Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-04-05
A TRIP TO JUPITER'5 MoONLET.
EXTRACTED FROM "ALERIEL; OR A voY
AGE To OTHER WORLDS"


space from that mighty world-the
uugest of the children of the Sun-the
ereat planet Jupiter, we came near one
of the moonlets that roll around his
satellites. In the great universe you
know there are nine classes of worlds
A. least. GJ The central sun; ~ the
primary Suns. such as our own, and
egu and Aldebarau; C3) the secondary
ans. such as the attendants on the
Iouble stars; a. the great worlds
like Jupiter: o. the minor worlds
-uch as this earth or Venus; a. the
little world or pluuetoids; ~ the satel-
ltes like your moon, and the satellites
of Juliter or Saturn or Uranus; and
rlen 81 the satellites of satellites, the
moonlets of tue moons. Lastly are
the meteors, like the insects of the
leayenS, swarming IN countless mil
lions.
1t was to a moonlet of Jupiter that
we now approached. A tiny world.
An English county would more than
contain its whole suriace-London
you'd more than have covered it alto.
gether from pole to equator, and
.auator TO pole) which houses. 1t
seemed trst like a glittering star close
satellite. Nearer and nearer We ap-
preached it, till it grew to globe in
space. Then the mOOulet seemed COW
cred with large rocks of many forms
and fantastic shapes. The elements
we're there as on the earth, and IN the
mighty sun and throughout the solar
system: iron and calcium, salt and
magnesium piled up in divers rocks,
hn viii nj
earth.
We drew nearer to 1t, and suffered
the force Of gravitation to draw us to-
Yards it-though here that force was
fourfold. ID That of Jupiter; % that
of the parent moon, 81 that of the dis
tant far-off sun Cparent of ALI; and
lastly, that or the moOnlet. As one
drew near it grew into manifestIy what
IL was-a tiny world; the globe rose be-
fore our sight like a mountain, from
the equator. But the equator was no
plain; 1t was infinite space.
Nearer we drew to its rocky surface.
The clefts in the rocks and the gorg s
opened up, and the faut Jstic rocks rose
as miniature mountains on IFS surface.
The point we made for was a tiny plain
some forty degrees from the North
world, situated not unlike the relative
position of England and Germany on
your earth At lcnth our aerial ma
chine struck its surface gently, for We
slackened It's force of impact. We de
scended on its surface. 1t was a plain
of few acres, enclosed with rocks like
miniature mountains. The sun vas
shining with the DIM light usual in
the far regions of Jupiter when We ar
rived, but very soon the rotation of
the little globe brought On the night.
When strange scene was then opened
to our wondering eyes.
There overhead, in all its majesty,
belted round his grand equator with
four vast belts, was glorious Jupiter,
more than a hundred times the size of
your fall moon. He sbOne superbly
in the heavens, giving many times the
light of the moon upon the earth.
But besides that, there was real moon
light there, and moonlight not only
brighter, but more varied than that of
earth The parent moon of the moonlet,
being 50 much nearer, shone with
splendor little less than Jupiter himself.
Then there were the three other distant
moons, each as grand as earth's moon
another half-moon, and third in the
full.
We rested in silent contemplation of
the glorious sight. Then one of my
comrades broke the silence:
Glow wonderful and glorious are
Gods works. Here in this little world
where everything Is so small on its
surface, what olOr.es are manifesto in
watch the changing. phases of Jupiter
end his moons.
If the first sight was wonderful, the
successive change We beheld was like
colossal pyrOtechnic display, which
has gone on for countless ages. Slowly
each moon passed through its phases,
and slowly It's dark portions drew en-
hgntencd, and then faded away into
the darkness. Slowly even huge Jupi,
ter himsel assumed the glbbuus, the
half-moOn, and the crescent forms No
hour was quite like It's predecessor.
All changed their phases far more
rapidly q 81 the ea-th's moon does;
and so one felt the changes and the
grand solemn motion OF those Orbs in
space. 1t was as a colossal Orrery.
Not only the forms, but the colors
varied, Tor the moons were not all of
one color. Sometimes the silver light
of the plant prevailed, sometimes the
gr, at blue moon shOne over sli-shin-
ing as u blue light dominating all;
sometimes this was varied in shady
places by the red, and sometimes by
the yellow moon. Il was a glorious
spectacle-the like OF which the eve of
man has never rested on. The starry
heavens were ornamented with mighty
OrDs moving visibly In space, enlight-
cnjng the little world with more than
moonlight Cf divers colors, but only
suffering the stars o. the first magni-
tuie to be seen.
Echpses were constantly varying the
SKY; sometimes the great moon itself
"Gs eciipsed by mighty Jupiter, some
times Its lesser comrades came near,
al then the change of shapes was
Tolderful, from full to half, and then
90 crescent, and then the darkened
orhs-just visible IN the sky by Jupiter
'ght.
Day was almost as wonderful as
Eight. The sun, though weak in COM
Inris0n to what yOu know on earth,
still shone brightly enough to drown
the other lights, but yet the mighty
orbs were more clearly visible in the
heavens than your moon is On q sunny
'lv.
Ne walked over this little world in
sVerv part 1t was strange sensation
o walk from day into night (only
ew miles were sufficient to do it), and
hen into light, or ratheF into vAris-