The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1873-03-20
THE PLANET URANUS.

! From the Providence Journal
| Wonderful tidings from Uranus have reached
the earth! This seemingly faint star, only dis
covered TO be planet in 1871, is u vast globe
forty times as large rs Mercury. Venus, the earth
| and Mars put together. Its place in the system
is beyond Saturn, and it takes eighty -f"ur years
to complete revolution. On account of its great
distance and faint Hight, observers have hitherto
been content with measuring its diameter, cal.
eulating its mass, determining its revolution, and
looking after its satellites
But q startling advance has been made by the
recent discovery that hydrogen gas is its promi-
oped unanticipated results, full Of exciting ma
terial for thenght. The British Royal Society
provided for DIR. Huggins o more powerful tee-
scope. than any ever used before in this depart
ment of observation, and with the use Of this in
strumeut the spectrum Of Uranus is found to be
perfect in every respect ~ far as the fecbleness
of the light permits it to he traced.
Withsut going into the technicalitics of spec
trum analysis. We will endeavor to give the re-
suits in comprehensive language. There six
dark bands strong lines in this spectrum, Civ
ing sure Indication of the absorptive action of
the planets atmosphere. One of these lines CDR
responds with . line always indicating the pre-
scncc Of hydrogen As Uranus shines by rsfec-
ted solar light, might expect tn find in its
spectrum the solar line of hydrogen; but this
line is teo strongly marked to represent the cnr-
responding line in the solar spectrum. DIR. Hug
gins says the bands broad and strong in COM
paris0n with the solar lines, and indicate the
presence If an enormous quantity Of hydrogen
gas around the planet. He found signs of
ntrugrn or carbonir acid. Neither does he think
that oxygen exist in the present condition of
the Cranian elements, for its mixture with hy,lr-
gen would produce n cOncussion tearing tire va
por mass into q million fragments. The imlica-
tons of aqueous vaper in the atmosphere are
very slight. and even if it exists, the proportion
must be small compared with free hydrogen.
The observations ON Uranus confirm the theory
that the four external planets, Jupiter. Saturn.
Uranus, and Neptune, are somewhat in the phys
ical condition Of the sun. resembling him in
gravity chaotic condition of elements, and though
shining partly by reflected light, giving out both
heat and light from thcr surfaces, while they are
in no condition for the abode of beings eonstitu-
ted like the human
This planet is now in the constellation Cancer,
shining as star of the fifth magnitude, and can
be ON clouldless and mOOnless nights 10y the
naked eye: bnt an Impractical observer wOuld be
unable to distinguish it from other faint stars in
the vicinity.
ninetieth of the heat and light from the sun that
we do, while in its sky the looks like brill
liant day star, and the sun is never sseii. II is
long in completing revolution that nearly three
generations of men live and die while il makes
one slow circlet round the sun. 1t is large
that the four interior planets piled upon each
other would not equal its mass. 1t is 80 strange
" constituted that in Uranian latitndcs cor
to London the sun remains below the
horizon for twenty three years af time.
Nearly three Thousand years passed after men
,eyan to study the stars before this faint light in
the celestial vault was discovered to be planet.
Nearly century has passed since its discovery,
without developing anything new in its history.
But the remarkable character of its spectrum has
aroused interest in its study. Secchi says
that little beyond one of the dark hands the
spectrum disappears altogether, and shows a
blank space extending entirely over the yellow
to the red where there is again a faint reappear
ance of light. The spectrum is. therefore, such |
a would be produced il all the yellow rays
were extingnished from the light of the sun.
Does the planet whose spectrum differs greatly |
from the sun shine by its own light! Is the |
process of condensation le-s advanced than in
Saturn and Jupit-rf These are questions whirh |
future observations must answer. and years Of |
patient study required :" tl-cipher the nean-
ing of the strange lines the spectrum. At |
least we may safely conclude that Uranian con-
Iitions Of existence entirely unlike terrestrial
Dnes and find material for bountlcss speculation |
in the magnificent quartet of brother planets,
which roll their huge spheres in mighty circuits
through the most distant regions Of the solar sys-
tenn.