Book Description

Excerpt from From Nebula to Nebula: Or the Dynamics of the Heavens, Containing a Broad Outline of the History of Astronomy, a General Summary of Its Achievements, a Synopsis and Criticism of Recent Cosmological Theories, and Especially an Expansion The object of this work is twofold: first, to present a re-valuation of the time-honored doctrines upon which modern astronomical science is based, and, secondly, to propose a new system of cosmology revealing the entire universe in the philosophic aspect of a single organic unit. Like that of Newton, my system is founded upon the great underlying principle of universal gravitation; but it improves upon his by taking into account the hitherto unexploited factor of the joint attraction of the stars and its dynamical influence upon the domestic relations of our solar family. During the two centuries which have elapsed since the publication of The Principia many important astronomical facts have come to light, for example; the journey of the sun in space, the proper motions of stars, the enormous age of the earth, the anomalous acceleration of the moon, the existence of nebulae, etc., whose successful incorporation into gravitational astronomy demands, not adaptation merely, but radical reconstruction. Astronomers in general appear to have lulled themselves into the comforting belief that the paramount problems of astronomy have been successfully disposed of, and that little remains to be done save detail work, such as, the classifying of star spectra, keeping tab on the variable stars, computing asteroidal orbits, and the like, - a romance which popular writers on astronomy have long been busily disseminating among their lay readers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.