The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-10
SOMETHING NEW ABOUT VENUS.
The Day of the Planet Said to Re-
semble the Earth's.

An accomplished astronomer has just
| made a discovery in the heavens which
merits our close attention. for it amplifies
our knowledge of the condition OF an in
! teresting neighboring world. That neigh
boring 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 has for weeks been adjoining our
| evening sky.
Venus possesses a special and particular
| interest from the circumstance that it is a
| globe which In many respects has start
| ling resemblance to our own earth. To be-
| gin with the beautiful evening star Is
almost exactly 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 almost iden-
tical with the number of miles which
would make an equatorial girdle for Venus.
Nor does the resemblance between the
earth and the planet consist merely in
their equal size. The two globes have
practically the same weight.
IL we imagine a pair OF weighing scales
so mighty that Venus could be put into
one pan and the earth into the other, no
great difference would be perceived be-
tween the weights of the two celestial orbs.
Two billiard balls which had no greater
than the earth and Venus would be prac
tically indistinguishable. The resemblance
between these twin planets has. however,
been carried much further by the interest
ing discovery which has just been an
nounced to astronomers, and which | shall
now attempt to describe.
Z To planet which may be the abode
of life, one of the most important condi-
tons will be the succession of day and
night. Whenever the question as to the
resemblance of another world to our earth
is raised. 1t Is natural to consider how
far the Inhabitants of such a world, il
inhabitants there be. resemble ourselves
in the enjoyment of the alterations of
day when the sun is in 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 COM
plete each turn may agree or disagree with
the time required by the earth for like
movement. To put the matter more def
nitely, we may enquire how far the period
required by Venus to rotate on its axis
corresponds with that period of twenty
four hours, or more accurately. twenty
three hours. fiftysix minutes. which ex-
presses 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 ac-
commodate their domestic arrangements
has never admitted of much doubt. In
deed. we know the length OF the day on
Mars to a single second of time. This de-
termination has been made SO accurately |
because the marks on Mars are clear
enough to be precisely identified. After the |
lapse of years. or after the lapse of even |
those marks are still to be seen.
without any doubt whatever, in each revo-
luton of the planet. But for the study |
of length of day and the length of night on
Venus the face of the beautiful evening
star offers no such facility This globe has
no well-marked features; there are no def
mite spots to suly the brilliant mantle of
characteristic OF the evening
star
One very eminent astronomer thought
that the day in Venus must be enormous
ly long; must. in fact. last for about ff-
teen weeks, while the night which sue
needed it had to last for fifteen 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 seen with more
'r less distinctness were most probably