Arizona republican., 1909-11-29

moon shows how many hard knocks i 1t has received in the past. Every planet has gone through a similar ex- ] perienee. but those having atmosphere and oceans, like the earth, have suffer- ed such great geological changes that
 they have long since lost all trace of ancient battering. while these indenta- tiOns have survived on the airiess and process by which worlds are formed, 3 declared Professor See
 In a second paper presented tonight, Dr. See explained the Obliquities of the planets by the impact of satellites
 against their surfaces. He said he had
 discovered the cause of the obliquities
 from the case of Jupiter, whose axis
 is nearly perpendicular to the plane Of
 his orbit. At one time. Jupiter's obli-
 quity was larger than that of the
 earth, or even Saturr, 3s degrees: but
 as the greatest of the planets had
 gathered in satellites moving about the
 sun in planes having the average posi-
 ton of the Jovian orbit. the equator
 had been tilted down almost into coin
 eidence with it. In this way, had
 arisen the small obliquity of Jupiter.
 and similar influence had acted upon
 the other planets. Saturn's obliquity
 would practically disappear if that
 planet could gather in enough satel-
 lites to make the mass as large as that
 of Jupiter. The obliquity, of our earth. on which the seasons depend, is small- CT than that of Mars: and Professor
 See said that the Obliquity of Venus probably was smaller yet. not exceed
 ing twenty degrees. He ascribed the high obliquity of the systems of Uranus and Neptune to the original positions of those planets. their equators never having been greatly tilted over by the capture of satellites.
 The small obliquity of Jupiter gave the true clue to the cause at work. and the face of the moon showed how all planets had been pelted by falling satellites during the immensurabIe ages involved in the development of our solar system, which was originally of much greater dimensions than at pres ent- The solar system was formed from spiral nebula. the outer border of which originally extended to something like a thousand times the distance of the earth from the, sun. Most of the other nebulae Of the heavens are of immense extent. and Professor See said he had proved that the nebula which formed our solar system was no ex- ception to the general rule.
 In conclusion, Dr See announced that he had now proved that tine plan cts had been captured by the sun. and that their orbits had been gradually reduced in size and rounded up under the secular action of a resisting me- dium; that the satellites likewise had been captured by their several planets. and had had their orbits transformed in the same manner; finally that the moon had been captured by the earth, and the craters on it's surface had been formed by the impact of satellites, when the moon revolved among the or further out. The time in volved in the formation of the solaY system was to be reckoned in billions of years. and something like four hun dred million years may have elapsed since the moon was captured by the earth. In conclusion, he said all the principal phenomena of the solar sys- tenn were now fully explained in ac- cordance with known mechanical laws. and astronomers had gained an unex- {. pected light on the origin of the sys- ! tens of the universe.