Aether and Gravitation Part 30

What that power is we shall try to find out as we consider the application of Kepler's Laws to this onward movement of the sun. If, then, the sun is moving through s.p.a.ce with this enormous velocity, the question arises as to what is the shape of the path or orbit which it describes? Sir Wm. Herschel attacked this question from a mathematical standpoint, and came to a certain conclusion, as we shall see. We will, however, attack the problem solely from the philosophical standpoint, by applying to it the Rules of Philosophy given in our first chapter, and we will then see whether our result is in harmony with the conclusions arrived at by Sir Wm. Herschel.

Now what has experience and observation to tell us regarding the orbit which any body moving in s.p.a.ce a.s.sumes? Take, for example, our moon as ill.u.s.trating the movement of all satellites, and our earth as ill.u.s.trating all planetary motion.

What does observation teach us as to the orbits which these bodies describe? If it teaches us anything at all, it teaches us that every satellite and planet moves with varying velocity in a varying orbit around some central body. So far as our observation goes, then, in relation to planetary motion, or the motion of satellites, we learn that every body which moves in s.p.a.ce fulfils Kepler's First Law, and describes an orbit round a central body, that body occupying one of the foci.

Thus, wherever we get any body moving in s.p.a.ce, if there be any truth in philosophy which is based on experiment and observation, that body ought also to move in similar elliptic orbits, and be subject to exactly similar conditions governing those orbits. But we have learned that the sun moves through s.p.a.ce with a velocity of about five miles per second, therefore it follows, philosophically, that the sun must also move around some other central body, and the path of such movement is that of an elliptic orbit, with the central body around which it moves occupying one of the foci.

In other words, the sun obeys the first of Kepler's Laws, the same as all the planets and satellites do. Suppose, for a moment, that it is denied that the sun moves in an elliptic orbit! What path would it pursue in place of that? Would the path be that of a straight line towards the constellation of Hercules? Such an a.s.sumption would be altogether unphilosophical, as it is contrary to all experience and observation, and is therefore untenable.

Before such an a.s.sumption can be made, it must be proved that every planet and satellite moves in a straight line, and not till that has been done can it be a.s.sumed that the sun moves in a straight line, or indeed in any other path than that stated in the first of Kepler's Laws.

This conclusion is in perfect harmony with the conclusion arrived at by Herschel, for in his work on _Astronomy_, in Arts. 292, 295 and 297, he points out that the sun's path is elliptic in form, and that Kepler also showed the sun fulfilled the first of his laws, and described an orbit which was in the shape of an ellipse. We have therefore philosophically arrived at the conclusion that the sun moves in an elliptic orbit, and to do so it must move round some central body, which is to the sun what the sun is to the planets, and what the planets are to the satellites.

It is impossible to conceive of the sun moving in an elliptic orbit, and yet not moving around some central body, as we should have a celestial phenomenon altogether opposed to all experience and observation. For we have already seen that the central body is just as important a factor to the elliptic orbit as the planet itself, because, without the central body there cannot possibly be any elliptic orbit.

Where then in the universe is the central body around which the sun revolves? What is its distance away from the sun? What is its size?

These are questions that philosophy alone cannot answer, as there is no law, so far as I can see, that regulates the size and distance of the central body in proportion to the size and distance of the planets or satellites.

If there were, then it would be possible for philosophy to apply such a law or rule. That there is a central body around which the sun revolves is as true as the fact that there is a central body about which each planet revolves, or each satellite revolves, and it remains for the practical astronomer, or the mathematician, to endeavour to discover the exact part of the heavens in which it is situated, and ascertain its distance and possibly its size. What will be the effect of the existence of this central body of the sun upon the solar system? One effect will be to do away with that isolation that up to the present has apparently existed with regard to our solar system and stellar s.p.a.ce.

Instead of the solar system being a solitary system that moves through s.p.a.ce subject to apparently no law, and moved by apparently no physical power, that system, through the influence and effect of the aetherial currents originated by that central body, will be linked to other parts of the universe, and will become a part of one harmonious whole, its physical connection being made manifest and plain in the self-same electro-magnetic Aether medium that forms the connecting medium between the satellites and planets, or the planets and the sun.

