The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-26
A WONDERFUL WORLD.
The Great Planet Jupiter and the Ire
mendous orces at Work On 1t.

about the huge planet Jupiter, which Is now
visible in the evening sky. When we ara
thinking about worlds it is just as well to
think of jupiter, for that is a globe worth
bordering over. Thirteen hundred times as
large as this big earth of ours, and illumi-
mated by four obedient moons, Jupiter has
uncommon claims TO consideration. But it
is not so much the gigantic size Of that
wonderful planet as the extraordinary ap-
pearances and occurrences upon its surface
that command particular attention at
present
Most readers know that when Jupiter is
looked at with a telescope, certain bands. or
belts, are seen extending in parallel lines
across its disk. We ordinarily see the great
planet thus represented in illustrated books
| of astronomy. 1t is among these bolts of
| Jupiter that the astronomers have Observed
some very surprising things. The most
| conspicuous belts lie on either side of the
planets equator, in what upon the earth
we should call the tropical ATTITUDES Jupi-
| ter's equator. however, is so slightly in
| clined from the plane of his orbit that his
| tropical circles do not extend as far north
and south rs the belt lie The first explana-
| ton that naturally occurs to the observer
who watches these belts is that they must be
enormous bands of cloud encircling the
| giant planet on each side of its equator. If
he has a powerful telescope and patient
mind he discovers that changes of form and
| position occur in the belts, which strengthen
| the probability that they e.-e composed of
clouds. The various colors that they show,
| and in particular the prevailing red tint
| which characterizes the largest belts, may
| excite wonder as to the nature and condi-
| ton Of masses Of vapor that could present
| such an appearance, but upon the whole
there seems to be nothing to seriously dis
| credit the idea that the greater number of
these phenomena really are clouds
And now we come to the most surprising
facts. 1t is evident that q tremendous
| current is continually sweeping around the
huge globe of Jupiter over its equatorial
regions. The cloud belts are all in motion,
| but not all with the same velocity. The
| nearer they are to the equator the faster
| they move. The observations of MIR.
Stanley Williams and others show that in
| the north temperate zone there is a broad
light band encircling the planet which
may possibly be the actual sur
face of Jupiter's globe. By com.
pairing the rate of motion of cloud
like objects seen in this region with that
| OF the adjacent cloud belt it is found that
the latter is moving much more swiftly
The general period Of Jupiter's rotation
upon its axis, notwithstanding the enormous
size OF the planet. appears to be little
short OF ten hours But the equatorial
clouds 60 around in about nine hours and
| fifty minutes, while the clouds 80 north
| and south OF the equator require five
minutes longer to complete a circuit.
In other words, the equatorial part
| Of the atmosphere appears to be flowing
| past the regions on either side of it at the
| rate of some 240 miles an hour This, as
| M. Flammarion has remarked. is incom-
ma " 70 ha tha uiA
| upon the earth. And this gigantic current
of wind, If so IL may be called, forms a
| perpetual hurricane, blowing around Jupi-
ter as unremIttingly as our trade winds,
| but with inconceivable power and energy
| The result Of the varying velocities with
| which adjacent portions of the Jovian
| atmosphere appear to move should
| naturally be the formation of enormous
whirling storms, cyclones and tornadoes of
incredible fury.
1t is probable that, looked at in a vertical
section, the atmosphere of Jupiter would
present an equally remarkable contrast and
conflict of motions. There is evidence that
the dark colored spots, or clouds, are at a
| greater elevation than those of lighter
hue, and 1t has been observed that the dark
| spots move more slowly than the bright
ones. 1t follows that the deeper you go into
the atmosphere the faster it is found to be
moving, and hence it may be that the actual
solid surface of the planet, if any solid sur
| face 1t has, rotates within its shell of clouds
considerably faster than the shell itself
| turns.
| Another very singular phenomenon of the
strange and tremendous planet Jupiter is
the great red spot which has been seen upon
its southern hemisphere ever since the sum
| mer OF 1878. Incredible as the thought
seems, and difficult as its explanation upon
any analogy drawn from terrestrial geology
undoubtedly would be, there are certain
facts which suggest the possibility
that this phenomenon may be an
elevated region Of the planet thrust I'D
through it's environment of clouds It
must be remembered that the so-called
red spot, which really appears only as a
small oval blotch upon the disk of Jupiter.
| is in reality some 80, 900 miles long and
1000 broad. Think of mountain of those
dimensions raised above the clouds! Then.
to add to the startling suggestions of the
hypothesis, the color Of this gigantic eIeva-
ton or protuberance is a fiery red Per-
haps the strongest reason for regarding the
| red spot as an elevated mass is the fact that
the clouds of the southern cloud belt, close
to which it lies, never pass over it, but on
the contrary in passing by it. are
driven out of their course and curve
around its southern border, Just as clouds
10 the earth's atmosphere glide along the
SUBMITS rise above their level. Il might
be urged in behalf of this view that mas
much as the force of gravity on Jupiter is
nearly two and half times as great as on
the earth, the major portion of its atmos-
phere must be pressed close to its surface
and that consequently its clouds do not float
at such hight as the gigantic proper
tions of the planet might otherwise lead
us to expect, that the elevation of the red
spot need not be supposed unduly great in
order to place it above the general level of
the cloud strata. Then there is the COM
monty accepted theory that Jupiter is vet
in an early stage of Development to support
the hypothesis Of the elevation of a large
region of its surface in the manner in which
parts Of the earth's crust were thrust up.
folded and crumnled in the fiery ages of its
history.
However we look at them, these strange
discoveries on Jupiter indicate that but a
very small part of the energies of creation
are conferred upon our own little globe.
Jupiter has winds and storms and clouds
and geol Dgical con Fulsions that make the
great events Of terrestrial existence seem
but miniature representation of planetary
life. After ALL the man WHO is said to want
the earth doesn't appear to be SO very grasp.
ing; II he wanted Jupiter bis ambition
would be truly gigantic.
GOTHAM WINS By ONE RUN.
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