The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-11-12
Ian sTRoNoMlcA. DISCOVERY.
H Impou ant Announcement Concerning
Venus and Mercury.

Venus and Mercury.
Thu observers at the Lowell observa-
tory ind that Mercury and Venus TO-
tate their axis once during their rev
olutiHn about the sun. Venus is Lot
cloudcoNered, as has been supposed,
but yelled in an atmosphere, but Mar-
curry isl not.
THjotficial dispatch from Mr. Lowell
for trlbution to astronomers is cX-
Gee, ly interesting, since it suggests
rae changes in the generally ac-
ceR opinions concerning the
md ions of these planets and the atmos-
phtric conditions existing on Venus.
OfLeourse the data from which The
opblons have been deduced cannot as
yet be stated, for the information has
cope to us by telegraph. Observations
offlercury and Venus have always been
difficult, the reasons therefor in The
| diffrent planets being, however, not
h4same. Mercury never leaves the
coIbany of the sun, its greatest dis
| tan from it in the sky being not more
Thu about 30 degrees. 1t is on that ac-
| col enveloped always in sunlight,
WI fh dims it's brightness and makes
thu "details of it's surface difficult to de-
ted Some so years ago astronomers
thAght they discovered motion about
- "a e''ss tiszad- the. dav at about five
mil le}s than ours. But this time,
whiNkenerally accepted and given
place m tex books, has been without
absolute proc. 1t has been conceded
! that little or no atmosphere exists
| there, for if itdid it would have been
detected during the transits of the
planet across tie suns disk. The rO-
tation period mu,t in this case be deter
mined from observation of the actual
surface of Mercury, and hitherto no OBJ
server has been fortunate enough to
to get even glimpsts of this.
With Venus the case is quite different.
The brightness of this planet is such as
to obscure vision, so that the best obser-
vations have been taken at times when
there was daylight present to tone
down its brilliancy. 1t has been The
general opinion that the surface of the
planet was hidden from us by dense
clouds in the atmosphere, while noun
tain peaks piercing these clouds or per
manent spots have been lacking, so that
the time of rotation has been in doubt
1t has been set down, however, as about
an hour longer than the day of The
earth Some observations of things
which were supposed to give cleW t
the rotation have been recorded, but
like the satellite which was seen by the
older astronomers to be in cOnpan,
with the planet, the later astronomer
with his powerful telescopes has no
been able to see them.
The dispatch from Flagstaff suggests
the curious fact that these planet.
have each of them only one day in eacl
yarh and this will very readily SETTLE
| tie Hquestion of possible inhabitants
rfeIls indeed there are nomadic tribe
hic4h follow the sun and live always OF
lie 81 bunny side of the planet, for tn
J2ert Aportion, exposed to darkness ant
;Yis,,f iNnetary cold.Tean hardly b
az to support life. With reference t.
thel atmosphere of Venus, it has beef
| generally conceded that one exist
which is denser than ours. The rca
sons for this belief are, briefly, that a
| the time when Venus is a crescent III,
hours extend over more than hall
circle, which they could not do wCr
there no atmosphere to reflect tht
| light; and, further, when during h
| transits of Venus a portion of iii
planet has entered upon the suns disl
or remains upon it an illumination o
the whole edge of the planet has beer
seen, which could be accomplished il
no way known to us except the ditEu
sion Of the sunlight through an At
mosphere. The degree of this diffusion
being considered it is probable that tn,
atmosphere is quite dense. Mr.. Lowell
| is, however assured that the suppose
clouds do not exist and all that prevent
our observation of the CONFORMATION o
Venus is the difficulty of lookin!
through its atmosphere. - Boston
| Transcript.
ENGLISH SHOP GIRLS.
| Is.