Abstract
IN recent years the line-of-sight velocities of about ninety of the spiral nebulae have been measured. The distances of some of the nearest of them have been determined by a fairly trustworthy method, and for others rude estimates depending on statistical methods are available. When we survey these data, a remarkable state of affairs is revealed. The spiral nebulae are almost unanimously running away from us; moreover, the greater the distance the greater the speed of recession. The law of increase is found to be fairly regular, the speed being simply proportional to the distance. The progression has been traced up to a distance of more than 100 million light-years, where the recession is 20,000 km. per sec.—about the speed of an α-particle.
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EDDINGTON, A. The Expanding Universe*. Nature 129, 421–423 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129421a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129421a0