Abstract
The notion of the local Macroscopic Volume Element (MVE) is introduced in order to facilitate the application of hydro-dynamical methods of treating internal motions in stellar systems and in particular in our Galaxy. The MVE must characterize the properties of the stellar system in a given point within the system. Hence the diameter of the MVE must be taken as small as possible; it must, however, contain a sufficiently large number of stars in order that the laws of statistics might be applied. The greater is the local star density the smaller can be made the size of the MVE.Modern catalogues of nearby stars by Gliese (1969) and Woolley et al. (1970) afford a good collection of data for a determination of local characteristics of the Galaxy in the immediate neighbourhood of the Sun. In the first section we discuss such characteristics as the local stellar density, the local luminosity function and the influence of observational selection upon them. In the second section we consider the local solar motion and the effect of the asymmetry of stellar motions. The responsibility for the content of paragraph 1 lies primarily upon T. A. Agekjan while that for paragraph 2 upon K. F. Ogorodnikov. We both are indebted to G. V. Ishkhanov and to L. V. Chuvicova for substantial help in numerical computations.
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