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First Attempt

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Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 416))

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Abstract

The measurements of radial velocities, by Adams at Mount Wilson among others, opened new avenues of research, not only concerning the structure of the Sidereal System but also in the area of stellar properties. Kapteyn performed various studies on the distances of particular groups of stars. He became involved in a serious clash of opinion with Adams and the two broke up their collaborations to measure radial velocities in relation to the Plan of Selected Areas, which Adams continued by himself. Together with van Rhijn, Kapteyn produced a paper, presenting a first model for the distribution of stars in space. It is a flattened structure with the Sun assumed (to facilitate the analysis) in the center. Just before his formal retirement he published a ‘first attempt’ to understand the distribution of stars and their motions in a consistent picture: the Kapteyn Universe. His model turned out to be largely correct in the vertical direction. Here the Sun is now away from the center, allowing the Star Streams to be interpreted as a supporting rotational motion of the System.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Pieter C. van der Kruit (Jacobus C. Kapteyn Professor of Astronomy)

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  1. Pieter C. van der Kruit
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van der Kruit, P.C. (2015). First Attempt. In: Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 416. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10876-6_15

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