The Republican journal., 1873-02-20
The Star in the East.

A brilliant star may be seen during the
evening IN the eastern sky, sharing for
more than an hour after its first rising the
honor Of starry sovereignty with the
plant Venus. as sinking toward the hori-
zoA she holds her regal court in the west-
ern heavens.
This star is the planet Jupiter which,
during the remaining winter months. will
be an object of interesting study THROUGH
out the night. The two largest and
brightest OF the planetary orbs are now
performing the office of evening stars.
Venus reigning supreme in the west for
three hours after sunset. and jupiter
beaming with imperial light from his an
pearance in the early evening till he pales
III the ruddy glow of morning They are
the only planets to the naked eve now
visible in the evening, and cannot fail TO
be distinguished from the thronojno
crowds OF lesser stars by their softer lirht
transcendent brightness and superior Size.
| Jupiter is situated in the constellation
Leo. or the Lion, not lar from Requlas
its leading brilliant. the first star in the
| handle of the Sickle, which makes this
group so Familiarity known to observers.
II the course of the planet be watched, it
|
ward among the stars This it will con
tinue to do until the 18th OF April. whep
| il will apparently retrace its course. and,
reach the vicinity OF its present position
during the month OF May It's motion
can now be easily traced from its vicinity
to the star Regulas. which, although Of
the first magnitude, seems comparatively
faint iii the presence of the brighter planet
This n &, ! I,n \,
erhood presents three distinct branches of
astronomical study III Che telescope, pho
tomehic and spectroScopic denartment,
OF science. The telescope reveals ex-
qui>itelg beautiful colorcd bands or belts.
covering its disc. immense riffs or open
ings in these bands. and gigantic disturb
anceS around its huge circumference. on
a scale of which terrestrial movements
give US little idea; and also sight of the
tour moons which revolve around it.
The photometer measures its light, and
proves that It gives far more light than
the other planets would under the same
conditions, calculating the proportion as
three times that of Mars, and four times
that OF the moon 1t also shows The com
parative brilliancy of the planet from the
apparent~blacknesS Oft the satellites rs they
transit lis disc. The spectoscope Yields
its evidence with much more difficulty.
for as the planet shines principally by re-
Elected light, its spectrum is not 50 bright
as that OF n star Of the second magnitude.
and the taintness ofthe lines in the Jovian
spectrum makes them difficult to interpret
Aqueous vaper is plainly detected md
the best physicists, Higgins Leechi. Jan |
sen and many others, are patiently work
ing to decipher the meaning of the above |
imperceptible lines which are OF such i'm |
portance in the Interpretation Of the starry |
alphabet
AL observations strengthen the theory |
that the Jovian planet gives ont heat and |
some light from its own mass: that it has |
not yet cooled down to anything like the |
consistency of our globe and that it acts |
as subordinate sun to the four satellites
that revolve around it, and form with it a |
solar system in miniature.
Who then can fail to look with more
than passing interest upon this noblest |
creation of the planetary worlds, either
when glowing with light it looks down
upon us as the radient evening star, or
when it illustrates those mysterious ma
torial laws which rule as easily and har-
II oniously the motions of an orb fourteen
hundred times as large as ours, and ac-
in its course by four revolving
satellites, rs they control the motion OF |
our earth and Its solitary moon.