The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-06-12
Wonders of Venus.
Philadelphia Times.

| Philadelphia Times.
Many who admire the beautiful star
which now adorns the western sky until
more than three hours after the conn
mencement of twilight may not be aware
| that its splendor is derived from the sun /;
that in it, like on the earth, night cur
tains the landscape, morning dawns, and
the seasons in quick succession come and
90. Lofty mountains show that forces
similar to those which upheaved the Alps
and lifted the SUBMITS of the Andes
above the regions Of eternal snow have
ridged its surface and covered it with
hills and wales. Variable spots prove
that clouds float in It's atmosphere, and
CLEANS of light, which dart across its
sky, afford evidence that in it lightning
seams TIE sky and the thunder's roll re-
verberates through the valleys. ,
But 800 miles less in diameter than
the earth, and revolving on its axis in
nearly the same time, Venus makes thir-
teen revolutions around the sun while
the former makes eight. As the inclina-
ton of the planet to the plane if its
orbit is at least ffty-four degrees, its
torrid zone is double that extent, or
10S degrees, and its polar circles
ffty>four degrees from the poles
1t therefore has two frigid
and torrid, but no temperate zone.
Since the sun must arrive at the equator
and depart from it to the distance of
fifty-tour degrees twice in each of its
years, there must be two summers and
two winters annually in the torrid zone,
and winter and a summer in each of
the frigid Venus becomes the morning
star after its superior conjunction, when
it appears, through the telescope, ores
cent shaped Ike the new moon. The
orbits OF this planet and of Mercury are
within the orbit of the earth, and conse-
quenLly they are never seen in opposi>
ton to the sun, that is, in the east when
the sun is in the west or in the west
when the sun is in the east. AT its in
ferior conjunction Venus is nearer to the
earth than any other planet except the
moon, and sometimes when approaching
the greatest distance which it seems to
recede from the sun, casts 8 shadow and
is visible in the full light of day. If, at
the period when it is nearest to the
earth, the enlightened part were July
turned towards the latter, this planet
would appear twenty times as brilliant
rs it now does, and almost vie with the
moon in dissipstiDg the darkness OF
nigl t. Being, situated at about one
third less distance from the sun
than the earth is, Venus receives
more light from that great luniinary
than is received by the former planet,
and seems not to require the aid of the
moon. Nevertheless, several astronomers
have affirmed that they had noticed
such body, and have even gone so lar
as to calculate the orbit of the supposed
satellite, but their observations have not
been verified.
The transit of Venus or its passage
between the earth and the sun, when it
appears as a round dark spot moving
slowly across the solar disc, have been
made to assist in determining the dis
lance the earth from the central lu.'
minary The last transit occurred in
December 1874, and the next will take
place n December, 1882. As this can
be viewed in the United States it will
awaken greater interest than the trans
sit which Rittenhouse and others OBJ
served more than a century ago. But
four transits of Venus have been oh,
served, and after 1882 one bundled and
twenty-one and half years will elapse
before the alternately morning ard
evening star win pursue its seeming
pathway across the surface of the great
orb of day.