History
The star now known as Kapteyn's Star was originally cataloged by the Dutch astronomer, Jacobus Kapteyn, in 1898. While he was reviewing star charts and photographic plates he noted the star's very high proper motion of more than 8 arc seconds per year. Later, the star became referred to as Kapteyn's Star, in honor of its discoverer. At that time, it had the highest proper motion of any star known, dethroning Groombridge 1830. With the discovery of Barnard's Star in 1916, Kapteyn's Star dropped to second place, where it remains.
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—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
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“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (17111776)