LITTLE STARS PROFESSOR BROWN'S LECTURE ON ASTEROIDS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 75, 25 September 1914, Page 3

LITTLE STARS PROFESSOR BROWN'S LECTURE ON ASTEROIDS.

An interesting lecture was given by Dr. E. W. Brown, Professor of Mathematics at Yale University, last evening at Victoria College on the subject of "Asteroids." The chair was occupied by Dr. C. M. Hector, president of the Wellington Philosophical Society, under whose auspices the lecture was delivered. The asteroids were a host of little stars, said the lecturer, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. One of the factors in their discovery was Hogue's law, which gave, the proportion of the distances of the planets from the sun as the numbers formed by the addition of four to 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, and 192, each number being the double of the preceding one. For a long time no planet could be discovered to correspond to the number of 24, but in 1801 one was discovered — an asteroid. At the present time' about 720 asteroids were known and more frequently discovered from , time to time. The largest asteroid was only 400 miles in diameter, and some were only large rocks not more than ten miles in circumference. The time the asteroids took to revolve round the sun varied from three to seven years. Saturn's rings had been discovered to be composed of masses of small stones, each revolving on its own axis. Dr. Brown was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address which was illustrated with lantern slides. For Chronic Chest Complaints, Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. Is 6d.— Advt.