The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-09
9. P. servLss. in the New York sun.

.. g. P. Serviss, in the New York Sun
Two very wonderful worlds are now
conspicuously visible in the heavens. the
planets Jupiter and Venus. He must be
a careless observer of nature who has
not observed them in the early evening.
far outshining even the brilliant Sirius,
the Achilles of the celestial host. Venus
is the brighter to our eyes, but Jupiter is
by far the larger in reality. The former
adorns the southwestern sky lust after
sunset, while the latter shines little
southeast of the zenith. Venus is the
twin of the earth, her diameter being
about 100 miles, or only some 200 miles
less than that of our globe. Jupiter is
the Goliath of planets, being Sc. 500 miles
in diameter, or l, 300 times as great as the
earth in volume. Jupiter makes a less
brilliant appearance than Venus, because
it is ten times as far away.
When a telescope is directed to the two
planets the difference between them be-
comes much more striking Venus looks
then like crescent moon, dazzlingly
bright, with faint shades that can only
be detected by practised eye and good
glass. Jupiter, on the other hand, is
magnifed into huge globe, perceptibly
fiattened at the poles, streaked with ir-
regular belts of various colors on each
olhC VI AVS anu ACCOMPANIED DIV
Its four moons, the shadows of one or
more of which, as black as drops of ink,
may occasionally be seen slowly crossing
its vast cloudy surface.
Since Venus Is so much nearer to the
earth, its distance at present being less
than 10000, 900 miles while that of jupiter
is 400 100000. it would be natural to ex-
pect that the surface Of Venus should APP
pear more clearly defined in telescopes
than that of Jupiter does As matter
of fact, however, we can see very little Of
the surface of Venus. The features of the
planet are hiddenin its own brightness.
Apparently its atmosphere is filled with
clouds, or else that atmosphere itself re-
fleets so much of the sunlight that it be-
comes an effectual veil concealing the
face OF the planet beneath The best
time to look at Venus with a telescope is
in broad daylight. In fact, the planet
can, Just now, be seen with the naked eve
as 1t crosses the meridian about 2 o'clock
In the afternoon.
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 appearances are so faint and Hide
lined that great uncertainty exists in re-
gard to them. Yet as long ago as l727
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
Pole.0 ----------..-.-
Most of the earlier observers of Venus
thought that that planet rotated on its
axis once in about twenty four 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 announce
ment that Venus probably turns only
once on its axis in revolving once around
the sun. The year of Venus, or the time
required for il to complete a revolution
around the sun, is about 225 days. If
Schiapareli is right, then one side of
Venus enjoys perpetual day while the
other side is 1ried in endless night. Be
tween the light and the dark hemispheres
there isa 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 distant suns, and faint only because
they are so tremendously far away And
what, on the other hand, are the
conditions of life under
never-setting SUM- Do the inhabi-
tants of that side of Venus, blinded by
perpetual daylight. think that the uni
verse consists only of the world they live
on and the sun that lights it, Have their
philosophers 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 earth? Are the |
inhabitants of the dark hemisphere of
venus concerned in any manner with the |
aurora-like Examinations which terrestrial !
astronomers have beheld there?
In short it appears that Schiaparelli's !
discovery about Venus has disclosed new
world for the imagination to disport in.
Turning again to Jupiter, we ind other
marvels on vaster scale In France,
where they do everything dramatically,
even in science, NJ. Eugene Antoniadl re-
Gently conceived the idea of making a
tour Of the planet Jupiter He accom-
pllshed it with the aid of a telescope.
immense as the bulk of Jupiter is, il
makes complete turn on its axis in a
tribe less than ten hours. BY watching
1t continuously for ten hours, then NJ.
Antoniadi was able to see every part of it
in succession. OF course the same result
could be obtained by studying different
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