Abstract
THE BINARY STAR α CENTAURI.—Mr. E. B. Powell, to whose observations and calculations we are largely indebted for our present knowledge of the orbit of this celebrated binary, has recently published new elements giving the period as 87.438 years, the time of periastron passage at 1875.447, and eccentricity = 0.544. These elements appear to satisfy fairly the recorded equatorial measures made from 1834 to 1885 (as well as most of the ancient observations), with which Mr. Powell has compared them; but all the available observations have not been used—for instance, the Sydney measures subsequent to 1877 have been omitted, as some influence appears to have operated to throw out these measures from accord with those taken at other observatories. Mr. Powell considers that the evidence is tolerably strong against the period of α Centauri being only some seventy-six years (as given by the Downing-Elkin orbit), but thinks that in six or eight years, if careful measures be taken, the point will be settled as to whether the period is about seventy-six years or exceeds eighty-six years.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 34, 61 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034061a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034061a0