Page "Aberration of light" Paragraph 26

Observations of such a star were made difficult by the limited field of view of Bradley and Molyneux's telescope, and the lack of suitable stars of sufficient brightness.

One such star, however, with a right ascension nearly equal to that of γ Draconis, but in the opposite sense, was selected and kept under observation.

This star was seen to possess an apparent motion similar to that which would be a consequence of the nutation of the Earth's axis ; but since its declination varied only one half as much as in the case of γ Draconis, it was obvious that nutation did not supply the requisite solution.

Whether the motion was due to an irregular distribution of the Earth's atmosphere, thus involving abnormal variations in the refractive index, was also investigated ; here, again, negative results were obtained.