Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-07-27
EVENING STAR.
TlfSDAY............-.yuiyS -, 1873.
Four Planets in sight.

fOuf R't0uets In sig mt.
Not often do the starry heavens show US
four strongly shining, bright planets in one
night. but this has been for some time pas
tie position OF Jupiter. Mars, Saturn, aud
Venus. First comes into view that giant
piatet-that vast orb, whose diameter Is
eleven times and his volume about 1870
times than OF our own globe-J jupiter, The
planet OF the mighty cloud envelopes. whose
continued overwhelming the planet HIM
self has led astronomers todoubtff te'escDpic
vision has ever yet really penetrated these
enormous layers Of vapor 20 the surface Of
the planet itself Jupiter is seen soon after
dark almost directly In the zenith. his posi-
ton at O'Clock being n little west and south
OF II. aud hls slow and majestic sweep around
The sun, which requires twelve OF our years
scarcely better COMFORTS with his vast d.
menstCnS than does his apparent Journey
every night through the skies OF earth. lie
SETS not FAR nom midnight. Proctor believes
Jupiter 10 be still a mass of Seething internal
volcanic fire, giving ont heat like a sun. and
having but very slight crust cooled a yet,
ard That subject 70 continual apry out bursts
ard oveTilows. while the vast cloud belts a
thousand miles deep, are either partly OF
volcanic origin. or are discharging upon the
planet itself such floods Of sulphur charged
rain as we cannot imagine.
Mans next comes in sight. He rises red
away IN the southern part Of the western
hOriZoa soon after dusk, and by nine O'Clock
IL conspicuous object well up In the south
ern heavens, nd easily diStiuCuiShable by
has ruCdy hue IL is a good time 10 scan
Mars through good telescope. Tor IL will he
y
position as he has been i'm for the las.
month, and will he for n little time longer.
That bright star of the rUddy hue that comes
Up almost in the southeast soon after dark il
the neighbor world which. OF all the plane
taTy system, has presented the most inter
estiI g field for astronomical study ami best
rewarded such studies. 1t Is pretty definitely
decided that this ruddy hue is due To some
quality Of characteristic OF his soil. Mars.
smaller planet than earth. presents n num-
Der OF features that seem TO warrant the con-
lures are something akin tn those OF our own
world. He has an atmosphere; ne has his
season OF winter and summer-the region of
snow and ice around the southern pole, an
nualiy and viSibly decreasing and Increasing
IN what may be summer and winter. There
are on that distant world oceans and cOnti-
nents; this much at least is certain. Not
such oceans as the Atlantic and Pacific, but
stTGr sc, bottle shaped seas, of no great eN-
tent compared with earth's greatest
Whether they are ever frozen or not. nobody
on earth yet knows, but Z: is Mr.. Proctor's
belief that Mars, an older planet than ours,
has gone far past his period of greatest life
and Is last approaching, If he be not already
entering, the cold and lifeless condition OF
| such bodies as our moan. whose internal
| heat is exhausted.
Later, rising wan and far, a pale but lumin-
| Gus ghost of a planet in the eastern sky,
comes up great Saturn-the ringcd world.
| This, on some accounts. is the most interest
| ing study of all the planets. chiefly because
| of the mobility and uncertainty OF its occa-
| slonally shifting shape, and because OF its
| giant illuminated rings and its eight attend
| ant moons. Its enormous distance also in
vests IL wlts a certain interest which would
| he wanting in near object. 1t Is aScertaine
| that its destiny does not exceed that Of water.
| and the probabilities seem to favor the con-
| clUsion that Saturn is still globe Of molten
| matter-a world of liquid fire. Its aspect.
seen on a clear night through a good glass,
as the great lemon colored planet, girdlei
with Its vast elliptic rings, goes sailing
silently across the field of vision, is beautiful
| and interesting beyond that OF any other.
| Much later-in fact i'm the early dawn OF
| the coming morning-Nenus comes reSplen-
| IDENTIFY into view. Most brilliant OF all the
| planets 10 US, because she is nearer TO us and
| 10 the sun, this remarkable sister world near
| est and apparently most Ike our own world,
| Is never more brilliant, never more beautiful
| Than when as the morning star, she sheds the
| lustre OF her golden (but borrowed) beams
| uron the earth in the stiffness of the Clear
| morning. Venus will probably always be a
/ difficult object OF study. because of her proX-
/ unity OF the sun, but IL is found thai there
| are reasons for believing some of her noun
! tains to he equal in hi yht To the highest OF
| our own world Hartford Tines.