Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1847-01-21
THE REVELATIONS OF AS
TRCNOME.,
From the North British Review.
THE PLANETs-CoNcLUDED.

The PbANETS-CONCLUDED.
HITHERTO we have been surveying worlds
at a respectful distance from each other, and
having days and nights, and seasons and as
poets, OF the same character, but we now ar
rive at a region in space where some great
catastrophe has, doubtless, taken place. Be-
yond the orbit of Mars, and at the distance
of 263 millions of miles from the sun, the
celebrated M. Piazzi of Palermo discovered,
on the LIST of January, 1901, small planet,
CERES, which revolved round the sun in
1851 days, and its diameter, according to
w. Herschel, is only 1863 miles while Schroe-
ter makes it 1924. DR.. Oilers discovered
another small planet, PALLAs, on the 2lst of
March, 1902, with q diameter of only 80
miles according to Herschel, or 21O0 accor-
ding to Schroeder, period of 1903 days,
and distance from the sun of 265 millions
of miles. On the second September, 1904,
M. Harding of Lilenthal discovered third
new planet, namely, Juno, with diameter,
according to him, of 1925 miles, period
of 1892 days, and 252 millions of miles from
the sun. These strange and unexpected dis
coveries led DR.. Oilers to believe that the
three planets were fragments of larger one
which had burst, and pursuing this idea, he
discovered, on the Goth March, 1907,
fourth, namely, VEsTA, $50 miles in dame
ter, 225 millions of miles from the sun, and
revolving round him in 1855 days. From
this time, it was always considered probable
that other fragments would be found, and
that meteroic stones were some of the les
ser pieces that had been projected from the
shivered planet. Many meteoric stones have
fallen since that time, but, with the excep-
ton of remark by M. Cacciatore in let
ter to Captain Smith in September, 1855,
that he had followed small planet (Which
he suspected to be beyond Uranus) for three
nights and afterwards lost it, no hint of an
other planetary fragment had been given by
astronomers On the 9Th December, 1S45,
however, NJ Hencke of Dressen in Prus-
STA, discovered a fifth small planet, viz. As
Urea, belonging to The interesting group
under our notice. 1t is situated at nearly
the same distance from the sun as Juno, and
has period of about 1900 days.
From this quintuple cluster of small plan
cts, which have, doubtless, originally form
ed one, and which have established, as we
shall after wards see, a law of planetary dis
tances, we pass to still more remarkable bod
les of our system. The next planet in order
is JUPITER, body of huge magnitude which
revolves round the sun in 1882 days ID hours,
or about twelve years, at a distance of As
millions of miles His diameter is no less
than 1000 miles, globe that would occu-
ply nearly one-half of the moons orbit This
magnificent planet revolves round his axis in
9 hours So minutes, and his equatorial di-
ameter being to the Polar one as Ia to ID,
it will exceed it by nearly 5000 miles. The
disc of Jupiter differs from that of all the
other planets in being crossed with num-
Der of bands or belts of different degrees of
shade, varying at different times. Dark and
bright spots have also been seen on his disc,
phenomena which indicate the existence of
an atmosphere, and an equatorial arrange
ment of clouds, as if it were effected by an
agency analogous to that of our trade-winds.
But the most remarkable feature in this plan
ct is its possession of four moons or satel-
lites, which, reckoning from the planet, are
250S, 260S, 1877, and $500 miles in diam
eter, and revolve round their primary in AZ,
IS, III, and 400 hours respectively. These
satellites pass over the disc of Jupiter, and
are eclipsed in his shadow, or behind his
body. On the I'd November, 1851, OLD style,
tendants--" a conjunction" as Capt. Smith
observes, (Which will require more than
three thousand billions of years to occur a.
gain" Captain Smith has given the follow
ing very distinct account of phenomenon
which has recently very much perplexed as
tronomers -" On the Goth of June, 1928,
| was watching the second satellite of Jupi-
ter, as it gradually approached to transit its
disc. 1t appeared in contact at about half
past ten, and for some minutes remained on
the edge of the limb, until it finally disap-
peared in the body of the planet At least
IL or ID minutes must have elapsed, when
| perceived the same satellite outside the
disc, where it remained distinctly visible at
least four minutes" Mr.. Maclean, IL miles
distant from Captain Smith, and DIR. Pear
son. 35 miles distant, saw the same phenom-
enon on the same evening.
The next step in our progress from the
sun presents us with the planet SATURN, a
ty of its features, as Jupiter did the other
planets. Its mean distance from the sun is
about 800 millions of miles the length of
its year, or period of revolution, 20 years
and l55 days, and the time of its dlurnal ro-
tation 10 hours 26 minutes. Its diameter is
rs, 900 miles but his most remarkable fea-
ture is, that he is suspended in the middle
of broad and luminous ring, the outer di-
ameter of which is 176,4lS miles, and its
inner diameter III 1889 miles. This ring
consists of two rings separated by an inter-
val of 1901 miles, the inner diameter of the
outer ring being l55, 272 miles, and the out
er diameter of the inner ring Isl 500 miles
The distance of the ring from the body of
the planet is $1,000 miles but what is very
remarkable, the planet is not in the exact
centre of the ring, but is nearer the west
side of it, the left vacancy being ll-O73 :,
and the right one ll-2SS' The outer ring
has been observed by several astronomers to
be divided into two rings Other observers,
however, have been unable to see this Sec
ond division in the ring, and we must, there
fore, wait for Lord Roses observations be-
fore we can regard that division as an ascer-
timed fact Saturn has the form of an OBJ