The Inequalities in the Motion of the Moon due to the Direct Action of the Planets

Abstract

PROF. BROWN is much to be congratulated on having at length written the word “Finis” to his lunar theory. His achievement has been a very great one, for he has completely solved the problem that he had proposed to himself, viz. the motion of the moon under the attraction of known bodies; he has pushed his solution sufficiently far beyond the standards required by observation to cover any probable increase in the accuracy of observation during the near future; his mathematics have been elegant, and his numerical computations performed under systems of check that command, not only his own confidence in their accuracy, but that of his readers. At last, therefore, we are entitled to say that any discrepancy between theory and observation must be attributed to fresh causes and not to imperfect calculation. A similar remark has somewhat readily been made before after the completion of other lunar theories, but a degree of numerical accuracy far beyond Hansen or Delaunay may safely be claimed for Prof. Brown's theory.

The Inequalities in the Motion of the Moon due to the Direct Action of the Planets.

By Prof. E. W. Brown. Pp. xii+93. An Essay which obtained the Adams Prize in the University of Cambridge for the Year 1907. (Cambridge: University Press, 1908.) Price 6s. net.