Abstract
A SYSTEMATIC character in the proper motions of stars was discovered by Herschel, and accounted for by the motion of the solar system in space. Herschel's conclusions were for a time disputed by Bessel, but were confirmed by Argelander, and have since been generally accepted. In the last quarter of a century many determinations of the direction of the solar motion have been made, but the results have not shown that accordance which might have been anticipated. Particularly noticeable are the different results obtained from the proper motions determined by Auwers of the stars observed by Bradley in 1750, and re-observed about 1860, according to the method employed. Applied to these stars, the mathematical methods of attacking the problem developed by Airy and Argelander place the solar apex, or point to which the sun is moving, in declination +35° or thereabouts, while Bessel's method places it at -5°. In 1895, Dr. Kobold directed attention to these discrepancies, which seem to point to an error in the fundamental hypothesis underlying these methods of determining the direction of the solar motion. These methods are based on the assumption that the “peculiar” motions of the stars are haphazard, and have no preference for any particular direction or directions in space.
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References
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DYSON, F. The Systematic Motions of the Stars 1 . Nature 82, 11–13 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/082011a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/082011a0