Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-06-28
soMErnfNo VIEW ABoUr rEYUs.

d
The Day of tho Planet Said to Resemble
the Earth's.
London Mail
An accomplished astronomer has just
made discovery in the heavens which
merits uur close attention, for 1T Hinpli-
fies our knowledge of the condition Of
an interesting neighboring world. That
neighboring world is the beautiful
planet Venus, and that the discovery
should have been made Just now will
occasion no surprise to anyone who has
watched the brilliant orb which hna for
weeks been adjoining our evening say
Venus possesses n special and partic
iilar interest from the circumstance
that II Is globe which In many ~.
sppcts has a startling resemblance to
our own earth. To begin with, the
beautiful evening star 10 almost ex-
actly the same size as the globe on
which We dwell. The number Of miles
traversed in making voyage around
the equator Of the earth would De
almost identical with the number OF
miles which would make an equatorial
girdle for Venus. Nor does the resen.
biance between the earth and the
planet consist merely in their equal size.
The two globes have practically the
same weight
IL we imagine q pair Of weighing
scales 80 mighty that Venus could be
put into one pan and the earth into the
Other no graat difference would be per-
ceived between the weights OF the two
celestial nfbs Two billiard balls
which had no greater proportional diff
ference IN size and weight than the
| earth and Venus would be practically
ssI saAs tak
between thesa twin planets has, how.
ever, been carried much farther by the
interesting discovery which has just
been announced to astronomers and
which shall now attempt to describe.
To a Planet which may be the abode
| of life ono of the most important con-
ditious will be the succession Of day
and night Whenever the question as
10 the resemblance Vt another world to
our earth is raised 1T IL natural to con-
slider how far the inhabitants Of such
u world, IL inhabitants there be, re-
semble ourselves In the enjoyment OF
the alterations of q day when tho sun
Is ip the skies with night when the
sun is below the horizon. The change
from day to night, the change from
night to day are, of course, conse-
quences Of the rotation of the planet on
Its axis. We desire to learn how far
the period which the planet requires to
complete each turn may agree or disa-
gree with tho time required by the
earth for like movement. 10 put the
matter more definitely, We may inquire
how far the period required by Venus
to rotate on its axis corresponds with
that period of "a hours, or, more accu-
rately. 90 hours and 30 minutes, which
expresses tho time taken by the earth
to complete one revolution about it's
axis. The determination OF the length
of the day and the length Of the night
to which the inhabitants of Mars must
accommodate their domestic arrange
ments has never admitted Of much
doubt. Indeed, we know the length of
the day on Mars to single second of
time. This determination has been
made SO accurately because the marks
on Mars are clear enough 10 be pre-
years, or after the lapse of even Gem
turtles, these marks are still to be seen,
without any doubt whatever, in each
revolution of the planet. But for the
study of length OF day and the length
of night On Venus the face of the beau
tiful evening star offers no such
facility. This globe has no well-marked
features; there are no definite spots to
sully the brilliant mantle Of sunEeams
characteristic of the evening star.
One very eminent astronomer thought
/ that tho day in Venus must be enor-
J mously long-must ID fact. last fol
about Is weeks, while the night which
succeeded 1t had to last for 10 weeks
more. This discrepancy showed that
the marks on the planets globe were
not sufficiently definite to solve the
problem. Such marks as could be seer
with more or less distinctness were mos
probably merely clouds 10 the htmos
phere Of the planet, and consequently
had no per manenoe. Some other methoc
of solving the problem not exposed tc
such difficulties was clearly necessary,
A totally new method of attacking
the question has been applied to Venul
during its present apparition by tn,
astronomer Belopolski. He has aban
3 doned altogether the search for perma
! pent marks on the planet. He hat
? adopted a totally different principle
! As the planet turns round one edg,
comes toward us and the other edg,
goes from lis. II the period be the shor
, one, like cur own day, then the edg,
. which is advancing toward us vii
move more rapidly than it would b,
moving if the period were to be ex
. pressed by months. 1t is easy to SCI
= that by determining the rate at which
} the advancing edge 10 coming towsrt
D us 1t is possible to calculate what tn,
Q duration of the whole rotation must be
8 A beautiful new process permits thi
to be DONE Belopolski found that th
/. edge Of the planet coming toward tn
earth is moving faster than it woul,
be il the long period of rotation wer
adopted, and he had therefore deter
h mined that we must accept the shor
!. period. Thus most difficult question
I. has been set at rest. To the othe
/ analogies between the earth and it
4 twin globe Venus we have now to ad,
8 that the day and night,for any inhabi
/ tant on that world succeed each othe
a in much the same fashion as day an,
n night succeed each other on this ear th
= Grand Recorder Woods WEEDS. i
= Charles Z. Woods, the genial an,
y popular Grand Recorder Of the Gran,
Lodge Of Delaware Ancient Order o
United Workmen, Ia receiving con
: gratulations upon his marriage, who
' was announced Tuesday. Mr.. Woods le
Y | MARY T. Turner also of this citv 4