The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-10-15
STELLAR SYSTEMS.
A Brief Resume of Dr. T J. J. Sees
 Interesting Lecture.

Dr. T. J. J. See, of the Lowell obser- vatory, delivered the seventh of a ser- ies of scientific lectures arranged for by the local committee. The court house was we'll filled, notwithstanding other attractions in town, and the speaker held the attention of his audi ence for one hour and fifteen minutes. He chose as his topic the '.Stellar Sys- tems," on which he is the recognized astronomical authority. In beginning his lecture the speaker pointed out the peculiar characteristics of the solar system, as exhibited in CD the small masses of the planets compared to the sun, and the small masses of the satel lites compared to the planets, and CD the circularity of the orbits of the plan cts and satellites, and their conformity to one general plane. These bodies move around the sun in the same di- rection, and are 50 arranged as to have great stability. despite their mutual attractions, according to the Newton- ian law.
 Dr.. See referred to the Nebular Fly pothesis advanced by Laplace one hun dred years ago. and said this accounted for the development of the solar sys- tenn, and its peculiar characteristics. In passing to the stellar systems he said that the observations since the time of Sir William Herschel had made known many systems among the stars. but none of them were at all similar to the solar system. The stellar sys tems differ from our own system in two respects; CD The bodies are suns revolving round each other, and equal or nearly equal in mass; (2) Their orbits are not circular like the planet ary orbits, but highly eccentric. The speaker said he had recently deter mined forty orbits--all that could be determined at this time--and had found that all were governed by the law of gravitatiou. He said that all modern observations confirm the New tonian law, and that by means of this law Astronomy had been brought to such state of perfection that 1t is now possible to say just where the planets will be at any given time. either in past or future ages. But it was not sufficient at the end of the nineteenth century to be able to predict the mo- tions with all desired accuracy; the as- tronomer must trace the bodies through millions of years and throw light upon the process by which the stars have developed. The speaker pointed out recent discoveries regarding the for nation of double stars (made by him self, but expressed himself in such modest terms that we fear he left his audience in doubt as to who had made these great discoveries. The discover ies connect the names of Sir John Herschel, Darwin and Poincare with that of the speaker, aud are held by astronomers to be the most important since the publication of the Nebular Hypothesis by Laplace one hundred years ago. Dr.. See has a book now in press which treats of these discover. ies; it is said that it will become a standard work among astronomers all over the world.
 In regard to the discoveries recently made at the Lowell observatory, he said that good start had Teen made on the survey of the southern heavens for double stars. He had been al work only about two months, but ir that time had discovered over 100 new sidereal systems. some of which were of the highest interest. He exhibited a drawing of the orbit of Sirius, whose dark companion be recently rediscov' cred. This difficult object had mol yet been seen elsewhere.
 In conclusion he alluded to the worl to be done when the observatory il removed to the City of Mexico, mex
 month, and said he hoped to extent his sweeps over the whole of the unex
 plored region about the soutl
 pole. This part of the heavens hat
 not been studied for double stars sine,
 the days of Sir John Herschel, ant
 even his survey was very incomplete
 The speaker hoped to find Tn all a
 least LOGO new double stars; the wor
 was one of high importance to astron
 omers everywhere, and it was a mat | to, of ryroof rnnd fortuno fors Ap,ar;o