Abstract
A BRIEF reference is made in the Observatory of December to a new theory of the origin of the planets, which, according to the Moscow News, was communicated to the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. on June 1, by O. J. Schmidt, of Arctic fame—a celebrated mathematician and geophysicist. The theory is based on the rotation of the galaxy, as a result of which two stars sometimes approach so closely that the capture of one by the other occurs, a stable system a binary—being formed. A star—our sun, for example—passing through one of the meteorite clouds in the Milky Way captures part of the meteorites, and this capture leads to the formation of planets revolving round the sun. It is stated that Schmidt's theory leads to mathematical formulæ which agree with astronomical observation; but it is necessary to suspend judgment until the original paper is available.
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New Theory of the Origin of the Planets. Nature 155, 509 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155509c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155509c0