Evening star., 1895-04-27

than feeble impression of its SURPRISING
beauty. No drawing, no photograph can
reproduce the delicate shading of the rings
and the faint hues of the belts of the
planet, which are always of necessity repre-
sented too conspicuously. They are far less
marked than those Of Jupiter 1t is, be-
sides. only when we look at the object itself
that we get the impression of a mighty
mysterious force holding in equilibrium in
empty space these enormous appendages
that encircle the planets huge sphere,
borne along with 1t in its orbit, yet ever
preserving their relation to it.
The bright ring seen about the planet,
when viewed through a small telescope
and which, it may be said parenthetically.
small as it appears, has diameter of over
100000 miles-is shown by a larger instru-
ment to be double. The division, known
from its discoverer as "Cassini's Division, :"
is at about two-thrds of the distance from
the interior to the exterior margin. or
the two rings thus formed the inner is
the brighter. at least near its outer edge,
where it is brighter than the planet itself.
Besides this double bright ring, which has
been known since the time of Calico, its
discoverer, recent drawings Of Saturn
show a third and interior ring. always de-
picted as faint as possible. but never suli-
Gently faint. known as the ''gauze or
Grape" ring. This feature of the planet
was discovered in 1850, Independently by
the Bonds. at Cambridge, and by Mr..
Dawes, in England; and it is a curious fact
that, although it required the finest inStru-
mentS ana the most SkllleO ODSerNeTS "
discover it in the first place. 1t has ever
since been visible through instruments of
quite moderate power, illustrating how
easy 1t is to miss of seeing faint object
which is quite perceptible when one knows
of its existence.
The chief interest in Saturn centers upon
these rings. La Place demonstrated mathe-
matically that they could not be solid and
maintain their equilibrium and Prof. Pierce
subsequently demonstrated that they can
not be fluid. What, then. is their nature?
The view now generally held of them is
that they consist of millions of minute
bodies, which may be described as me
teors." for want OF a better term, each
Circling about the planet in its own orbit,
like a tiny moon, Independently Of the rest.
The physical condition of this planet still
remains question upon which it is possible
to advance only the most uncertain conjec-
ture. No evidences are to be seen of ac-
tivity of any sort upon its surface. such as
afford SO interesting study in the case of
Jupiter
one of the most significant of the few
facts known with certainty about this
planet is that it is an exceptionally light
body, to use familiar term. Its density.
as deduced from the movements of its sa t.
elites, is only about one-eighth that of the
earth. The planet would float upon water,
with one-fourth of its bulk above the sur
face Since the evidence seems to be
against the suppositicn that it is still 50
intensely heated as to be wholly gaseous,
although it appears to he enveloped in va
pors we seem to be driven TO the alterna-
tive conclusion that the matter of which
it is mainly composed, is really lighter than
that which forms the bulk of the other
planets. 1t is. of course. idle to conjecture
what this matter is.
The cut given herewith is designed merely
to show the present aspect Of the rings.
These rings are inclined to the plane of the
ecliptic about 81 degrees and since they al
ways slope in the same direction, just as
the axis of the earth always points in the
same direction, the view which we obtain
of them varies according to the part of its
orbit in which the planet happens to be.