. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. NEW MEASUEEMENTS OF DISTANCE OF SUN. 109 I suppose that there will always be two opinions upon the question : Is the adojited value of the solar parallax to depend upon direct observation or are the indirect determinations througli the constant of aberration, the parallactic inequality, and the mass of the earth to be allowed a weight in some proportion to their numbers? I take it that those of us who have determined the parallax by direct
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. NEW MEASUEEMENTS OF DISTANCE OF SUN. 109 I suppose that there will always be two opinions upon the question : Is the adojited value of the solar parallax to depend upon direct observation or are the indirect determinations througli the constant of aberration, the parallactic inequality, and the mass of the earth to be allowed a weight in some proportion to their numbers? I take it that those of us who have determined the parallax by direct obser- vations may not unnaturally look upon these indirect methods as interesting confirmations of our result if they agree with it. while if they ditfer there must be something wrong with them. But in the absence of a direct determination of overwhelming weight there must ahvays be a feeling of uneasiness when one sees three or more results conspiring to deny the truth of one. And hoAvever that may be, it is certainly true that about the year 1898 there was a very gen- eral suspicion abroad that the value 8 -80 seconds was too large. At this moment there came a curious stroke of fortune. Doctor Witt, of the Urania Sternwarte, Berlin, was engaged in a photo-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Smithsonian Institution. Board of Regents; United States National Museum. Report of the U. S. National Museum; Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary. Washington : Smithsonian Institution
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