Abstract
TWO valuable summaries of the data at present available as to the motion of the galactic system among the nebulæ and as to the sources of stellar energy are contributed by Dr. E. Hubble, of the Mount Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, and by Prof. H. N. Russell, director of the Princeton University Observatory respectively, to the August issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute. With respect to the extragalactic nebulæ taken as frame of reference, the galactic system is moving with a speed of the order of 100–200 kilometres per second in the direction of the northern galactic latitudes. The sun is rotating about the centre of the galaxy with a speed of the order of 275 kilometres per second in the galactic direction latitude 0°, longitude 55°. The resultant is a speed of the order 300 kilometres per second in the direction latitude 35° north, longitude 55°. After pointing out that the reactions which provide the stars with their energy must be accompanied by a loss of mass, Prof. Russell summarizes the recent work of Prof. H..A. Bethe, of Cornell University, on the six steps by which the impact of four protons, that is, hydrogen atoms, on a carbon atom which acts as a catalyst lead to the production of a helium atom. Owing to the diminution of mass involved in the conversion, the process is capable of supplying the sun's energy if its temperature is of the order 18–21 million degrees centigrade, that of Sirius at 22 million and that of γ Cygni at 30 million, all of which temperatures are in agreement with astrophysical observations.
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Cosmic Data. Nature 144, 507 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144507a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144507a0