Origin of Solar Systems

Abstract

A DEFINITE answer to Sir Oliver Lodge's interesting question is still, I fear, quite outside the range of exact dynamical analysis. We know that the formation of a binary star begins with a cataclysm, we know the stage of the star's evolution at which this cataclysm occurs and the direction in which it starts, but we have very little detailed knowledge as to subsequent events. We connect up the final product and the initial star mainly through mere general principles such as the conservation of mass, energy and momentum, and I cannot see any way of positively ruling out a final product of the type suggested by Sir Oliver Lodge.