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Scientific paper
Aug 1890
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1890natur..42..341.&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 42, Issue 1084, pp. 341 (1890).
Other
Scientific paper
I REGRET that my words allowed the interpretation which Mr. Maunder points out, for I had no intention of insinuating that the comparisons were ``cooked.'' What I take exception to is that, according to the values given, γ Cassiopeiæ has a motion in the line of sight of - 12, although on February 19, 1887, Mr. Maunder determined it as - 54.2, and eight minutes afterwards as + 60.9; and again, β Pegasi is stated to have a motion in the line of sight of - 8, although in November 1881 two determinations, made within ten minutes of each other, differed by nearly 114 miles per second. It would seem, therefore, that in making a tabular statement, even of the mean of such values found by different observers, the magnitude of the probable error should be mentioned; for, as I remarked at the time, ``To one unacquainted with instrumental difficulties, the motion of stars in the line of sight would appear to be a quantity that may be determined with some accuracy,'' whereas this is not the case. I have no intention of questioning Mr. Maunder's skill as an observer, but the fact that the discordances, when expressed in wave-lengths, are very small, only supports my contention that, until more perfect instrumental conditions are possible, many of the values are useless, and their determination an affectation of accuracy.
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