Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-07-31
Schiaparelli's Astonishing Discovery About
the Planet Venus.

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Sguur SohiaparclN. the Italian a>tluuo-
urr whp ha> made more wonderful d!~-
CuNcrIe~ among the planets than all tile
other astronomers Of our day put together
hu~ Just furnished new surprise, greater
even than bis recent discovery That Me-
curry performs only our rotation ia thr
course Of a revolution around the >gn Il,
unw asserts that Venus, the brightest rt
all the planets that "c ~cr, thr tnlu ~
tar Of the earth, which l. at present glow
ing With nightly increasing ~rlrudur IN tur
wc,t after -undown. also turns hut on,~
on il axis In the course uf a revolution
around thu sun. IN other words. there "
no alteration Of day and night on Venus
A. On earth. The planet enjoys perpetual
das on one side OF IT, globe. while tie
other side i plunged In unendiug night.
Astronomers have hrrrtofor. believed
that the time Of VEINS, aNial rotation
CORES poudcd almost exactly with that of
the carth's, namely, twenty four hours
This was supposed 10 have been r.tah -h-
ct by noting thr return uf tAe Spots yt~I-
bic on Venus tn a similar position might
after night; but SCAIaparrlil shows that
some of these observations have probably
been mi>iutcrprctcd. and that Instead of
indicating a rotation period II twti4ty four
hours. they rather confirm Li> conclusion
that the rotation j. performed III 23i :
DAYS which j. the time the planet takes W.
complete A evolution around tie sun, or.
In other words, j. the length Of Venus :
year. Venus j. about y. coo. .uuh mites
from the sun and it, orbit i more
nearly circle than that q any other pli net.
II follows that there i little variation IN
the amount Of solar heat falling upon
Venus AT different periods Of il, year
Schiaparell says the axis of rotation l.
nearly perpendicular 10 the plane of the
orbit. If that is so, Venus has no dIver>i-
ty Of seasons such as the earth enjoys. Is
equator forever burns with the ardent heat
of an unendlug summer. and it> polar
regions undergo no change Of temperature.
InasRuch as Venus receives almost twice
as much hight and heat from the sun, in
consequence of its greater proximity. a
the earth gets, it must be pretty hot in the
equatorial regions on that side of the planet
which perpetually faces the solar furnace.
If what the great Italian observer SAYS
about Nenuss rotation is true, then the
additional fact announced bv him that the
planets axis is perpendicular to the plane
of its orbit seems almost a providential
provision of nature; for in that way it i
rendered possible for the polar regions t.
enjoy comparatively mild climate, al
/ though the equator and the spaces CORES
ponding to our tropical and temperate
zones may blaze with uncomfortable heat
! If the axis of Venus were inclined like
| that of the earth, the consequent variations
of seasons would plunge the poles alter
nately into a day of fierce sunshine eudur
| ing for seventeen weeks. and frosty
night of equal duration. The result wouC
be that life under such lorms as it assumes
/ upon our globe would probably be impossi
/ BILE anyw here on the surface of Venus fOi
the sunward side of the planet would bt
scorched, while the night side was frozen
But if, as Schaparelli's observations indi
| cate, the poles of Venus are not tipped now
| one and now the other toward the sun. but
remain upright at right angles to the direc
| ton of the sun, then in their neighborhood
the heat may be tempered just as it is al
! the poles of the earth, in accordance with
! the law of incidence of the solar rays. OF
| course the cold, being unbroken, may be
very intense just around the poles them
! selves, and in fact within few years pas,
white spots have been dscerned on Venus
| about where the poles would be situated
| according to Schiaparelli's idea; and those
spots may be caused by the accumulations
! of snow and ice there. But in somewhat
| lower latitudes an agreeable mean might
! be found between the consuming heat OF
the equator and the glacial chill of the
poles. The imagination may no, go far as
tray in pcturing these intermediate zones
on the sunward side of the planet, as the
scenes of activities corresponding tc
those that mark the human occupation
of the inhabitable parts of the earth.
To be sure, the inhabitants of even these
favored regions of Venus could not enjoy
the agreeable interchange of day and night
but would be perpetually shone upon by
the sun; but even here there are indica
tions that nature may have provided ever
a partial compensation. All telescopi,
observations of Venus testify to the blind
ing brlliancy of its surface and the mos
reasonable hypothesis yet put forth Z
account for this phenomenon is the exist
ence of an extraordinary amount Of clout
atmosphere Anybody who has watched
sun-illumned cloud knows how splendidl
it reflects the light; and. OF course, il
looking at the clouds of another planet W
can practically see only their sunny side
If, then, as appearances indicate, Venus
atmosphere is largely filed with clouds
the effect would be to screen of the supera