The morning call., 1894-02-08
OUR AERIAL. NEIGHBORS.

People who are interested in astronomy
spent many quarter of an hour last
month in watching Venus and Jupiter,
which, then as now, came into view with
unusual brightness just after sunset. 1t
rarely happens that the two planets are
seen to more advantage. And contrary to
custom Venus is so much nearer the earth
just now than Jupiter that it appears the
largest and brightest of the two, though
its volume is over 1900 times less. Venus
is only 100000 miles away, while Jupiter
is 100000. 900 miles.
Although Venus is so near, and being OF
about the same size as the earth has been
regarded as twin planet, we know less
about it than we do of Mars and Jupiter.
1t is all the time hidden by a veil of bright
clouds, which hardly ever lift sufficiently
TO uncover the face of the planet itself.
What we know of Venus astronomers have
figured out by mathematical calculations.
Thus the planet is known to be a ponder
able body, probably consisting of the same
materials AS the earth. But 1t differs from
the earth in its revolutions. 1t revolves
round the sun in 225 of our days, but &C
cording to the discoveries of Schiaparslli in
1890 only once in that period does it re-
surface enjoy perpetual daylight, while
other portions are plunged into endless
night. In this ii bears some resemblance
to the moon, whose bright side inhabl-
tants of this sphere never have seen and
never can see. Popular theorists have
conjectured that the side of the moon
which Is turned away from us and is ex-
posed TO the sun may be Inhabited and
supplied with water and an atmosphere,
while the other side is gloomy desert.
So, since Schiaparelli made his discoveries
public, amateur astronomers have been ask
ing whether the dark side of Venus is in
habited or a desolate waste, while the
bright side is the home Of race of beings
which bear some analogy to ourselves. To
bear constant sunlight and the heat i.
brings, the inhabitants of the bright side
of Venus must be creatures which we can
hardly conceive; and what sort of crea-
lures can they be who live in the dark?
OF Jupiter we are acquiring considera-
BILE knowledge in these days. 1t is mass
of vapor. $4,000 miles in diameter, which
is gradually solidifying round central
nucleus. The vapor is incandescent; its
temperature could not be endured by any
form Of animal creatures which we can
imagine. The process of evolving which
is going on involves frigbtful cata-
clysms. Round Juplter's equator a wind
created by the plan cts rotation on its axis
drives clouds at the rate of 27,oO0 miles
an hour. The belts are wbirling and tum-
bling and undergoing constant change of
appearance. Sometimes they are split
across by riffs thousands of miles wide.
Sometimes they are red, sometimes gray.
sometimes purple. Great white blotches as
large as the earth come and go. Strips of
vapor thousands of miles long pass from
one belt TO another. These are indications
of the exertion of extraordinary forces,
the like of W hich may have been felt on
the earth during the period of genesis,
but are certainly not known now. A
West Indian hurricane which cuts tall
tree through the middle travels at the rate
of $50 miles an hour; what is this to a
storm-wind in the equatorial regions of
Jupiter, which circles round the planet al
the rate OF $1,000 miles an hour?
Ambitious students can learn much OF
these two planets by studying them
through an ordinary telescope with small
aperture. Venus Is best observed in the
daytime. Jupiter, which is far the more
interesting object of the two. should be
watched just at dark. When the eye gets
trained 10 the use Of the glass the observer
will perceive that 1t is a scene of endless
change and activity. Some portion of its
surface or its surroundings Is always In
motion. The moons and belts all seem
alive, and the flying clouds give the planet
an appearance of incessant change. But
yonng man or woman will require con-
siderable training in the use OF the tele-
scope before he will be able to detect these
phenomena