Abstract
SOME years ago Dr. Chase, of the Yale University Observatory, communicated to the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America the results of a survey which he had carried out, in collaboration with Dr. Elkin, in order to detect stellar parallax. The number of stars examined was ninety-two, and these were generally selected from a list of stars having an annual proper motion of more than half a second of arc. Of these ninety-two stars, fifteen had a negative parallax, and, presuming that some of the smaller positive values were equally untrustworthy, some sixty were left which exhibited a real parallax amounting to more than 0″.05. The scheme was one that seemed worthy of further prosecution, since the method employed proved adequate for the purpose of recognising the existence of measurable parallax. Consequently, this work has been very considerably extended, and the recent publication from Yale gives the details of the discussion of no less than 163 stars, forming a contribution of the highest importance in parallactic inquiry. Some thirteen years have been devoted to the completion of this work, in which, though Dr. Elkin and Mr. Smith have taken part, the heat and burden of the day has been borne by Dr. Chase. This will be seen from the following tabular statement, which shows both the class of stars examined and the distribution of the work among the several observers:—
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P., W. Researches in Stellar Parallax 1 . Nature 75, 234–235 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/075234a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/075234a0