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Humboldt, Alexander von, 1769-1859

"COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1"

But the ultimate result of
this investigation, confirmed by the calculus of probabilities, is, that our
solar system and the stars both change their places in space. According to
the admirable researches of d'Argelander at Abo, who has extended and more
perfectly developed the work begun by William Herschel and Prevost, the Sun
moves in the direction of the constellation Hercules, and probably, from the
combination of the observations made of 537 stars, toward a point lying (at
the equinox of 1792.5) at 257??degrees 49.'7 R.A., and 28??degrees 49.'7
N.D. It is extremely difficult, in investigations of this nature, to
separate the absolute from the relative motion, and to determine what is
aloone owing to the solar system.*

[footnote] *Regarding the motion of the solar system, according to Bradley,
Tobias Mayer, Lambert, Lalande, and William Herschel, see Arago in the
'Annuaire', 1842, p. 388-399' Argelander, in Schum., 'Astron. Nachr
., No. 363, 364, 398, and in the treatise 'Von der eigenen Bewegung des
Sonnensystems' (On the proper Motion of the Solar System), 1837, s. 43,
respecting Perseus as the central body of the whole stellar stratum,
likewise Otho Struve, in the 'Bull. de l'Acad. de St. P??tersb.', 1842, t.
x., No.


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