Kapteyn, Jacobus Cornelius

▪ Dutch astronomer

born Jan. 19, 1851, Barneveld, Neth.

died June 18, 1922, Amsterdam

      Dutch astronomer who used photography and statistical methods in determining the motions and distribution of stars (star).

      Kapteyn attended the State University of Utrecht and in 1875 became a member of the staff of Leiden Observatory. In 1877 he was elected to the chair of astronomy and theoretical mechanics at the State University of Groningen.

      Kapteyn was not the first to use photographic methods in astronomy, but his breadth of scientific vision and capacity for carrying through large programs made him a key figure in the development of photographic astronomy. Using measurements of the positions of star images on photographic plates made at the Cape of Good Hope by Sir David Gill, Kapteyn compiled the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, (1896–1900; Cape Photographic Examination), a catalog of roughly 454,000 southern stars. He devised a sampling system in which the thorough counting of stars in small, selected areas gave an indication of the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy. While recording the motions of many stars, he discovered the phenomenon of star streaming—i.e., that the peculiar motions (motions of individual stars relative to the mean motions of their neighbours) of stars are not random but are grouped around two opposite, preferred directions in space. Many later investigations of the distances and spatial arrangement of the stars of the Milky Way Galaxy stemmed from his work.

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