The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-10-01
THE SKIES IN OCTOBER.
sOMEOF THE MOST STRIKING CON-
CIVILIZATIONS TIsIBLE.
BODIES Law and the Asteroids-Meteor'
and Comets-H~avsnly Bodies Wh'ch
Have Fallen 20 Earth.

cts that with ;heir satellites constitute
our solar system. besides some other cos
mical bodies TO he mentioned later on
In the year 1772 a German professor OF
the name OF DCde established a series OF
numbers. Of which he asserted that they
renresented pretty nearly the mean dis
tsnces OF the planets from the sun Inc
law OF the terms OF tho series Is so sim
pie that we canno; refrain from giving
/ II. though we shall naturally avoid enter
inc into Mathematical calculations III
articles like this.
Write down nine Is In row, and begin
I ming with the second add successNeN
the simple series 3. s. r. q. ~. 10 W. Sof'
/ Of which the reader will perceive AT
glance that each OF iis terms IS twice
| the preceding one. Thus, we get nv
/ series 4. I. 10. IS. q. %. 100 l'@, o>s' ~
/ vidinc each by 10. they express with toll
| erabIe accuracy The mean distance oil "
planets from the sun in terms OF me
/ radius of the carth's orbit. with the eN-
/ ception OF the last. for the number ~
would not even approximately represent
| the distance OF Neptune.
This law. called after its discoVereT'
| BODIES Law. attracted much atteh'"".
! and afterwards led to the discovery OF
an extremely numerous class 81 planetary
| NOTES.-The asteroids. There vas no pitu-
ct for which distance the term p in the
! above series fitted. II was conjectur'"'
! therefore that there might be yet uh-
| discovered planet between Mars ana Jul
/ ptter.
IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES.
This belief was strengthened when III
| i7N Sir William .ierschell discovered IRA
] nus with whose distance the term i'o
! IN Bodies series correspouded. However, =.
/ il was not before the ist OF January, lNl'
! that * thu first day of this century, th'l
! the FIRST planetary body between Mas
| and Jupiter was discovered 10y the SCH
inn astronomer Hiazzi lie named IL
! after tho tutelary goddess OF sicily. ceres.
The discovery created am immense OK
! element all over the civilized world cs-
/ pecially I'm Germany. and gave an addi-
tiona stimulus TO further observation
| especially as the dmiuutive size Of Ceres
| made IL more probable that there were
| more Of these bodies between Mars and
! Jupiter. And so II proved, for As early
as 1902 Or Oilers discovered another or
| these small planets. pallas. Harding
discovered he third I'm 1904. which ne
! called Juno. and Or Oilers again NcSia
! in 1907. Ncsta Is the iarges, OF the whole
/ numerous group and becomes occasion
] ally AlHlllt 10 Tic NtNAh ~ wv ~
| fore ISIS was the nth one discovered. but
! from that time hardly a year passed with
out adding new ones 10 the number. The
! list has swelled now TO nearly 800. Al
/ of these asteroids are extremely small
the largest Nesta. having diameter that
! falls short OF 400 miles.
! or their real size our knOvledg Is eX
tremcly limited. as they are too small
| to exhibit n sufficiently plaii disk. hut OF
! their aggregate mass We may yet eau'
more certain knowledge The famous
/ dscoverer ii Neptune. Leverrin, has cal
| culated that the whole amount of mat
ter distributed between Mars and Jupi-
ter cannot be greater than one fourth OF
| the mass Of the earth. The orbits OF
| the most Of these asteroids arc extreme
| ~ eccentric, or i'm other words. deviate
| much from the circular form. All PLAN
cts move I'm elipses. but the elhpses de-
/ scribed by the asteroids in their reNoiu-
| ton about the sun. are more elongated
| than I'm the case of the larger planets.
The reader can easily imagine that the
origin Of these diminutiye planets could
not fail to engage the attention OF as
tronomers ami. Il ough nothing has been
conclusive'y proved in this respect. there
| is a probability almost verging on GER
/ tainty. that by a serics Of stupendous OK
/ plosiOns a once larger planet. say. of the
! size OF Mars. was shattered into ali those
/ numerous fragments OF cOur' o. how and
when these explosions were produced is
! a question that may never be satisiac-
torily answered.
METEORS AND COMETS.
We have now mentioned all the plan
cts, but there are i'm the solar system
/ two more classes Of bodies which some
! what differ from them-the meteOrs and
comets. Everybody has heard OF bodies
that occasionally fall from the sky upon
| the earth. some of which have been found
| to weigh several tons. While such a
body flies athwlrt the sky It is called a
meteor. but the pieces which separately
| fall from IL are known by the name Of
aerolites or meteorites. If nothing falls
on the earth and they merely present a
momentary light. they are known under
! the name Of shooting stars. The num-
Der or the latter IS enormous.
As 10 the mete0rites that have fallen
since the beginning OF this century and
whose masses have been preserved in
| college and other cabinets the number is
nearly 600. Their glossy crust consists
| principally Of oxide of iron and Is OF
| strong magnetic power. Occasionally
| these meteOrc bodies that burn up and
| evaporate before they reach the surface
| Of the earth. and as said before. are
| known by the name Of shooting stars. fan
| In great showers. and when this happens.
| 1t has been observed that they radiate
| from one point in the sky. making the
| sky look like a large umbrella.
| The remarkable bodies called comets
| have from the remotest times been OBJ
| jects Of the intenscst interest and have
been looked az with no mean decree OF
| awe Until the time when the nature OF
! these bodies was better known and the
| dense cloud Of the superstition and igno-
| rance was dispersed that for so many
| centuries prevailed. comets were looked
| at with feelings of terror and harbingers
| OF great caiamities They are like the
| planets. cosmical bodies that perform
| their motions around the sun. only with
| this difference. that they are extremely
| rare, spread over an immense space and
| describe orbits that in many cases differ
| from the ellptical form of the orbits OF
| the planets.
| Those which we describe ellipses re-
| turn in a number Of years. but those
| whose path is parabolic and hyperbolic
| never do. One Of the most wonderful
J results OF recent research is the fact that
| comets and meteors are connected, and
| that a comet is nothing but an immense
| swarm OF meteors. We have now men
| toned all the bodies that constitute our
| solar system BY his immence power OF
! attraction the sun compels the planets
| with their satellites. the mcteors and aero
| lites. many Of which are either met or
] overtaken by the revolving planets ana
! absorbed by them. and the comets, many
4 Of which recede far enough from the sun
1 ~ heroine subject 10 the attractive pow