Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 262, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1917 — Scientist Discovers the Cause of Fluctuation in the Motion of the Moon [ARTICLE]

Scientist Discovers the Cause of Fluctuation in the Motion of the Moon

The cause of the fluctuation-in the motion of the moon which long has been a puzzle to astronomers —has been discovered by Prof. T. J. J. See, director of the naval observatory at Mare Islams, California. Professor See states that the electrodynamic waves of the sun are the force of gravitation In the solar sysare modified as to the moon, becatfee- the force is exerted through the mass of the earth. This interposition of the earth between the sun and moon

causes the electfo-dynamic waves of“ the son to undergo circular refraction, dispersion and absorption. This, says Professor See, weakens the action of the sun on the moon when that satellite is near the shadow of the earth, as at the time of lunar eclipses. This weakening of the gravitational force of the. sun on the moon causes the fluctuations in the moon’s revolution in its orbits. In 1878 Simon Newcomb finished an. elaborate investigation showing that the moon’s motion is Irregular, and from that day to this the Irregularities of the moon have defied all astronomers and mathematiclaps. Professor See states that the irregularities in the moon’s motion may be tfaTculated, and that thereby the accuracy of the predicted places in its orbit may be increased twelvefold. “No irregularity,” he asserted, “now remains in the moon’s motion large enough to be seen in the transit circles used by astronomers. Thus with the previous mathematical development carried out by Newton, Laplace, Hill, Newcomb, Brown and others, the lunar theory will be entirely perfected. Professor See regards his discovery as to the cause of the lunar fluctuations, and his successful working x out of tables that indicate* the place of the moon in its orbit more accurately than has been done heretofore, as corroborative of bls theory of the cause of gravitation. He has sent a report on his discovery to the Royal Astronomical society, -London, and te scientific societies in Paris, Stockholm and Edinburgh.