The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-03-09
OUR NEIGHBOR VENUS
rHE TWIN OF THE EARTH, WHICH is
10000, 900 MILES AWAY.

Where There Is Perpetual Day and Per-
petual NiCht-Speculationa as to the Plan
cts Inhabitants-Anothero of Our Neigh
bors Is Jupiter.
Venus is the twin of the earth, her di-
ameter being about 7,700 miles, or only
some 200 miles less than that of ourglobe.
Jupiter is the Goliath of planets, being &C.,
800 miles in diameter, or about 1900
times as great as the earth in volume.
Jupiter makes less brilliant appearance
than Venus, because it is ten times as far
away.
When telescope is directed at the two
planets, the difference between them be-
comes much more striking Venus looks
then like a crescent moon, dazzlingly
bright, with faint shades that can only be
detected by practiced eye and good
glass. Jupiter, on the other hand, Is mag
pified into huge globe, perceptihly fat
tened at the poles, streaked with irregular
belts Of various colors on each side of its
equator and accompanied by its four
moons, the shadows of one or more of
which, as 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 40, 900, 900 miles while
that Of Jupiter is 400 900, 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 q
matter Of fact, however, We can sec very
little of the surface Of Venus. The fea-
% Nba p1oyak k,1l,,, ft,
brightness. Apparently its atmosphere Is
filled with clouds, or else that atmosphere
itself reflects so much of the sunlight that
it becomes an eTectual veil, concealing the
face Of the planet beneath. The best time
to look at Venus with a telescope is in
broad daylight.
When best seen with q powerful tele-
scope, the surface of Venus appears shaded
with lighter and darker regions, recalling
the lands and seas of Mars. But these APP
pearances are so faint and i'll defined that
great uncertainty exists in regard to them.
Yet as long ago as 1921 Bianchini made a
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 Galileo" 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 the 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. The year Of
Venus, or the time required for it to com
plete a revolution around thesun, is about
22j of our days. II 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 narrow region
broadest 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 inha bitants Of Venus, but
it is interesting Do those of the sunlit
side ever pay visits to their neighbors Of
the dark sides Can men indeed live and
can plants grow where there is no light
but that Of the stars? Yet starlight is but
a 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 a sky
ablaze with other suns, among which,
brighter than Venus looks to Us, shines
their neighbor the earth? Are the inhab-
itants Of the dark hemisphere Of Venus
concerned in any manner with the aurora
like eilluminatiOns which terrestrial astron-
omers have beheld therei
In short, it appears that Schiapagslli' S
discovery about Venus has disclosed new
world for the imagination to disport in
In France, where they do everything
dramatically even in science, VI. Eugene
Antoniadi recently conceived the idea Of
making tour Of the planet Jupiter. He
accomplished it with the aid Of telescope
Immense as the bulk Of Jupiter is, it
makes a complete turn on its axis in a
trihe less than 10 hours. By watching il
continuously for 10 hours, then, W. An
toniadi was able to see every part Of it in
succession.
OF course the same result could be Oh
tanned by studying different parts Of the
planet Ft different hours on different
nights, bat tho Frenchman's artistic sense
Of unity prevailed over considerations Of
convenience, and so he made his tour dr
monde do Jupiter en- dix heures' tour o.
the world Of Jupiter in 10 hours At In
tervals of an hour he drew pictures Of thC
planet, showing all tho details that wert
visible with telescope 91a inches in aper
ture. An inspection Of these pictures gives
one a very vivid idea of the appearance o.
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 rea
surface of Jupiter any more than we se'
that of Venus. Jupiter, too, wears veil
but it is ofquite different character from
that Of his petite sister planet. Venus Il
q cool and solid globe, like the earth
surrounded by transparent atmosphere
Jupiter is a heated and liquid or partially
vaporous globe, more resembling the SUI
than the earth, except in its power Of radi
ation Although Jupiter is 300 times a
large as the earth, it is only 3l6 times a
heavy. In order to become as solid as tn
earth it must condense to one-quarter o
its present siza. Evidently such process
of condensatlos is now going on, and tha
IS the cause Of the disturbances which th
telescope plainly shows are affecting th
big planet. The effects Of these disturb
ances were very imposing when NJ. Antoni
adj made bis "tour. ."--Garratt p. Servis
in New York Sun,