The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1902-06-18
WATCHING JUPITER
That is What Young Folks do Now
Some Old Ones do, too.

|
It is popular in town now to
watch Jupiter..The big planets for
the first time in several years, III
opposition with the earth, and his
nearness to us makes him by far
the biggest star in the heavens.
A man who watched him the 9TH
er night, said next morning that
the planet appeared to be as large
as tho palm Of a mans hand. Al Al
so that it had horns. Another who
sat up until one O'Clock in the
morning said that it looked about
as big as dollar, and that it did
not have horns, though one well de-
fined ray, pointing to the southeast
was clearly visible.
| Young folks about town spend
much time watching the star now.
1t seems t6 have a fascination for
them. Perhaps it is because the
star does not rise until after mid
night. 1t rises little earlier each
evening, however, and later on
will appear as the evening star.
In its revolution around the sun,
Jupiter makes trip of 1900 mil
lion miles, requiring twelve years
to make the journey. Several
moons revo1ve around it, four of
which can be seen with a telescope
with lens of four inches, and two
of the larger ones with an ordinary
field glass.
There could be no more profit
able occupation for thoughtful per-
sons who wish to treat their eyes
to some of the great sights of as
trononly than by looking at Jupit-
er with a telescope The striped
and spotted disc of the great planet,
brilliant with contrasted co1ors, and
cease1ess in its change of detail
is chapter in the history of crea-
ton as 1egible to one who knows
how to read it as are the baked
tablets OF Nineveh to the Assyrio1-
ogist. But it carries the mind back
to a time infinitely beyond the ear
lest dates of human history and
beyond the era when the oceans
were formed and the first contin-
ents were born.
Jupiter is a world now about
that stage in existence which is
dim1y hinted at in the opening
verses of Genesis. It's garden of
Eden and its Adam and Eve, with
their idy1 of dawning love and their
legend of original sin, are yet to
come, if they are destined to come
at all.
The imagination is appalled,
while looking upon planet SO
enormously greater than ours,
where the Creator is just setting
the stage and preparing the seen
cry for a world drama that must
pole 1he tragic story of Adam
rece to the serio-comic complexion
of a bur1etta for children.
It would be a good thing for
some of our blowers of trust bub-
.bles to look at and think about
Jupiter as he CLEANS 1azi1y and
gigantical1y through the misty
summer air.
He would teach them how
small they and their works are
after all. Or perhaps he would
stimulate their ambition to attempt
the cornering of bigger world,
and thus relieve this one of their
presence.
Jupiter will be III a more favor
able position for telescope observ-
alton this summer than he was
during his last apposition,- and as
tromoners are preparing to take
of the opportunity to
learn more about what is going on
upon his curious1y chaotic surface.
Several observers think there is
something peculiar about the north
temperate zone of the huge planet.
Singular spots have from time to
time broken into view there as if
tremendous volcanoes had spout
ed black ashes up through a cur-
tain of brilliant vapors. And
here the winds appear to be more
active than anywhere else, and
contradictory motions, difficult to
explain, manifest themselves among
he cloudy belts and spots.
{ In short Jupiter is the scene of
he play of energies SO immense
ind varied that one must be pre-
pared for a surprise every time he.
comes back into the range Of vis-
on.