximate uniformity IN the dIsr.pHoIo ol s'iiS was
indicated II the masnltdie' Cepehi upoA dlatihcs :
and the stars are disIl1uei WIN uho'ln,l ~
space the number OF stars Oi any gwen Hi'su!tuue
should be propOruoued TO the spherical area within
which they observed. The trHIA OF he HpJ,he'iS
b@tyeen the numbers of stars OF gwen mag
nitudes the catalogue, and number coM,
puted from the contents OF hhtSihhIy sph'Ii!c"
smells whose rad would correspond with the respective
magnltudes. An approx. .m4te ih'Ic4uoA mltHt Dc o.
tanned OF the reidllNC Instances ol taCn n"t
Outstanding the uif u,is~ which are incident 10 IN,
method due 10 lheNldDc errors "I o'AcIt" "nu
COMPARISON LtToW DeIieVed liat sum .,nt "a, oi
uniformity demonstrated 20 Justify iaitIln tle gen
eIa theory that there Is considerable degree OF up
formy N he distances or the hHcl stars Wi.AIu us
cation, and that there warrant Tor applying ms
formulaS-the results Of his reSeac-to outside
or his limits. Discussing tHc numbers III AtSt'dh"ti
catalogue assorted By units far the cnth nagu
tGde. he o7iains tue traction Oi@' ior tAe rato 81 b
sorted by half units, the fraction IS Gncluding 81 043l
Each computation gives the distance OF str ul lht
eighth magnitude as H. that OF star oi aNefa2e mrs.
magnitude beng taken unit. The discOriduccS
between the results gwen by the empirical values OF te
formula ana those HOu tht chIhtt''ou ot lhv t''I
oge are large amounting TO 20 per cent for stars Of
the fourth a. per cent for those o the ninth magn
tuGe.
The recent completion OF our Argentine Uranomcirv
determ the actual magntu1es FOR al stars easily
visible to naked eye thIOuS 1t the heavens. IrO
Gould thinks it improbable that The erT0r Of individual
magnItudes exceeds the tenth OF aunit Prof He's has
revised and extended Argeanders work 10 the nearest
third Of a unit for all stars visible IN Central Europe
with the naked eve. his lowest limit being g, TLe Ar
gentine furnishes similar data with respect To the
stars IN southern Prof Gould has care
fully studied the results OF LttrOw's enumeration, i
convinced of the OF hIs computations ana
accepts formula the best OOdinaDc. Prof Gould
has extended similar comparison 10 all the STARS IN the
heavens of the sixth atude using the numbers aud
magnitudes furnished by the uranOmrtries, aud Oh
tans value OF the constant 04s2 The accordance
OF TINS with observations may be judged from the fo
-fs1Ia