162 A CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN ASTRONOMY. 



intend the progress of the work, which is now 

 (1906) well advanced towards completion. 



A unique star catalogue is in course of prep- 

 aration by the Scottish astronomer, William 

 Peck (born 1862), astronomer to the City of 

 Edinburgh since 1889. Mr Peck's catalogue is 

 accompanied by a series of charts. His star- 

 magnitudes are those of all famous catalogues 

 reduced to a standard scale. This catalogue, 

 the result of more than fifteen years' work, will 

 be an important addition to the many valuable 

 works of the kind already in existence, and will 

 further increase the already great reputation of 

 Scotsmen in practical astronomy. 



The determination of the proper motions of 

 the stars is another important branch of practi- 

 cal astronomy in which much progress has been 

 made since the time of Herschel. Stars with 

 much larger proper motions than those of the 

 first magnitude have been discovered. For 

 many years the small sixth -magnitude star in 

 Ursa Major, 1830 Groombridge, was supposed 

 to be the swiftest of the stars, and was named 

 by Newcomb the " runaway star." But in 

 1897, on examining the plates of the 'Cape 

 Durchmusterung/ Kapteyn discovered a still 

 swifter star of the eighth magnitude, situated 

 in the southern constellation, Pictor. The rate 



