Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-04-07
Astronomy.
LECTURE No. 2.
By II. A. CUTTING.

timament sheweth Ills handy work" And
who is here So unobserving that that they
do not know the shepherds star? Who
light, rarely Lwinklng, and intense enough
at times to cast shadows? In fact, the
brilliancy of this planet is such that it can
sometimes in favorable atmosphere, and
when brightest, be seen by the naked eye
at midday.
We know it us either morning or even
Z ing star, and understand its motion about
the sun so well that while there can be bu
twice in a century that it can pass between
us and the sun, thus making n transit Of
IA Venus, the very second that such II transit
81 occurs is fully known; and scientists that
desire to ascertain more fully the distance
3 of the sun, which is the grand centre of
the system Of worlds, make long journeys
10 observe this transit. and thus gain data
to learn more definitely the suns distance.
Two transis occur within eight years.
The last occurred December 8, 1874, and
U,
then century will elapse before another,
Olere the principle Of measuring the
astronomical distances was explained with
diagrams.)
As the ancients did not understand the
motions of the planets, this bright star,
when it was seen in the evening, was
called Vesper, and when morning star
was called Lucifer, or the bringer of light
After the identity of the two was estab,
lished, it was called Venus, which person
flied the goddess of love. 1t was long
considered as the abode of happiness, and
it is often referred to as the place of flu ure
enjoyment.
Thou little sparkling star of even,
Thou gem upon an azure Heaven
lluw swiftly W II / soar to thee,
When this impris ned soul is free,"
wrote Maria l.. Davidson, the girl poet
and ere her seventeenth birthday was
past, like the morning star she faded
away, dying thus in the. dawn of Il brilliant
life. Fancy depicts that even now she
may reside in this isle Of light, and con
template rom there the globe she not long
ago inhabited. But let us leave fancy lol
fact.
Venus moves through its orbit arounc
the sun in two hundred and twenty five
days, and its day is twcnty-three hour.
and twcuty-one minutes of our time con
srquently with a year but five eghths OF
ours its days are but little shorter. The
earth moves in its orbit sixteen miles pei
second, while Venus moves with that IN
comprehensive velocity of twenty-thret
miles per second or sixty times as fast II,
Il cannon ball.
The poet Milton asserts that the inclina
ton of the axis Of our earth was produced
after Adam sin by angels coming in III,
name of divine wrath to chaslioe the disc
bedience Of our first parents. God being
absolutely just, the chastisement must bt
in proportion to the sin. We must imagine
then that on the world of Venus the frs
human couple committed u much grave
sin, and that on this celestial world
neighboring our own, the first man ant
the first woman were away beyond th'
limit of pardon, for the axis of their worl,
has been upturned at an angle double tina
Of cur earth. But to set fancy aside, tn
inclination Of iifty-live degrees must rcn
der the world of Venus anything but cain
and tranquil, for it passes by turns through
the extremes of heat and cold.
Through what vicissitudes then mus
countries pass which are by turns arct
and tropical? At certain time of tn
year the sun does not rise for several day
ut a time, and the cold must be severe. O
the other hand, in the opposite season, th
sun pours its rays more than twice as no
as they are on earth; as the sun there az
pears double the size it does to US, an
gives out not only double but probabl
three times the heat it gives US, it is rea
sonable to conclude that the heat when tn
sun does not set for days is truly fearlu
Surely we DO not know which part c
Venus it would be best to live in. BIT
there may be circumstances that ameliol
ate their climate. They have oceans an
continents similar to earth, though it
thought that the equatorial regions ar
mostly water; but the hot sun keeps tn
atmosphere full Of clouds, so it is diilicu
to get any glimpse of its surface.
As this planet is between us and tn
moon, it goes through the same phase
that the moon does, and hence we Get tb
shadows of its mountains when we ca
catch it free from clonds. Some of I'll
mountains rear their SUBMITS above I'll
clouds, and we have every reason TO b,
leve from the measurement of the
shadows that they are at least twenty-tw
miles high; certainly over twenty mile
With mountains thus high, and SO muC
vapor, it may be that upon those monnta
sides the climate is delightful. But whc
we consider this it must be admitted tn
Venus has climate more varied tina
ours. The agitation of the winds, storm
and rains must surpass everything Of ii
Kind that we see or experience here.
The seasons Of this planet do not +
semble those of the earth or Mars. |
atmosphere must be filled with continu
evaporation from its seas, and rain in col
sequence be almost constant over lar.
portions of its surface. Judging from o,
impressions We should have much lie
pleasure there than in our own. climat
and it Is even very probable that with o,
rh5 5scal organization as elastic and yeI
ing rs it is, we could not be acclimated
ike variations of temperature. But v
ought not to corclude from this that Ven,
is uninhabitabe and uninhabited.
1t is no exaggeratlon of Gods power
believe that He could create intellioe
l.. Al Il.