Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-02-17
OUR NEIGHBOR VENUS
THE TWIN OF THE EARTH, WHICH IS
10000, 600 MILES AWAY.

Where There Il Perpetual Day asd Per-
petual lNisht-Spscalation ~ 70 the Plan
et's Inhabltants- Of Our Neigh
bors IL Japitsr.
Venus is the twin Of the earth, her di-
ameter being about 200 miles, or only
some 200 miles less than that Of our globe.
Jupiter is the Goliath Of planets, being So
500 miles in diameter, or about l,SOo
times as great as the earth In volume.
Jupiter makes a less brilliant appearance
than Venus, because it Is ten times as Tar
away.
When . telescope is directed at the two
planets, the difference between them be
comes much more striking. Venus looks
then like crescent moon. dazzlingiy
bright, with faint shades that can only be
detected by a practiced eye and good
glass. Jupiter, on the other hand, is mag
nified into huge globe, perceptibly hat
tened at the poles, streaked with irregular
belts of various colors on each side OF its
equator and accompanied by its four
eoons, the shadows of one or more OF
which, "a black as drops of ink, may occa-
sionally be seen slowly crossing its vast
cloudy surface.
Since Venus is much nearer to the earth,
its distance being 10000, 900 miles, while
that Of Jupiter is 40G, 900 900, it would be
natural to expect that the surface of Venus
should appear more clearly defined in tele-
scopes than that Of Jupiter does. As a
matter Of fact, however. we can see very
little of the surface of Venus. The fca-
lures of the planet are hidden in its own
brightness. Apparently its atmosphere is
filed with clouds, or else that atmosphere
itself reflects so much of the sunlight that
it becomes an effectual veil. concealing the
face of the planet beneath. The best time
to look at Venus with telescope is in
broad daylight.
When best seen with a powerful tele-
scope, the surface of Venus appears shaded
with lighter and darker regions, recalling
the lands and seas of Mars. But these ap-
pearances are SO faint and i'll defined tn
great uncertainty exists in regard to them.
Yet as long ago as 1927 Bianchini made
globe of Venus, based on his telescope
observations, and gave to certain dark
spots on the planet such names as the Sea
of Columbus" the "Sea of Calico" and
the "Sea of Marco Polo"
Most of the earlier observers of Venus
thought that the planet rotated on its axis
once in about "a hours, SO that its days
were of similar length to terrestrial days.
But in 1890 tho famous Schiaparelli, the
discoverer of the canals of Mars, made the
surprising announcement that Venus prob
ably turns only once on its axis in revolv-
Ing once around the sun. Tho year of
Venus, or the time required for it to COM
plete revolution around the sun, is about
225 of our days. If Schiaparelli is right
then one side of Venus enjoys perpetual
day while the other side is buried in end
less night. Between the light and the dark
hemispheres there is a narrow region,
broadcast at the equator, over which the
sun slowly rises and sets once in the course
of every 225 days.
1t is not scientific to speculate concern
ing the possible inhabitants of Venus, but
1t is interesting. Do those of the sunlit
side ever pay visits to their neighbors of
the dark side? Can men indeed live and
can plants grow where there is no light
but that of the stars? Yet starlight is but
faint sunlight sent from millions of dis
tant suns and faint only because they are
SO tremendously far away. And what, on
the other hand, are the conditions of life
under a never setting sun? Do the inhab-
itants of that side of Venus, blinded by
perpetual daylight, think that the universe
consists only of the world they live on and
the sun that lights it? Have their philos-
ophers learned that by going round to the
other side of their world they can see sky
ablaze with other suns, among which,
brighter than Venus looks to us, shines
their neighbor the earths Are the inhab-
itants Of the dark hemisphere of Venus
concerned in any manner with tho aurora
like illuminations which terrestrial astron-
omers have beheld there?
In short, it appears that Schiaparelli's
discovery about Venus has disclosed new
world for the imagination to disport in.
In France, where they do everything
dramatically, even in science, NJ. Eugene
Antoniadi recently conceived the idea of
making tour" of the planet Jupiter. lie
accomplished it with the aid of telescope
Immense as the bulk of Jupiter is, it
makes Il complete turn on its axis in
trifie less than 10 hours. BY watching 1t
continuously for 10 hours, then, NJ. An
toniadi was able to see every part of it in
succession.
OF course the same result could be OBJ
tanned by studying different parts Of the
planet at different hours on different
nights, Dub tnC Il FTeuCnI1AH = aftlst1c sense
of unity prevailed over considerations Of
convenience. and so he made his "tour du
monde do Jupiter en- dix heures" tour OF
the world of Jupiter in 10 hours) At in
tervals Of an hour he drew pictures Of the
planet, showing all the details that were
visible with telescope o. inches in aper-
ture. An inspection of these pictures gives
one very vivid idea of the appearance of
the great planet as it swiftly rolls under
the eyes of the observer.
There is evidently something very i'm
portant going on upon Jupiter at the pres
ent time. We probably do not see the real
surface of Jupiter any more than we see
that Of Venus. Jupiter, too, wears veil,
but it is ofqGite different character from
that Of his petite sister planet. Venus is
a cool and solid globe, like the earth,
surrounded by transparent atmosphere.
Jupiter is heated and liquid or partially
vaporous globe, more resembling the sun
than the earth, except in its power of radi-
alton. Although Jupiter is 300 times as
large as the earth, it is only 3l6 times as
heavy. In order to become as solid as the
earth it must condeDse to one-quarter of
its present size. Evidently such process
of condensation IL now OoinO nm and that