The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-17

in comparison to the extraordinary de-
licafe feature which was revealed to
the penetrating search of Professor
bond and Mr.. Dawes. This new ring
has not the brightness of the other
rings, indeed its peculiar appearance is
sufficiently defined in that term Grape
ring" by which il is generally known.
1t possesses a semi transparency re-
sembling that of Grape, and this makes
il so firm in comparison with the bril-
liant rings and the brilliant globe of
the planet that it had long escaped at
tenfion. With the good telescopes now
generally distributed it is quite easy
to see the Grape ring, and astronomers
have come to regard ii as familiar
object 1t has been sometimes sup
posed that changes are in actual pro-
gresS in the structure of the append
ages of Saturn, and that these changes
are of vast magnitude and proceed
with vast rapidity. And 1T has been
thought that in consequence of these
changes the Grape ring has assumed in
these days a more conspicuous char
acter than in formerly possessed. An
attempt has thus been made to account
for the fact that the Grape ring eluded
the penetration of an observer so skill
full as William Herschel who devoted
much care with exquisite and powerful
urn. But l do not think that this af-
fords any ground for the belief that
changes of appreciate magnitude are
going forward in the Saturnian system.
1t is well known that after an aStrono-
mical object has been discovered, it
may then frequently be seen by an in
strument of greatly inferior power TO
that employed in making the discovery,
for when an observer knows exactly
what he has 10 look for, his chances of
seeing ii become materially increased.
This fact, taken in conjunction with
the present abundance of excellent tele-
scopes, will quite suffice to explain how
it comes that the Grape ring is now so
frequently observed, Notwithstanding
the fact that it eluded all observers up
to the year 1850.
THE GLOBE OF SATURN.
AS to the features on the globe of
Saturn, which lies poised in the center
of the rings, there is not very much to
be said. The astronomical artist who
finds such scope for his pencil in de-
picting the seas and the continents, .ae
ice-caDs or the canals on Mars, sees
little comparatively that he can draw
on the mighty Saturnian ball No
doubt certain belts or genes are some
times to be discerned with more or less
distinctness upon the globe of the plan
ct, but they are, however, even at the
best, only very family marked. One
thing is perfectly certain. namely, that
Saturn presents to the observer no in
dications whatever OF the presence of
any permanent features. 1t seems as
certain as anything can be with res
pect to globe which is distant from us
by SS4,000,0O0 miles, that Saturn as we
see it is not solid object. What we
look at Is plainly surface of clouds
and vapors SO thick and so dense that
our vision has never been able to pene-
trate through them, to a depth sufff-
Gent to show whether OF not there is
any solid interior to Saturn. There
cannot be a doubt that the stupendouS
envelope of clouds and vaDorS which
encompass Saturn, renders the physi-
cal condition of that globe totally diff
ferent in every way from the physical
conditions Of such a globe os our Earth
or as Mars. There is also another line
OF reasoning by which we can con-
vince ourselves of the fact that the
globe of the ringed planet has been
greatly swollen by volumes of clouds
and vapors. By suitable observations
on the moons with which Saturn is at
tended, 1T is possible to determine the
weight of the central orb by whose at
tracttVe power the movements of the
moons are controlled. The diameter of
the planet has also been measured. and
ITS volume has thus been ascertained,
and from knowing these facts we are
able to learn the density of the materi-
ais OF Saturn as compared with those
OF other globes, such for example as
our Earth. 1t is known that this globe
of ours is between five and six times
the weight of a globe Of water of the
same size. This mas been the result
derived from Very careful experiment
and observation. 1t is, however. easy
TO perceive by a little general reasoning
that some such conclusion as that we
have just stated would be extremely
probable. For the rocks which com
pose the earth's crust are between two
and three times as heavy, bulk for bulk.
as water, While iron, which enters with
out doubt very largely into the consti-
tuition of the earth, is rather more than
seven times as heavy as water
ITS SIZE AND WEIGHT.
Common sense would thus seem to
show that the Earth as whole must be
heavier than a globe of stone the same
size, whnIe not so heavy as a globe of
iron the same size. Hence we might
have anticipated that our globe should.
be. as experiment has shown il to be.
about five or six times as heavy as
globe OF water Of equal bulk The
specially remarkable circumstance
with regard to the globe of Saturn is
that the materials of which it IS <rsE
are very much lighter than the mater
lals of the Earth The planet is so vast
that ii would take 600 globes as large
as our Earth agglOmerated into one. to
be equal in volume to the ball of Sat
urn. If this celestial body had been
constituted in the same manner as our
l. oY-=h
fore be REASONABLE expected that the
weight of the ringed planet would be
in like proportion to its bulk, that is to
say, about 500 times as heavy at the
Earth. AS a matter of fact, it is moth
ing of the kind. Saturn does not
weigh one hundred times as much as
the Earth. There is here a wide dis
crepancy. The materials of the great
planet must be, on the whole. far light
er than those of which the Earth is
built. Our Earth, though not so heavy
as an equally large ball of iron, is yet
far heavier than an equally large ball
of stone. Saturn, on the other hand. is
lighter than its own bulk of water. A
globe equally large and equally heavy
with Saturn would float upon the wa
ter. 1t is impossible to dissociate
the relative lightness of Saturn from
the fact that it is encompassed with a
stupendous mass of clouds. OF course
these clouds have comparatively little
weight, but they have added enor-
mously to the bulk of Saturn, and
have thus tended to reduce its average
density. 1t is, however, quite possible
that in the central parts of the planet
there may be materials possessing a
density as great as that of any mate
rails in the Earth
ITS PHYSICAL STATE.
There is no difficulty in satisfactorily
accounting for the great discrepancy