Another result will be, that as the sun is a star, we shall be able to apply the self-same principles and laws of Kepler to the stellar world in exactly the same way that we have done to the solar system. Thus, by bringing all stellar phenomena under the influence of Kepler's Laws, we shall be able to philosophically give an unity to the universe, and show, within rational limits, how such unity may be physically conceived, which result will be an advance upon any physical conception of the universe hitherto manifested or revealed. Further, by accepting the first of Kepler's Laws in relation to the sun, and admitting the existence of a central body, we shall be able then to apply the second of Kepler's Laws, and by so doing shall be able to give a physical explanation of two scientific facts which up to the present have never been physically explained, viz. the physical conception of the plane of the ecliptic, and a physical explanation of the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t, which is but the result of the application of Kepler's Second Law to the sun's...o...b..tal motion around its central body.

ART. 108. _The Sun and Kepler's Second Law._--We will now proceed to apply the second of Kepler's Laws to the orbital motion of the sun, and, in so doing, shall find we are able to give at the same time a physical explanation of the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t.

In order to obtain a physical conception of the sun's...o...b..tal motion according to Kepler's First Law, it is essential that we should consider the effect of the existence of a central body around which the sun revolves; or, to put the matter into another form, we will ask the question as to what is the physical cause of the sun revolving round that central body?

Let us look at the case for a moment. Here, according to astronomical observation, we find a certain phenomenon which takes the form of a huge body 865,000 miles in diameter moving through s.p.a.ce with a velocity of nearly 500,000 miles per day. What then is the physical cause of the movement of this large sphere?

Certainly there must be some physical cause, or else we have a violation of all experience, which indisputably teaches us that no body moves unless it is either pushed or pulled. We have, however, done away with a pulling power so far as the cause of the actual revolution of bodies around a central body is concerned, and in its place have subst.i.tuted a medium that pushes or carries them round each central body. For over 200 years the scientific world has accepted a pulling power, that is, an attractive power, solely as the cause of the movements of celestial bodies, with the result that the physical cause of all the motions of planets and satellites has been outstanding and undiscovered.

It would, therefore, be unphilosophical to revert to the old conception of a gravitating attractive power as the sole cause of the sun's...o...b..tal motion through s.p.a.ce. If we desire to know what is the cause of its revolution round that central body, then we must seek to find the same from the result of observation and experience in other directions.

We have learned from Art. 102 that the orbital motion of the moon is caused by the electro-magnetic Aether currents that circulate round its central body, the earth. By the same means every satellite is circled round its central body also. We have also learned from Art. 99 that the earth is carried round the sun by the circulating and rotating electro-magnetic Aether currents, and that these same currents also form the physical cause of the revolution of all the other planets round their central body, the sun.

Thus we arrive at the fact that wherever there is a body moving in s.p.a.ce, it is moving solely because it is pushed along, or carried round its controlling centre by the rotating Aether currents. But we have just learned that the sun is moving through s.p.a.ce, and that it describes an elliptic orbit around some central body in accordance with Kepler's First Law. So that the only philosophical conclusion that we can possibly arrive at in relation to the orbital motion of the sun is, that such motion is caused by similar electro-magnetic Aether currents whose circulating motion is partly caused by the rotation of that central body.

Thus we are led up to the philosophical conclusion, that it is the aetherial currents of the central body around which the sun revolves, that produce, and alone produce, the onward motion of the sun through s.p.a.ce. Any other conclusion must be unphilosophical, and therefore untenable. We have, therefore, to conceive of the sun's central body generating and giving rise to electro-magnetic aetherial currents that extend through s.p.a.ce to the limits at least of the solar system, and these aetherial currents, acting upon the sun's huge form by their kinetic energy, carry it with all its a.s.sociated worlds through infinite s.p.a.ce.

There is nothing extravagant in this conception, when we remember that the solar system has been moving on and on through infinite s.p.a.ce year after year, and yet it never seems to get appreciably nearer to the other stars, but I hope to show the reason of this by strictly philosophical reasoning later on. With this conception of the sun in its relation to its central body we are now in a position to consider the application of Kepler's Second Law upon the sun's...o...b..tal motion, and its resultant effect upon the orbit of our earth and all the other planets.

From Kepler's Second Law we know that equal areas are described by the radius vector in equal times, and if the first law of Kepler is at all applicable to the sun, then it must follow that if the sun has an orbit, and moreover an elliptic orbit as stated by Kepler himself, then, as a natural result, the radius vector of the sun must move over equal areas in equal times.

