The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-02-11
THE PLANETS IN TIE WEST.

Within the past few days star-gazers have
been struck by the conjunction Of the plan
cts Jupiter and Venus, which are to be seen
every evening in the western sky. They are
so close together that the rays of the one
implnge on the rays of the other They are,
in fact, 400, 100000 miles apart; and the
smaller planet, being that much nearer the
earth than its companion, appears the larger
and the brighter, though in fact its bulk is
400 times less than that OF Jupiter. 1t
is observed also that, whereas the light Of
Jupiter is white, that Of Venus is red.
The orbits of both planets are known, and
astronomers knew that Venus would inter
vene between the earth and Jupiter, so that
if the latter body had been larger or nearer
we should have witnessed an actual transit
There is thus nothing surprising in the
spectacle which the western sky affords.
But all over the celestial world singular
perturbations appear to be taking place.
Professor Holden notifies the world that
there is new spot on the sun Of such pro-
digious size and briIliancy that it can be
observed by the naked eye through piece
of smoked glass. No such disturbance on
the face Of the sun has been witnessed since
1888. simultaneously there is extensive
commotion on Jupiter. The great belts and
spots on that planet are Frightening and
becoming more conspicuous their appear
ance changes with such rapidity that the
telescope observer has to be lively to follow
them. What does all this mean? 1t cannot
be that the phenomena are accidental.
Nothing in the celestial world is the fruit OF
accident Everything is due to the opera
ton OF fixed law. There must be something
going on upon the surface of this great
inchoate orb which we cannot even conjec-
ture and which is connected in some way
with the appearance of the angry spot on
the sun.
Jupiter is supposed to be in an early stage
of planetary development - the stage
through which the world passed in the
azoic age. 1t may be a mere mass Of
molten vapor in which solid constituents
are held in gaseous suspension. As it rolls
through its enormous orbit, with velocity
almost inconceivable, it gradually coolS,
soldifes and wraps its fiery gases in a
crust The fragments which it threw off,
and which formed satellites or moons, prob
ably cooled long ago and became covered
with d crust For aught we know, they
may be Inhabited; the parent orb cannot.
unless we assume an order of created be-
ingS very different from anything we can
conceive. Are the changes which are being
observed in the belts aud spots OF Jupiter
indications OF commissions attendant upon
its transition from gaseous toa solid form?
Nothing is still, either on the earth or in
the heavens. All over the world the sea is
either encrOaching upon the land or the
land IS driving back the sea. Seaports Of
Yesterday are upland downs to-day. Ships
sail over the spires of drowned cities Of
antiquity. So in the heavens. stars w hich
astronomers have watched from the dawn
Of astronomy sometimes vanish, as a gas jet
which has been turned eff. Other stars,
which have been cassed as stars of the
fourth and eth magnitude, sometimes burst
forth into dazzling brllIiauce and become
suns TO quicken new universes with light
We have no record Of these revolutions
Oar period of observation has been too in
fultesimally short when compared with
the period Of creation, to furnish material
for comparison. There may have been a
time when this earth Of ours was gaseous
and hundreds Of times its present bulk,
when inhabitants of Mars and Venus OBJ
served rs as a bright star, with belts and
dense atmosphere and many moons But 10
the most ancient Of the Chadeans the
world and its starry ornament were what
We find them now, and there is little pros
pecs that We shall ever know what they
were then.