The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-24
A SIGHT IN THE HEAVENS.
JUPITER, SATURN AND VENUS IN
CONJUNCTION.

Three Worlds at a Single View in
the Southwestern sky - Ruddy
Mars Close by--Jupiter and Saturn
the Nearest Together November
2sth - Venus VIII Change Its
Course Dec. 4th--Saturn the Faint
est of the Group and Venus the
Brightest.
Observers of the evening skies may
have noticed for the last two weeks a
beautiful conjunction of three bright
and that the moon on the 18th inst.
took her position among the shining
group, thus presenting a celestial spec
tacle of rare combination and beauty.
The brightest of this splendid group
is the planet Venus, the next brightest
is Jupiter and the faintest one is the
planet Saturn. About fifteen degrees
to the west is Mars. whose rudy light
from his great distance struggles
through our dense atmosphere in un-
equal competition with his more fav-
ored rivals This near approach of four
large planets is a rare occurrence
which this generation will not witness
again. On the morning of the 2Sth
inst. Jupiter and Saturn will be near
est together, being only twenty-seven
| minutes or less than the diameter of
| the moon apart. These majestic senti-
nels of the night will pass each other
in silence through the trackless ocean
of space not to meet again for many
long years.
The only popular significance
| Of this beautiful conjunction
is the train of contemplative thought
| the pleasure to be derived from the
study Of the Creators grandest works
Here we have in ore view three worlds
belonging to our solar system, in many
respects the most interesting Of all. the
| heavenly bodies. Venus, the brightest
| of the three stars, is very nearly the
size Of our earth, but much nearer to
| the sun than we are. 1t revolves
around the sun in 225 days. and it prob
ably keeps the same side of its body al
| ways towards the sun. Its dazzling
| splendor is due to the high reflective
| power of the dense white clouds with
| which the planet Is surrounded. The
| body of the planet itself is so enveloped
| in clouds that it is doubtful If any por-
| ton of it has ever been seen- A few
years ago the writer observed it undea
| the most favorable circumstances
| through the Great Lick telescope in
| California, and 1t appeared completely
| shrouded in dense clouds.
| Venus is now rapidly approaching
It's inferior conjunction and its motion
| is nearly directly towards the earth.
! On Dec. it will reach its greatest
eastern elongation, and it will then ap-
pear to move westward again Its APP
pearance in the telescope now is that
| Of a half moon, but soon 1t will
assume the crescent form for this
| planet undergoes all the phases of the
moon-Venus will increase in brilliancy
for several weeks yet, and adorn the
western sky with its beauty and splen-
dor.
Jupiter, the second in apparent size,
is really the largest of the group. being
thirteen hundred times as large as the
earth, and being surrounded by five
| moons. It revolves around the sun In
| about twelve years, and rotates on It's
| axis in about ten hours. Its equatorial
| diameter is $500 miles, and its polar
diameter is $4,000. The centrifugal
force, due to it's rapid rotation, ac-
counts for the difference. Viewed
through the telescope, Jupiter presents
a beautiful appearance. A good held
glass will show two or more OF its
moons, while a glass of moderate power
will reveal the belts of cloud-like form
encircling the equatorial region OF the
planet. Jupiter is probably still quite
hot and now unfit for any form OF an
imal or vegetable life, but who can
say that it may not in time become
the grandest theater of life ana llvihs
energy in the whole solar system:
Saturn, the faintest Of the group, is
world more than seven hundred times
as large as our own, and surrounded
by eight moons and strange thln
ring of matter, which may some Gay
be formed into other moons.
This planet requires nearly thirty
wears to go round the sun, and 1t Is
nearly twice as far from US as Jupiter
being 8S6 900 miles from the sun II
would take a cannon ball over 800 years
to travel this distance, ana yet tns
planet. Uranus is twice this distance
and Neptune more than three times as
far away The SUMS light at Saturn Is
; only 1-900th of that which we receive
but its eight moons and its magnln'
cent broad ring, spanning the heavens
at all times, in a measure compensate
for this disadvantage.
In looking at these bright stars u
difficult to realize the real facts con
cerning their sizes, distances and mo-
tions The planet Venus moves IN ltS
orbit twenty-five miles a second, OF
about seventy-five times as fast as 4
cannon ball, and just now this motor
Is almost directly towards the earth
In contemplating the wonderful Gre
alton of the countless worlds arouno
us, it is pleasant enough TO speculate
upon the possibilities of intelligent life
upon them and in fancy to people them
with superior beings, but although
science has revealed much concerning
these shining neighbors the question
of their habitability is one thai
lies almost wholly in the domain o1
speculation. If we except some doubt
full suggestions Of intelligent life upor
the planet Mars made from cbserva-
tions upon the strange markings of is
surface, not the slightest indication
either of vegetable or animal life has
ever been observed upon any OF the
heavenly bodies.
This does not mean, however. that
life may not exist, even in higher
form, upon some of them, for the dis
tance is so great that the best tele-
scopes fail to reveal any objects except
these of many miles in extent.
Many of the physical conditions OF
the planets have been quite we'll deter
mined, and from the data thus ascer-
tanned. il is very doubtful If life as we
know it, exists in any high form upon
any of these three planets now in con-
junction. But the future is rich in years