The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-06-12
THE ASTEROIDS.

| Every now and then the newspaper,
and scientific Journals announced the
| discovery of a new planet they lI;ivr
| done so four times already since. the first
] of January. These new planets, how
ever. are bodies Of very different or
der of Importance from the earth. They
| are members CT an exceedingly numer-
| Ous family, known as the Asteroids which
occupy the otherwise vacant space be-
tween the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
completing their circuits in from three to
six years. at IL distance from the sun
ranging between 200 and 800 million of
miles The number at present known
is I3S: but since according to the calcu-
Iations of Leyerrier, based upon certain
irregularities in the motion of the plan
ct Mars, it appears that the total mass
of the whole group is only about one
third of the earths, while it would take
at least 500 of the largest of them to
equal the earth. it Is evident that their
real number is probably to be counted
by thousands. To the telescope, how
ever powerful, they present no features
of interest They have no personal
character, so to speak, but are merely
little stars distinguislable from other
stars simply by their motion. The
brightest of them, Vesta, is the only one
visible to the naked eye, and may posi-
bly have a diameter of $50 miles. As
for the smallest of them, they are bare
Iy perceptibIe with a telescope and can
not be much larger than gOOd-siZed
mountains. 1t would be possible TO
walk entirely around one in a single day.
On such planet the attractive force Is
so small that if an asterOidal school boy
should happen TO throw a stone, il
would fly off into space, never to re-
turn; if he should jump with such force
which on earth would take him to an ell
ovation of two feet, he would rise to the
height of a thousand feet, and the fall
from that height would not hurt him.
Not that such planets can be supposed
habitable (even by schOol-boys, )for they
retain no atmosphere to speak OF, and
their temperature must be nearly as low
as that of the space through which they
are moving-that is, about 140 degrees
below zero.
Everything known about them indi-
Gates that they had n common origin, and
are only fragments of larger mass. The
idea which prevailed for many years
and with some slight 'mOdiiicatiOns is
still held by many astronomers of rep
utation, especially in GerInany-is that
proposed by Olbers, that they are the
fragments of Il shattered planet, burst
by some unexplained but tremendous
explosion. In this simple form, hOwev-
er, the theory is quite untenable, for
certain mathematical reasons which we
have not space to- explain here; but by
supposing that after the explosion which
broke up the original planet, other see
ondary explosions took place, shattering
the fragments, it is possible to reconcile
all the data with the hypothesis, and
there are some few fncts which bear
pretty strongly in its favor as against
the rival theory. 1t is found for instance
that some OF the asteroids show remark
able and capricious changes Of bright
ness, easily enough accounted for, il we
suppose them to be angular splintrrs of
rock, but otherwise very difficult of eX-
PLANTATION.
Still the hypothesis OF an explosion
sufficiently powerful to blow a world to
pieces seeuls SO violent 1--WE mean no
Joke that very different theory is
much more generally accepted namely,
that n ring of hebulOuS matter which,
according To the nebular hypothesis,
would, in the ordinary course of things
have condensed in single planet, was
torn to pieces by the powerful disturb
ances caused by the attraction of Jupi-
ter. the giant of our system.
The first of the asteroids, Ceres. was
discovered by PiazZi OH the opening,
night of the century, January 1st, lS01.
Three Others, PallaS, Juno, and VrSta
were found within six years. and REMAIN
ed for nearly forty years the only ore
known to astronomers, simply because
their search did not include stars suifi-
ciently faint. In 1915 AstrPa was diScov
cred. and since then not a year has pass
ed without adding some new name to
the musterrOlls OF the planets. The
progress of discovery has, however, been
very variable; thus in 1S4S-i9-5O, only Il
single asterOid was found each year.
while 1864 produced 10, 1862 IL, and
1868 L. They have been discovered by
twanty-nine different observers: Luther
of Dusseldorf heads the list with 21;
Prof. Peters, of Hamilton College, in
our own State. comes next, with 20; next
is Prof Watson, of Michigan University,
with u; GOldschmidt, of Paris, whose
early death alone deprived him OF the
prominence, follows with fourteen; and
finally we mention Hind, of London,
who discovered 10. OF the whole 13S,
10 were discovered in Italy and Sicily,
10 in England and its dependencies, 32
in Germany, SO in France, and Al in the
United States. 1t may be no ground for
any oyerweening pride, but it is at least
pleasant to see that our country stands
first in one race of scientific discovery,
even If il be not one of the very highest
importance. While Profs. Peters and
Watson are absent for the observation of
the transit of Venus, it is possible, how
ever. that their foreign rivals may change
the aspect ef affairs. a new competitor,
Palisa, of Pola near Trie st. has just in
troduced himself by the discovery Of
three new planets, since the middle Of
March h-NelC York Times.
The Boston Irdceier says: ''Of men
who were prominent i'll the secession