New-York tribune., 1919-12-22
Astronomers Expect Un-
known Heavenly Body,
Furthest DistantandAbout
Size of Earth, to Appear
Photographs To Be Taken
Believed To Be Seventy
Times as Far From the
Sum as Is Our Sphere

On December 80 the tubes of giant
telescopes in different parts of the
United States will be slanted toward
the sky in an effort tc discover a new
planet, which is thought to be respon-
slbie tor the irregularities that have
been observed in the motions of the
planet Neptune.
Harold Jacoby, Ruthcrfurd professor
of astronomy at Columbia University.
said yesterday that the belief that the
world is on the verge of the discovery
OF another great planetary body has
declared the best dates for the discov-
cry of this planet. which is supposed
to be about the size of the earth, are
December 80 and January 81. he is
confident that this great body, farther
away from the earth than any of the
other planets, eventually will be found.
There is a possibility that the observa-
tions made this month and next will
fail.
No attempt to locate the new planet
will be made at Columbia because Of
lack of facilities. Professor Jacoby de-
clared that systematic efforts to find
the unknown body will be made at the
Harvard Observatory, at Mount Wilson,
near Pasadena, Calf; at Mount Ham
llton, California; at the Yerkes OBJ
servatory, Williams Bay, Wis, and at
the United States Naval Observatory,
Washington.
To Photograph New. Body
Exposure Of Photographic plates, as
well as telescope observations, will be
made. If there appears a star in the
sky which has not been charted, and
which, after lapse Of several days,
shows motion with respect to the sur
rounding fixed stars. astronomers then
will be convinced that they have located
the new and nameless planet.
Astronomers" said Professor Jacoby,
"have for some time been thinking
about the possible discovery of another
big planet travelling around the sun in
a huge orbit far exterior to the outer
most limit of the solar system as now
known. Such a discovery however, viii
not come rs great surprise, because
the manner in which we expect to make
the discovery is quite similar to the
method used in finding our present
farthest planet, Neptune. The matter
is Of the greatest Importance to astron-
omers just now because existing CON
ditions are most favorable to the dis
covery.
calculations indicate that the end
" me present. year, or very early IN
1920, viii be the time when the new
planet will be visible. The best date
probably would be January 81. if we
take the most favorable position from
the known orbit of Neptune, or on
December 80. if we take Tire date from
the roughly approximated orbit so far
calculated for the imaginary planet.
"However. the discovery might come
at any time near these two dates, or
any time between the dates. Ii the dis
covery is not made in this period 1t
will probably be because the new
planet, on account of it's great dis
tance, will be too faint to be seen even
with our largest telescope, which IS
sixty feet IN length and forty inches in
diameter"
Name Not Decided
"If it is found what will be the name
of the new planet ?" Professor Jacoby
was asked
THAT will be left to the discoverer,
he replied
"The new planet, if located will like
ly be about the size Of the earth ana
will be seventy times as far from the
sun as the earth is, which would be
more than twice the distance between
Neptune and the sun. The discovery
will mean that the diameter Of the
solar system will be twice as great as
it has been known to be.
eff the attempt to locate the new
planet is successful" continued Pro-
fessor Jacoby. at will be repetition
of what happened in 1876, when Nep-
tune was first seen at the Observatory
Of Berlin by Professor Gale. The
were Of unique interest. In 1845 a
young Engiishman named Adams, who
had just been graduated from Cam
bridge. made calculations which
showed discrepancies IN the motion of
the planet Uranus. He was sOmewh at
excited. He had right to be. He
Immediately wrote to the Astronomer r
Royal at Greenwich and gave him q
position of point on the sky where
new planet could be seen.
Unfortunately, the Astronomer
Royal put Adams's letter aside. Some
months later, in August 1916, 4
French astronomer by the name of
Leverrier, who had just completed cal
sor Gale just as Adams had written
to the Astronomer Royal. Gale at
once examined the sky in the place
Indicated by Leverrier and found new
planet almost exactly at the spot which
had been calculated. Credit for the
discovery was divided between Adams
and Leverrier.
"The planet became known as Nep-
tune, and it is Neptune whose irregu-
larities of motion may now lead to the
discovery Of still another planet. The
mathematical work Of Adams and lie.
verricr has been regarded as one OF
the greatest triumphs of the human
intellect. Certainly it constitutes {
marvellous verifcaton of Newton's la"
of gravitation, on which it was based.
ITO further understand the problems
concerning the discovery of the body
let Us suppose that all the planets