Astronomy and the Bible;

148 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE

willbefoundthepointtowardwhichthesunwasdi-

rectinghiscourseintheyear1840."

—

"Planetaryand
StellarWorlds/'Mitchel.
"Abouttwentydifferentdeterminationsofthepoint
in thesky toward which this motion of the sun is
directedhavebeenworkedoutbyvariousastronomers,
usingintheirdiscussionstheangularpropermotion
offromtwentytotwenty-fivehundredstars. Allthe
investigations presentareasonable accordance ofre-
sults,differingfromeachotheronlybyafewdegrees,
andshowthatthesunisnozvmovingtowardapoint
intheconstellationofHercules,havingarightascen-
sion of about 267° and adeclination of aboutji°.
Thispointisknownasthe'apexofthesun'sway!"—
Young's"Astronomy."
Havingfoundthedirectionofthesolarmotion,the
nextquestion wasits actualvelocity. Itwill hardly
bewisetoattemptanexplanationhereofthemethod
bywhichthis resultwassought. Butthismuchhas
beendetermined:Thevelocityofthesuninitscourse
through the heavens has been found to be suchas
wouldcarry thesunand its systemabout 5"in 100
years,asseen fromtheaveragesixthmagnitudestar
(thesixthmagnitudebeingthesmallesteasilyvisible
tothenakedeye). Ifweknewthedistance ofthis
average sixthstar,we could translatethemotion of
the sun intomiles. But we can onlyestimate with
some degreeofaccuracythedistanceoftheaverage
sixthmagnitudestars. Qnthereasonableassumption
ofLudwigStruve,thatthisdistanceisabout20,000,-
000 times the astronomical unit, the velocityof the