Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 095.djvu/278

250 that when two stars only are given, the line s p may be made to coincide with the lines s a, of both the stars, whereby their real motions will be reduced to nothing. It has also been proved, by adding Capella to the former two, that when three stars are concerned, some real motion must be admitted in one of them. Now, since all parallactic motions are directed to the same center, a single line may represent the direction of the effect of the parallax, not only of these three stars but of every star in the heavens. According to this theory; let the line s P or s S, in Fig. 2, stand for the direction of the parallactic motion of the stars; and as in the foregoing Table we have the angles of the apparent motion of six stars with the parallel of each star, we must now also compute the direction of the line s P or s S with the parallels of the same stars. This may be done as soon as an apex for the solar motion is fixed upon. The difference between these angles and the former will give the several parallactic angles P s a or S s a, required for an investigation of the least quantity m a, belonging to every star.

For instance, let the point towards which we may suppose the sun to move, be λ Herculis; and calculating the required angles of the direction in which the effect of parallax will be exerted, with the six stars we have selected for the purpose of our investigation, we find them as in the following Table.