The physical explanation of Kepler's Second Law was given in Art. 103, and there is no need to traverse the same ground again. It is, therefore, true that the sun moves faster in certain parts of its...o...b..t than in others, being urged through s.p.a.ce at its greatest velocity when it is nearest its controlling centre, and slowest when farthest away from that controlling centre.

Herschel, in his work on _Astronomy_, states: "The motion of the sun will be such that equal areas are thus swept over by the revolving radius vector in equal times in whatever part of the circ.u.mference of the ellipse the sun may be moving." He, however, suggested that the earth forms a focus of the sun's ellipse, a suggestion which is unphilosophical, it seems to me, as we might equally suggest that the earth revolves round the moon, which is contrary to all observation. Thus the sun is not carried uniformly through s.p.a.ce by the aetherial currents of its central body, because it is nearer to that central body at certain times; its velocity being regulated by its distance from that body, the same being increased as the distance is decreased, and decreased as the distance increases.

Now if this reasoning be correct, and if the sun really moves round a central body and is subject to Kepler's Second Law, then that increase and decrease of distance will be made manifest in the increase and decrease of the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t.

So that if the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t should vary from century to century, then we have conclusive evidence that the sun obeys the first and second of Kepler's Laws, and therefore that it revolves around a controlling centre of its own. From observation we find that this is exactly what is happening, and that at the present time the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t is gradually diminishing, and in about 24,000 years the orbit will be very nearly a circle.

Now, from what was stated in Art. 106, we know that the moon's...o...b..t will be nearly a circular orbit when the earth is farthest from the sun, and that then its...o...b..tal velocity is at a minimum.

In order for this result to be produced, the earth must reach that part of its...o...b..t known as aphelion, where the distance from its controlling centre is greatest, so that the eccentricity of the moon's...o...b..t is always an indication of the position of the earth in its relation to the sun. When the eccentricity of the moon's...o...b..t is decreasing, the earth's distance from the sun is increasing, but when the eccentricity of the moon's...o...b..t is increasing, then the earth's distance from the sun is decreasing.

Now if we apply this a.n.a.logy to the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t, we shall be able to obtain some idea of the relation of the sun to its central body. We find then that the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t is decreasing, therefore, arguing from a.n.a.logy, we arrive at the conclusion that the sun's distance from its controlling centre is increasing, and that its...o...b..tal velocity is decreasing.

If it be true that in 24,000 years the earth's...o...b..t will be nearly circular, then it follows that in 24,000 years the sun will be at that part of its...o...b..t corresponding to the aphelion of the orbit of the earth, that is, its distance from its controlling centre will then be at a maximum. After that the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t will begin to increase, and will continue to increase for about 40,000 years, according to some scientists, which implies that the sun will then have started from its aphelion point, so to speak, and will begin its return journey towards its central body, gradually getting nearer and nearer.

As it gets nearer its...o...b..tal velocity will be proportionately increased, with the result that the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t will increase also. From a consideration of the movement of the major axis of the earth's...o...b..t, which is moving forward at the rate of 11 per year, we are told that a whole revolution will be made in 108,000 years.

We have here, then, an indication of the time that the sun takes to revolve round its central body, because the time of the whole revolution of the eccentricity of the orbit should correspond with one complete revolution of the sun around its central body. So that from a consideration of the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t, we are not only able to demonstrate that the sun satisfactorily fulfils the first and second of Kepler's Laws, but, conversely, we are able to give a satisfactory physical explanation of the cause of the eccentricity of the earth's...o...b..t, which explanation is again primarily to be found in the universal Aether medium.

ART. 109. _Plane of the Ecliptic and Zodiacal Light._--As already pointed out, another phenomenon which can be physically accounted for by the sun's...o...b..tal motion through s.p.a.ce around its central body, is that celestial plane known as the Plane of the Ecliptic.

What then is the Plane of the Ecliptic whose physical explanation we are to attempt? We know that the moon revolves round the earth as the earth revolves round the sun, while the sun is pursuing its way through s.p.a.ce.

It has been found also, that all these motions of these different bodies take place on one level, so to speak; that is to say, they do not go up or down in s.p.a.ce, but straight on.

So straight do they move, that their path has been likened to the level of the ocean, on which a ship may sail for thousands of miles, always keeping the same level and even course. On some such ocean as this in s.p.a.ce all the planetary systems and solar systems seem to move, ever moving on and on with the same uniformity of level through infinite s.p.a.ce. Further, this plane of the ecliptic is to the celestial sphere what the sea-level is to the earth. The height of a mountain on the earth is stated to be so much above the sea-level.

