The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-31

STR Hobert nsu Tells About the Little
Planets s,d How . Mas Would Feel There.

-. - -. --u 49, A. u,ss,.
p'--..... ~ NJ. yra.,a r., 1.s.s,.
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There are more than four hundred little globes
which are known a. the minor planets or aste.
rods, moving about In the heavens. speak oil
these a. little globes, but IL should DC unoer-
stood that We employ the world little In q
relative manner. The minor planets are smai'
In comparison with the dimensions OF our eartn'
or even OF me moon put several OF them nave
each . surface area as large as q STATE OF the
American Union.
owing to their distance from the esrth' these
OBJECTS are Invisible to the unsided eye' tney
cannot DO observed without telescopes. bu'
though the moro important OF the minor pisnot'
may % bright enough TO DO easiiy seen ~ any
discriminate the planet from among the smsi'
stars when are 80 profuseiy strewn over theskS'
NO doubt there 10 the proiounnest dinerenoe
between the actual nature ofa planet ana . star
Inc star iss sunIike OBJECT miinons Oh times
larger ana huhdreos OF m'llions Oh times oriRn,sr
than the planet But iar from the ear'h as tnc
planet may DO, the starts thousands OF times
further still. Hence II happens that the sur
- -, 49, ,'ss,. ,-,n,h. .a III. ~.
Vow rouuoou = ioeo'o '",nNio. ~ N.o y
wee, wee. !, "a, afro. from t ,",I plane. ,n n0 II would ,s Io ,%p pos.
sioie 10 ueoioe. from mere sppeerance'Whicn was
inc sunnke oo'ect ana whicn vast me ear.hiN'
Dus y !" ho''on' """o
-,I.h.d 80 ,h. - 7, q. ,v ..sLa,on.
...roht,o ,h,ornh,h. h..,.n. Co.. ,,,i. .,.r.
W." u al.
IKE pom" wn,In arc IN motion Una, sa' US
Noy.a,r. thsro !. an s.cs,isn, and ,impls
method BY which the little planet can be found.
II q photograph DO taken Of . part Of tho
heavens, and II an exposure of an hour be given
70 the plate. then each star VIII record itseit as
a point on the developed picture. II q planets
body which moves-should happen to have been
In the locality depicted. II Will DO photographed
., a .tre.. instead Of a, q point.
ie"so " p'A'o p'VuueeN W
long exposure will enable the astronomer to de-
termine whether, among the Thousands of star
,,.. sa,a,. -. 81, 80. -, ar. -
MAs po'nu, scs''ereo over .na' part OF inc SKY
little planets.
IKE IN, greater n,.n.,, ,b.,. ,,.,,s glob..
hay. ssn.r.,l, been named after s.n,h,n alvin.
!. -. a,..n..."a y. o,sa". ~ eo1
and IL ono Of the largest minor planets. yet It
is rather . disappointing object when viewed In
the Telescope. II shine: like q star Just too
It 10 too far away for US to have any chance of
scanning. the features which It's globe may
present: indeed. an excellent telescope 10 needed
TO, perceive that Vesta has a circular outline:
In . small telescope the little planet 10 q point
exhibiting no more disk than . star. The meas
urement OF tho diameter OF such an object 10.
therefore. . matter OF no little difficulty. It has.
however. lately been obtained by Prof. T.. Y.
Barnard. using tho great telescope OF tho Lick
Observatory. This accomplished astroporner
finds that the diameter OF Vesta 10 243 miles.
Most Of the other minor planets are much
smaller than VestA- indeed. the great majority
Of them are 80 small that they eluds direct
measurement We can but surmise their d.
mansions. II seems however. to DO pretty GER
tain that several Of them would each MEASURE no
II would take more than 10000 globes. each
as largo as vesta, to form q single Rlobe a.
large as our earth. The area covered by yesta
would be about that OF q square whose side was
40 miles: that Ia to say. tho surface Of this
planet IA rather larger than California.
What OF the possibility Of the existence of
life on such q planet as vesta2 Its distance
from US Is 20 great that we cannot base any
opinion concerning this matter on actual OBJ
ssrvations. There are, however, certain con-
sid erations which may guide us TO some specu-
latlon on the matter.
In the frat place. as to the fundamental con.
sheraton OF warmth. As vesta is about two
and n third times as far from the sun ma the
earth is. tho little planet receives much less
sunlight and sun heat than orr globe gets.