Then, too, no
nodes such as the hypothesis calls for are visible. Moreover, in most
of the spiral nebul? the appearances favor the view that the
supposititious encountering suns have not separated and gone each
rejoicing on its way, after having inflicted the maximum possible
damage on its opponent, but that, on the contrary, they remain in
close association like two wrestlers who cannot escape from each
other's grasp. And this is exactly what the law of gravitation
demands; stars cannot approach one another with impunity, with regard
either to their physical make-up or their future independence of
movement. The theory undertakes to avoid this difficulty by assuming
that in the case of our system the approach of the foreign body to the
sun was not a close one -- just close enough to produce the tidal
extrusion of the relatively insignificant quantity of matter needed to
form the planets. But even then the effect of the appulse would be to
change the direction of flight, both of the sun and of its visitor,
and there is no known star in the sky which can be selected as the
sun's probable partner in their ancient pas deux. That there are
unconquered difficulties in Laplace's hypothesis no one would deny,
but in simplicity of conception it is incomparably more satisfactory,
and with proper modifications could probably be made more consonant
with existing facts in our solar system than that which is offered to
replace it.
Pages:
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108