Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-08-07

Down a short distance south and east
Of Jupiter. and shining with . steady.
but dull aud murky. light which distin-
cuisines him from all other planets, may
now nightly DO seen Saturn. He ID SEQ.
ond in size OF all the big brothers Of
Mother Earth and Is travelling to join in
the coming perihslis meeting.
Now is an excellent time to look at
Saturn. He il about l00. 600. 900 miles
nearer than hs has been OF late. and
Is coming still nearer the throne OF his
rulsr-ths sun-oonssqusntly nearer the
earth. He comes around only once in
about 29lI. years. hence the anxiety OF
young people to see him. Between now
and 1885 he reaches his greatest north
ern d~eclination as well a. his perihelion;
and he IL about to spread his rings to
their widest extent. 1t will be worth
| while to look ct them and him.
To the naked eye Saturn appears as q
faint and dimly-colorsd star; only be
| does not twinkle A do the stars. Yet
turn the telescope on him and In all
u universe there 10 nothing save the
sun itself to exceed his splsndor. In
deed. he seems to have . divine majesty
about him a. be stands out clearly dc.
fined from the jst-black background Of
night with his circles on circles about
him. like the lambert flames which
fickersd round the head OF virgils hero.
or the CLEANS Of glory which crowned
the brows OF pictured saints and lighted
the sad face Of Him acquainted with
grief" He seems Q winged ssraph,
answering the call Of deep into deep
through the silent watches OF the night.
While looking at Saturn with his rings
OF light and his ring Of darkness and the
shadow OF the planet on the rings. n
cannot but remember Ezekiel's hery
..wheel within . wheel" whose ''rings,
they we're so high that they were dread
full wonder symmetrical and hsrmo.
NOUS in the heavens above. and .
structure complex and incomprehsnsibls
to the world below.
Since the days Of 1912 and the obser.
vs,ions Of Calico the rings OF Saturn
have been objects OF deep study and In.
tsrest to astronomers. They have been
recently and are still subjected to the
closest scrutiny in this country and
in Europe. Many theories as to their
nature have been advanced from time to
time, but only recently has one been bit
upon which will answer all the phe.
nomsna which attach to these rings.
Here is the problem:
Around q planet with an equatorial
diameter Of $4,000 miles and 4 polar
diameter OF 5000 miles these rings
rotate as does the moon around the
earth. The outer edge Of the outer ring
il SO, 500 miles from the planets center.
aud the inner edge Of the inner ring Is
81, 500 miles from the planets center.
The breadth OF the bright rings is about
30, 900 miles and between the innermost
bright ring and the equator OF the planet
10 . space Of about 0 1000 miles. Now
how to locate csnters OF gravity and set
the rings in motion 10 the question.
It is clear that the rate OF speed OF the
outer ring cannot be the same as that OF
the inner. Then the difference In mo-
ton between the outer and inner edges
Of the same ring must be such as to pre-
vent them from breaking and q portion
flying of into space by centrifugal
force, and . portion rushing to the
planet by csntfipstal force. These
things are 30 difficult to manage. even
in Nature, that men have in fact given
up the soldering theory. and decided
that each and all the rings are made up
Of many small bodies, each free to
travel upon its course under the varying
attractions 10 which II Is subjected by
the planet itself and by its satellites.
The outer ring Is not 80 bright a. the
inner, because II is not strown 30 thick
" with these small spheres.
And then the dark ring is not so dark
AZ the inky background Of space In which
the planet and rings are set. This ring
has been changing OF late. IL shows
varieties OF tints ut times while the back
ground 10 always black. Still the out
line Of the planet can be seen across the
entire breadth Of 1t. II 10 simply more
sparssly strown with little satellites than
10 the outer ring.
The fact 10 that in Saturn we have
caught nature satsllite-making and have
the key to the world building Of the
universe. These little spheres which
now look like and are called rings will
soon las time is counted In world
makipg) be changed into inner mem
bsrs Of the systsm OF moons belonging
to Saturn, and which has already given
him eight satellites.