The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-06-26

made circuits close about the planets.
In the neighborhood of planet like
Jupiter, the sphere of the suns con-
troll was shown to have an extension
or protuberance on it, like the neck
OF bottle, or hour-glass with very
unequal bulbs, and when the small
bodies moving about the sun came in
to this neck they could revolve about
Jupiter, and in many cases again re-
turn to their paths about the sun. In
other cases after revolving about Ju-
piter they would be captured by the ac-
tion Of the nebulous resisting medium
about the planet, and stay there for
ever as satellites.
BY revolving about the planet for
long time, their orbits would be
rounded up into almost perfect cir
cles, and made smaller and smaller,
till they became just like satellite
orbits are now observed to be. Such,
he says, has been the origin of the
satellites generally and the rings Of
Saturn have had similar origin by
the capture of waste nebulosity once
circulating around the sun. When
this matter is once brought in near
the planet, 1t cannot escape, but must
stay there permanently because in the
space near the planet the planets at
traction is supreme.
In the case of the Terrestrial moon,
however, more than usual uncertain
ty existed as to how this large satel-
lite originated and special investi-
cation of the problem had to be made
The moons mass is relatively very
large, about one-eightieth of the
earth's mass; and then Darwin's ar
gument that the moon had once been
a part of the earth had to be over
come. This, Professor See says, he
has done with entire success, and last
night he announced that he had prov
ed mathematically that our moon too
had been captured and had come to
us from the heavenly spaces.
1t was, he says, originally planet
like Mercury, but not quite so large,
and moved about the sun at nearly
the same distance as the earth. Then
1t came between the sun and the
earth in such a way as to enter the
neck of the space resembling a bottle
neck projecting from the suns sphere
OF control and enclosing the earth.
This neck was quite small and mar
row, but the bulb of space enclosing
the earth and constituting its sphere
OF attraction was of considerable size.
When the moon had once left the
suns control and gone into the bulb
about the earth, it met with some re-
sistance, and the neck became closed,
so that the moon was bottled up"
under the earth's control and could
not escape. Hence it has remained
with the earth ever since, and will al
ways abide with us.
BY revolving about the earth in the
space controlled by our planet, the
moon has met with considerable re-
sistance, and its orbit has become
smaller and smaller and also rounder
and rounder. Thus 1t has come near
er and nearer the earth, but never
has been closer than at present.
Thus" he concludes, "Darwin's the
ory OF the moons detachment from
the earth is overthrown, and an en-
tirely new theory developed which has
the support of all the highest mathe-
matical science now known"
In a second paper communicated to
the Astronomical society to the Pa
cific last night, Prof. See explained the
famous outstanding inequality of six
seconds in the secular acceleration of
the moons mean motion. He said
this perturbation in the moons mo-
tion had been discovered by HALEY
in the time of Newton. It was par
TALLY explained by Leplace in 1887,
but gravity alone would not account
for the observed acceleration since
the time of the Chaldeans, 72O B. c.,
and the outstanding difference had
perplexed the greatest mathematic-
ians for more than century. Having
discovered that the moon was origin
ally captured. and was still slowly
nearing the earth, Professor See said
he had removed the last difficulty. and
the result would be decided i'm.
provement in astronomy.