Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-05-01

is plainly seen upon the rings back
of the planet, and close inspection re-
veals the narrow line of shade that the
rings cast upon the ball. There are
delicate markings on the planet that
form test both of the powers of the
telescope and of the eye. Saturn has
eight moons, and very beautiful they
look, thronging like golden bees about
the rings. Only five can be seen with a
good three and half or four inch glass,
but Titan, their chief, which is nearly as
large as the planet Mars. can be seen
with a much smaller glass. For the next
four or five years the rings will slowly
open wider, and their beauty will in
crease month by month.
Venus, which shines as the most bril-
liant star in the heavens, is a splendid
telescope object. The orbit of Venus,
unlike that of Jupiter and Saturn, is
within that of the earth, and consequent
ly she is never seen except in the West
after sunset, or in the East before sun
rise. When nearly between the sun and
the earth Venus is often so bright as to
be visible at MONDAY. Then a power of
twenty-five diameters shows the planet
in the form of beautiful crescent of
dazzling whiteness. With higher pow
larger, and more brilliant than the cres-
cent moon. AS she circles through her
orbit Venus presents in succession all
the phases of the moon. She is, how
ever, so dazzling that the best telescopes
are batf1ed in the attempt to study her
features. Schroter, famous German
observer, thought he had discovered
mountains in Venus nearly thirty miles
high. Astronomers are generally agreed
| that Venus closely resembles the earth
| in physical condition, enjoying the same
| change of seasons, with considerably
brighter sunshine, and that if, as seems
highly probable, she is inhabited, the in
habitants are very like ourselves.
Mercury, which is yet nearer the sun
than Venus is, on that account, difficult
to find except at certain favorable periods.
| He shows the same phases as Venus on
a smaller scale. Very high mountains,
it is believed, have also been seen in
Mercury. If he has inhabitants it has
been conjectured that, on account of
their proximity to the sun, they must
possess the heat-enduring powers OF
salamanders.
Mars, which is the next planet outside
the earth, is, in some respects, the most
interesting of all. 1t does not require a
very large telescope to show the CONT
nents and oceans that variegate his sur
face and the patches of snow about his
poles which wax and wane with the sea-
sons. With the aid of map of Mars the
possessor of good telescope may spend
many hours in the delightful task o
locating the lands and seas of this dis
tant planet, which it does not require {
great stretch of the Imagination to pict
| nd
should be said that some astronomers
arguing from Mars's planetary age, say
that his inhabitants, if any are left, mus
be beings inferior to ourselves. A powe
of one hundred and fifty on three-incl
telescope will show Mars's polar snow
caps. With power of two hundred
and fifty or three hundred, the principa
lands and seas may be identified in goot
weather, and when the planet is favora
bly, situated in his orbit. Vast masse
of clouds are sometimes seen obscurins
the details of the disk, and hiding who'll
continents, as the continents of the eartl
would be hidden, during long-continuet
and widespread rains, from an observe
on Mars. The remarkable ruddy colo
of Mars has been referred by some t,
the color of his soil, as if it were like tn
red sand of northern New Jersey. Other
have thought that Martial vegetation
may be red instead of green. Still other
have supposed the color to be due t
the density of the planets atmosphere
The asteroids, or small planets, O
which over two hundred have been dis
covered, are too minute to be of mucl
interest to the amateur telescopist, som
of them being only few miles il
diameter. The huge planets Uranu
and Neptune, which stand like sentinel
on the frontiers of the solar system, an
require more than a mans lifetime t
make a single revolution around tn
sun, are so far away that the mos
, powerful telescopes in existence hav
not served to clearly reveal their gian
: features, and the glasses of amateur
can do no more than barely distinguis
them from fixed stars.-M. Y. San.