Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-08-15
Venus and Mercury.
Their AImOspheres-GIimpses OrtheIr
Geography.
from the Hartford Times.

UeO&Tapnys
From the Hartford Times.
All the planets are on exhibition
this month; very unusual fact.
For some time past-all summer in
fact-Venus, as the evening star,
has shOne resplsndent in the west
ern sky. She is now just past her
quadrature, and shines refulgent in
the deepening twilight, a mellow
silver cresset swung high above the
path of the vanished sun, the earliest
and most lustrOusly beautiful of all
the glittering host. In the telescope
this ardent-blazing planet which has
lately been gibbOus in form,is shown
as beautiful object in the shape of
the moon when that luminary is be-
tween its first and second quarter
just beginning to reveal the crescent
form, a shape which will be more
and more beautifully defined as the
planetary phase proceeds.
This lustrOus planet, the nearest
of all excepting our own satellite)
10 the earth, reflects a blended light
of silver and gold. Very nearly as
large as the earth, Venus very near
ly resembles our own world, so far
as the astronomers can judge flor
owing to its lustre and nearness to
the sun, it is not a favorable object
for telescope examinatlon,) in the
possession of an atmosphere, and
hence seas as well as land. 1t is
believed, with some reason, to pos
sess mountains as high as the earth's
highest. Viewed from Venus, our
own world probably presents at least
as fine sight as Venus does to the
inhabitants of our own planet.
Nearer still to the sun, Mercury,
the smallest of the planets, is visible
as a bright silver flashing object,
glimmering rather by fits than in a
steady conspicuous blaze, in the west |
at the first approach to twilight, |
above the sunken sun, but much
nearer to him than Venus is. 1t is
not so frequently seen as most of !
the others, and is an object of some !
interest. What its climate is it |
would be Interesting to know. But |
there may be modifying atmospheric |
influences to shield on the one hand,
such a globe is Mercury from the
consuming heat which so near a com
panionship with the sun would seem
to invite, aud to save, on the other
hand, the diminished heat received |
by the outer planets, and by pre-
venting its radiation into space, ,rend-
er those worlds habitable by beings
somewhat like those of our own
globe. However this may be, there
they are-these sister worlds of our
own planetary family, sweeping for
ever around the sun in their own re-
sPective orbits, and presenting, when
viewed through the telescope, some
Of the most interesting sights i'm
aginable.
Mars, our ruddy outside neigh
Dor, which presented so uncommon
ly fine spectacle two years ago, is
now more distant, and seen at pres
ant only in the nights latter hours.
1t is an interesting object with its
snowy poles, which are seen through
a good glass as flashing points. 1t
is growing brighter, and very good
telescope will soon show the snow
zap around the southern or more
pole still more distinct
y. This polar area of snow on that
Jar world visibly diminishes in July
and August-indicating summer and
Hinter seasons 'chronologically like
ours. Seas and continents can also
lnder favorable conditions, be dis
,inctly made out by the astronomer.
The red hue of the planet is believ-
I'd to be due to some reddish charac-
er of the soil.