Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1900-10-12
TIME DIVISIONS IN VENUS
Dnys nnd Nights In the Planet Are
Said to Resemble Those OF
the Earth.

An accomplished astronomer has
Just made discovery in the heavens
which merits our close attention, for
it amplifies our knowledge of the con-
dition of an interesting neighboring
world. That neighboring world is the
beautiful planet Venus.
Venus possesses special and par
ticulsr interest from the circum-
stance that IL is a globe which in many
respects has a startling esemblance
TO our own earth. To begin with. the
beautiful evening star is almost ex-
actly the same size as the globe on
which we dwell The number of miles
traversed in making a voyage around
the equator of the earth would be al
most identical with the number of
miles which would make an equatorial
girdle of Venus. Nor does the resem-
blance between the earth and the
planet consist merely in their equal
sizes. The two globes have practically
the same weight, says scientific ex-
change.
II we imagine pair of weighing
scales SO mighty that Venus could he
put into one pan and the earth into
the other, no great difference would be
perceived between the weights of the
two celestial orbs. Two billiard balls
which had no greater proportiona, diff
ference in size and weight than the
earth and Venus would be practically
indistinguishable. The resemblance
between these twin planets has. how
ever, been carried much further by the
interesting discovery which has just
been announced to astronomers. and
which / will not attempt to discredit.
To planet which may be the abode
OF life one OF the most important con-
ditions will be the succession of day
and night. Wherever the question as
to the resemblance of another world
to our earth is raised II is natural to
consider how the inhabitants of such
world. IL inhabitants there be. re-
semble ourselves in the enjoyment of
the alterations of day when the sun
Is in the skies with n 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 rota ton of the planet
on it's axis. We desire to learn how
far the period which the planet re-
quires to complete each turn may
agree or disagree with the time re-
quired by the earth for like move
ment. To put the matter more definite
ly, we may inquire how far the period
required by Venus TO rotate on it's
axis corresponds with that period of
"a hours, or. more accurately. % hours
and Sc minutes. which expresses the
time taken by the earth TO complete
one revolution about its 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
day on Mars TO single second of
time. This determination has been
made so accurately because the marks
on Mars are clear enough to be pre-
cisely identified. After the lapse of
years, or even the lapse of centuries,
those marks are still to be seen. with
out any doubt whatever, in each revo-
luton of the planet. But for the
study of the length of day and the
length of night on Venus the fact of
the beautiful evening star offers no
such facility. This globe has no we'll
marked features; there are no definite
spots 20 sully the brilliant mantle of
sunbeams characteristic of the even
Ing star.
One very eminent astronomer
thought that the day in Venus must
be enormously long; must in fact, last
for about Is weeks. while the night
which succeeded it has to last for Is
weeks more. The discrepancy showed
that the marks on the planets globe
were not sufficiently definite to solve
the problem. Such marks as could be
seen with more or less distinctness
were most its present apparition by
the astronomer of the planet, and con.
sequently had no permanence. Some
other method of solving the problem
not exposed to such difficulties was
clearly necessary.
A totally new method of attacking
the question has been applied to We
nus during its present apparition by
the astronomer Belopolski. He ha:
abandoned altogether the search fol
permanent marks on the planet. He
has adopted a totally different prin
ciple. AS the planet turns around one
edge comes toward us and the othel
edge goes from us. II the period bt
the short one, like our own day, ther
the edge which is advancing toward
us will move more rapidly than i
would be moving if the period were t.
be expressed by months. 1t is easy t.
see that by determining the rate a
which the advancing edge is coming
toward us IT is possible to calculate
what the duration of the whole rota
tion must be.
A beautiful new process permits thi
to be done. Bolopolski found that tn
edge of the planet coming toward tn
! earth is moving faster than IL would b