THE REMOTE NEW PLANET.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 398, 6 January 1909, Page 2

THE REMOTE NEW PLANET.

.'■'■.-"■■' ■-' -."■ :■'.'.'■?'■ —■.. ■ .'-■'■ ■ '*■'•-''. .;?'! '■■; views of MR.; : G,;y. Hudson. ; ': :i :| . Mr, G..-V. -Hudson; who numbers as-1 tronomy amongst his .studies',- -.views', with the , greatest interest the reported discovery of a' l planet which has- been photographed in the distance immeasurable away beyond Neptune. Something of the sort was suspected in 1890, when Peck wrote: expressing . suspicion of a planetary influence on Neptune, r.whose: erratic -course, could not. otherwise be .accounted for. Mr.. Hudson stated-that it was impossible-to- speak'; of the size ..of the new .planet-.orits distance ..from the sun, as its'existence'is only known, from a faint impression, gained photographically with the aid of powerful lenses. -Look.ing through the-same lensesVwith the naked eye nothing would be seen. As to its size —who could: say? , Astronomers ;used to hold'! that Neptune was considerably larger than. Uranus, now they .aro agreed it is approxi- : mately the same size.;'■".' . . - • -.., : - Its size could never be known, as owing, to the immensity of its distance from the sun; it was but faintly illumined, and it would-be impossible to get a disc. Neptune is 2,800,000,000. miles from the. sun, and the new planet ■ may be double . that distance. It is there—that is all one-can say. At such a distance the sun that Illumines the earth would be to the-new planet merely a bright star. :.-,, . , ■-...- One thing that could.be said was that the new discovery was in. the constellation Gemini, and that at present "the earth lies nearly in a_ line between the new planet and the sun. In July;next the sun will be between the earth and the latest-of the heavenly bodies, and,.,of course, quite in-« visible. ,-■ ... ~.',. ; .-..■■