In a similar way astronomers say that a star is a certain height above the plane of the ecliptic. What then is the physical explanation of this scientific term? We will lead up to it by first considering the effect that rotation has upon a liquid body.

It has been demonstrated that if a ma.s.s of oil is placed in a transparent liquid of the same density, so long as the oil is perfectly at rest, its shape will be that of a sphere which will float about in the liquid, but as soon as the oil is made to rotate by means of a piece of wire, then the spherical shape is changed into that of an oblate spheroid.

Further, the faster it is made to rotate, the more it will bulge out, so that its equatorial diameter will greatly exceed its polar diameter. The same principle may be ill.u.s.trated by making a hoop to revolve rapidly on its axis, when a similar effect of bulging out will be produced.

Now let us apply this principle to the earth with its electro-magnetic Aether currents circulating round it, and ask what is the effect of the rotation first upon the earth, and then upon the rotating Aether currents?

It is a matter of common knowledge that the effect of rotation upon the earth when it was in a fluid state was to make its equatorial parts bulge out as it rotated, with the result that as it solidified the equatorial diameter exceeded the polar diameter by 26 miles.

If, therefore, the result of rotation upon the earth when in its fluid state was to make it spread out greater in the equatorial regions than in any other part of its surface, what must be the effect of a similar rotation upon the rotatory Aether currents? It can easily be seen that the rotation of these currents will be to make them spread out into s.p.a.ce in a region which corresponds to the equatorial regions of the earth, so that the rotating Aether currents will be congregated more in the equatorial regions of the earth than in any other part of the earth's surface. The further also they extend into s.p.a.ce the less depth they will have, gradually tapering off, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration, where _E_ represents the earth and _B_ _C_ the Aether currents (Fig. 29).

Any body, therefore, situated within the sphere of their influence would be carried round the earth by the currents, and the currents would be to them their governing and controlling level.

So that the moon, which is held bound to the earth by the two opposite and equal forces, would always be carried around the earth by those electro-magnetic Aether currents, and outside of those currents it could not pa.s.s. But the earth is only 8000 miles in diameter, therefore if the currents gradually tapered off as suggested, by the time the aetherial currents reached the distance of the moon, their depth would not exceed 2000 or 3000 miles.

The diameter of the moon is, however, only 2160 miles, so that the rotating Aether currents would practically form an ocean in which the moon would swim, and one constant level on which it revolves in s.p.a.ce.

Wherever the earth was carried by the aetherial currents of the sun, there the aetherial currents of the earth would carry the moon, its mean distance by the conjoint working of the two co-equal forces having been permanently fixed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig: 29.]

So that it can be readily seen, as regards the moon, that the earth's aetherial currents form the plane on which it revolves around the earth.

Now in exactly the same way it can be proved that it is the sun's aetherial currents which form the plane or level on which all the planets revolve or are carried around their central body. We have only to enlarge our conception and the same result follows. Instead of dealing with a body 8000 miles in diameter, we are now dealing with a body 865,000 miles in diameter, and as this huge body is more or less in an incandescent state, the aetherial currents will therefore be proportionate in intensity and flow to its size and atomic activity.

Instead, therefore, of the aetherial currents which circulate round the sun only extending a quarter of a million of miles, their energy and flow extend far away into s.p.a.ce, even beyond the greatest distance of Neptune, a distance of 2,800,000,000 miles. The same truths apply here, however, as in the case of the earth and the moon. The aetherial currents which circulate round the sun congregate together, and possess their greatest depth nearest to the equator, while the further away they recede, the less and less depth they possess, with a decreased intensity and decreased kinetic energy. These Aether currents will be to all the planets, therefore, what the earth's aetherial currents will be to the moon, being to them the ocean level on which they alone can move, and by which they are carried round their central body.

Thus these currents will form for all the planets the level in infinite s.p.a.ce upon which they float, and from which they cannot pa.s.s. Let us further consider the movements of these currents in s.p.a.ce, and we shall find further confirmation of this fact by so doing. Astronomers tell us that it takes light about three and a half years to reach us from the nearest star. By calculation, therefore, we find that the nearest star to our system is about 205,000,000,000,000 miles away, that being about the distance that light travels in three and a half years.