The sun., 1894-01-28


pay Visits to their neiGhbors Of the dark sids1
Can men indeed live. and can plants grow
where there Is no light but that OF the ttars,
Yet starlight is but n faint sunlight sent from
millions Of distant suns. and faint only bscauss
they are so tremendously faraway. Andwb,t
on the other hand. are the conditions OF lI,e
under q never-setting SUM- DO the inhabi.
tants OF that aide OF Venus. blinded BY uer.
petual daylight think that the univers.
consists only of tho world they live on and ths
sun that lights it2 Have their phiosorber.
learned that by going round TO tho
other side OF their world they can see a sKy
ablaze with other suns among which brighter
than Venus looks to US. shines their neirhhor
the earth? Are the Inhabitants OF the DARK
hemisphcre Of Venus concerned In anv man.
ner with the aurora.like illumlnations which
terrestrial astronomers have beheld there2
In short 1t appears that Schaparellrs dl..
covery about Venus has disclosed new world
for the i'm magination to dlsport In.
Turning again to Jupiter We find other mar.
vels on a vaster scale. In France. where they
do everything dramatically. even in scirnce
NJ. Eugene Antoniadi recently conceived the
idea OF making tour" Of the planet Jupiter.
He accom- plished II with the aid OF te escope
Immense as the bulk OF Jupiter IL. It. makesA
complete turn on its axis in a trine less than
ten hours by watching II continuously for
ten hours then. NJ Antoniaii was abe 10 see
every part OF It in succession. OF courss tho
same result could be obtained by stu1yiny
different parts OF the planet at different hours
on different nights but the Frenchman's mr..
tistic sense OF unity prevailed over con silara.
tions OF convenience. and so he made his io4r
di monde de Jupiter en- dir hetres"-- Tour Of the
World OF Jupiter in Ten Hours. At Intervals o,
an hour he drew pictures OF the planet show.
ing all the details that we're visible with tcl.
escope nine and q half inches in aperture An
inspection Of these pictures gives one very
vivid idea OF the appearance OF the great
planet rs 1t swiftly rolls under the eyes Of the
observer.
There is evidently som ething very irncortant
going on upon Jupiter at tho present time.
We probably do not see the real surface u
Jupiter any more than we see that OF Venus
Jupiter too wears a veil. but Il Is OF quite a
different character from that OF his petite sister
planet Venus is q cool and solid globe liks
the earth. surrounded by n transraren. at.
mosphere. Jupiter is a heated. and lilu,d o.
partially vaporous olobc. more ressm bling the
sun than the earth except in its power %,
radiation. Although Jupiter is 300 times AZ
large as the earth. It is only 3l6 times as
heavy. In order to become as solid ms tho
earth IL must condense to one-quarter OF
it's present size. Evidently such n rror-
eSS OF CONDEMNATION Is now going on,
and that is the cause OF the disturb.
ances which the telescope plainly shows are
af'licting the big planet. The effects OF these
disturbances were very IMPOSING when " An
tonadi made his tour" lRst October. They
have been, perhaps. even msre I'm posing dur
ing this present month OF January. The
greater part OF what we see when We look at
Jupiter is probably a mass OF more or less
heated clouds. suspended around the hot core
OF the planet vithin-a cloud ball 81. 500 miles
in diameter. Above Jupiter's equator the sur
face OF those clouds is whirling along at the
rate OF moro than 81. 900 miles an hour. in con-
sequence OF the planets rapid rotation on it's
axis. The further north or south OF
the equator OF course. the shorter the
space traversed In an hour But away from
Jupiter's equator there Ia evidently an actual
tagging OF the clouds they do not go as fast
as they should In order to maintain their place
with reference to the equatorial clouds. Tho
consequence is that Jupiter presents to US
the spectacle Of n vast cloud -enveloped world
around whose equator q tremendous and
ceaseless wind is blowing. Brilliant white
patches In the bright equatorial cloud belt can
be seen carried along in this swift and seem
ingly eddying current. passing the darker
spots In the dusky and reddish belts that lie
on each side OF the equator. and then. having
completed a relative revolution. overtaking the
same spots and passing them again.
Then the dark belts to which have refer
red are themselves the seat OF great disturb
ances. They are whirling and tumbllng. and
undergoing constant changes OF form aud
com position. Their changes OF color. includ-
ing gray. brown. red. and purple. and occa-
brighter tints. seem to be In them
selves Indications OF the tremendous activity
Of physical forces there. Sometimes the belts
are split lengthwiss. and Gaps open in them
thousands Of miles across Then streamers
are thrown from one dark belt to the other
over the brighter equatorial zone 10000 or
20 900 miles broad. Great round or elliptical
white masses. almost as large as tho earth
sometimes, appear and disappear North and
south OF the main belts other narrower streaks
are seen eneirclinG the planet and here. too.
poles a comparatively even and unbToken
blush tint covers the surface. as there COM
parativo quiet and rest prevailed.
pearanee in 1873 in the southern hemisphere
miles in length by 1000 broad. still exists Il
has undergone many vicissitudes during the
Watched it. Sometimes It sVEr1 has almost com' com.
pletely faded from sight only to reappear
A Present only faint IN eliptra T ring rsmnn. az
visible In the place Of the SPOT the central part
81 T It being apparently covered with whtiIh
some thousands OF miles out Of its course in
passing the red spot as II a powerful repu-
sion existed between them. in all tho
years that astronomers have studied this
phenomenon, they have not sue
ceeded In solving the mystery OF it, Whether
II is a glowing cloud. or red hot
gigantic Stag floating on the motion surface o.
the slowly cooling planet or an opening
through the clouds. or a forming continent
having its birth out OF chaos. or the smoke OF
\ volcanic eonfiagTation. the astronomers are
no more able to say to-day than they were six
teen years ago.
ono thing however seems to he certain with
20 Jupiter. and that Is that IL Ia this
world OF the future world In the process ~
creation and OF preparation. still too hot 10 be
Inhabited by beings like those upon the earth.
md that may not attain 10 q condition re-
bling that OF our planet before the human
-ace has disappeared. or has given place TO
'ome higher product of evolution.
GARRETT T. SERyIss.