The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-09
"MOON CAPTURED BY EARTH,
NOT DETACHED''
BY PROF. r. J. J. SEE.
astronomer in Charge of Naval Observatory at Mare
Island CALI

have mathematically proved discovery that the
moon is planet captured by the space and
not detached portion of globe reject entirely the
longaccepted theories of Lapace and Sir George
ascr1b1ng earthly origin to the My discovery
supported by rigorous mathematical proof on
methods OF Hill. Poincare and Darwin.
This announcement is further development of my
discovery promulgated last January that all planets and
satellites are captured bodies which since had their
orbits reduced in size and rounded up under the
action OF the nebular resisting medium pervading
the solar system showed how these bodies which
reVolVed around the sun like the asteroids do had
made circuits close about planets In the neighbor
hood OF planet like Jupiter the sphere of the suns con
troll is shown to have extension or prouberance on
like the neck of bottle or hourelass with very
bulbs and when the small bodies moving about the sun
came into this neck they could revove jupiter and
In many cases again return to their paths about the SIN
In other cases after revolving about Jupiter they would
be captured by the action of the nebuous resisting
dunn about the planet and there forever as satellites
BY revolving about the planet for long time their
orolts would De rounded into almost perfect circles
and made smaller and smaller till they became Just like
the satellite orbits are observed to be- Such has
been the origin of the satellites generally and the rnps
of Saturn have had similar origin-by the cannre of
waste nebulosy once circulating the SUM- When
this matter Is once brought in planet it cannot
again escape but must stay there permanently because
IN the space near the planet the planets attraction
supreme. -
In the case of the terrestrial moon however moro
than usual uncertainty existed this large sate
lite originated and special investigation of the problem
large about oneegheth of the earths mass: and then
Darwins argument that the had once been a mart
OF tne earh mad to be overcome. have proved mathe
matlcaly that our had captured and had
come to us from the heavenly spaces.
1t was originally planet like Mercurv but MT o,,+o
so large and moved about the nearly the same dis
tance as the earth Then between the sun and
the earth in such to the neck of tho
resembling bottle neck projecting the suns snhere
OF control and enclosing the earth This neck waa ouito
small and narrow but the bulb space enclosing tho
earth and constituting its sphere attraction was If
siderable size When the had once left the sun,s
control and gone into the bulb about the earth Il
Win some resistance and the became closed IN +h.+
the moon was bottled up the earhs control
could not escape Hence it has remained with the
ever since, and will always abide with u.s.
BY revolving about the earth in the space con+rood
by our planet the moon has met with consderahlo 70
slstance and it's orbit has become smaller and smaller
and also rounder and rounder Thus it has come
ana nearer the earth but been closer than n
present Darwins theory of the moons detachment from
the earth Is overthrown, and entirely new theory
Veioped which has the of the highest math
matical science known 4
The famous outstanding inequality of six seconds in
the secular acceeration of the moons mean motion +,
thus explained This perturbation in the moons motion
had been discovered by HALEY in the time Of Newton
1t was partially explained by Lepace in 1887 but gravity
alone would not account for the observed
since the time OF the Chaldeans B. c. 72O and the ont
standing had perpexed the greatest mathema
tclans or more than century Having discovered that
the moon was originally captured and was sl slov1v
nearing the earth have removed the last difficulty and
the result will be decided improvement in astronomv