The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-11-18
Jupiter in Periheli0n.

Jupiter has reached its perihelion, or
nearest point to the sun. This is an as
Economical event of considerable import
ance, as it occurs only once in about
twelve years. As the planet is some
millions of miles nearer the earth than
usual, an excellent opportunity is given
for the study of its features. Even the
smallest telescopes will now show some
OF the wonders of this great planet and
its system of satellites, and with large
telescopes astronomers hope, within
month or two, to add much to our knowl-
edge of the chief member of the suns
family. Jupiter will remain the leading
brilliant in the sky throughout October,
shining so brightly that even Sirius
must temporarily yield the palm.
There is another reason for the inter-
est that Jupiter's arrival at perihelion
excites. More than n year ago some
professed scientific person on the Pacific
slope wrote pamphlet ON the terrors of
the perihelia of the four great planets,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune,
which, it was represented, would occur
nearly simultaneously, and, with those
planets in conjunction, fearful re-
suits to the earth were predicted. The
false alarm was spread by other
pretended savants, and, no doubt, awoke
the fears, not merely of the ignorant,
but of persons who knew enough of as
tronomy to be aware of the gigantic at
fractions that the planets exert upon one
another. Stories of plaques, pestilence,
famine and death were based upon the
supposed influence of the perihelia. Mr..
Proctor and other astronomers sought to
counteract the effect of this by showing,
in the first place, that it was not true
tnat the planets named would all be in
perihelion- together. In fact, Saturn
does not reach its peribelion until 1885.
Uranus will be in perihelion next spring,
but Neptune will not reach its nearest
point to the sun until six or seven years
hence. 1t was also denied by scientific
men Of high authority that there was
any reason to fear evil results to the
earth, even though the predicted peri
helia should occur very near together.
Still, alarm was felt, and no doubt many
persons will be pleased to know that
Jupiter, the most powerful of all the
planets, has reached the dreaded peri
helion point, and is already turning to
retrace his steps, without having in any
way injured his sister planet, the earth.
That the sun has felt the approach of
the great planet, as as shown in the
prevalence of vast sun spots and out
bursts of gaseous matter, is not improb-
able, and through the reflex action of
the sun upon the earth our planet may,
even now, feel the same influence in vio-
lent atmospheric phenomena. 1t is diff
ticult to realize the enormous power of
the bright speck, Jupiter, shining SO
quietly in the sky. A recent writer has
shown that the power which the sun has
to put forth to hold Jupiter in his orbit
is equal to the combined strength of
ITO, 1000, 900 bars of solid steel, each a
mile in diameter. Jupiter's pull upon
the earth, according to the same author
ity, is equal to the strength of %, ,OOO,-
900, 900 bars of steel, each of them one
foot in diameter. So, if the mere power
of gravity were all that was required to
make Jupiter's approach dangerous to
the earth, evidently he is not lacking in
the power. But no one need fear that
the sisterhood of worlds which acknowl-
edge the dominion of the sun will
prove mutually destructive.-Ne,0 York
| Sun.