Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

Let us in starting represent the earth's orbit by a perfect ellipse A B C D, with the sun occupying one of the foci S (Fig. 27). We will suppose that the earth is at point A of its orbit and is being circled round the sun with uniform velocity. As it is circled round the sun by the sun's aetherial currents, at the same time its satellite the moon is being circled round the earth by the electro-magnetic Aether currents which circulate round that planet. We will represent the orbit of the moon by part of a smaller circle D E F, and suppose the moon to be at point D of that orbit. The mean distance of the moon from the earth is about 240,000 miles, so that the diameter of the orbit is 480,000 miles, therefore the circumference of the orbit is 480,000 × 3.1416, which gives us about 1,500,000 miles.

That distance is traversed in about 28 days, so that the moon's average velocity in its orbit, as it is circled or pushed round the earth, is about 2200 miles per hour. While, therefore, the moon is travelling 2200 miles, the earth in its journey round the sun has travelled about 64,800 miles in the same time. So that by the time the moon has travelled half its orbit, that is, from D to F, which would take about 14 days, the earth has also travelled in its orbit 64,800 × 24 × 14 = 21,772,800 miles, with the result, that instead of the moon arriving at point F, which it would do if the earth were stationary, it really arrives at a point about 21,772,800 miles in front of that point.

In a similar way, while the moon goes on to describe the other half of the orbit, the earth still proceeds on its journey, so that at the end of 14 days it is again 21,772,800 miles further on, with the result, that the centripetal force (by which the moon is attracted to the earth) keeps it at the distance of 240,000 miles according to Kepler's Second Law as explained in [Art. 103].

The moon, therefore, completes its orbit about 21,772,800 miles further on than it would do if the earth were stationary. The effect of this continual progress of the earth on the moon's orbit as it describes its orbit round the sun is seen in the diagram. As the moon revolves round the earth thirteen times in one year, it performs thirteen revolutions round that planet; but it cannot be said that these orbits are perfect ellipses, as the earth is ever being circled round its central body, the sun. Even this diagram does not accurately represent the orbital motion of the moon through space, as it assumes that the earth returns to the same point in space from whence it started. This, however, is incorrect, as we have to remember that the sun has also an orbital velocity of 18,000 miles per hour, so that while the earth has performed one revolution in its orbit, the sun has actually progressed through space to the extent of 18,000 × 24 × 365 = 157,680,000 miles.

When we come to deal with the sun's motion through space, we shall see that this distance only represents a fraction of the sun's orbit, as it can be philosophically proved, that if the sun moves at all, it, too, obeys Kepler's Laws; and therefore, according to his First Law, it also describes and possesses an orbit of its own. So that by the time the earth has made its annual revolution round the sun, the whole system has been carried 157,680,000 miles through space, and therefore the earth does not complete a perfect ellipse, but its orbital motion round the sun will be represented by a similar kind of diagram to the one which represents the orbital motions of the moon, or any other satellite round its central body.

Art. 106. Eccentricity of Orbit of Moon.--From astronomical observation we learn, that all the satellites and planets do not possess uniformity of motion, as they are carried round their controlling centres by the circulating aetherial currents, because the respective controlling centres themselves move through space. The result is, that the orbit of any satellite or planet is not always of the same size, but constantly varies, sometimes having a larger circumference than at other times, and sometimes a smaller circumference.

This change in the size of the orbit of a satellite or planet is known as the eccentricity of the orbit, which eccentricity is constantly changing, being sometimes greater and sometimes less. We will look at this truth in its relation to the moon first, and then consider the same principle in its relation to the earth and other planets later on. For the purpose of illustration, we will consider the earth as being circled round the sun by the electro-magnetic Aether currents in a closed orbit, A B C D, which forms a perfect ellipse, the sun occupying one of the foci S (Fig. 28), the earth occupying a position in the orbit represented by point C, with the moon being circled round the earth by that planet's aetherial currents. As we have already seen in [Art. 103], according to Kepler's Second Law, at this point the earth is furthest from the sun, being now at a distance of 94-1/2 millions of miles, and therefore its orbital velocity will be slowest at that part of its orbit.

If it were absolutely at rest in space, and simply revolving on its own axis, then the result would be that the moon would be circled round the earth in an orbit M C F which is perfectly circular in form; but, as the earth is being carried along slowly through space by the circulating Aether currents, this onward movement changes the circular orbit into an orbit of elliptic form.