The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-06-29
TINY WORLDS IN SPACE.
A MAN MIGHT WALK AROUND ONE
OF THEM IN A DAY.
Already $50 Have Been Discovered and
There May Be MilIions-Not Longer
Than a Texas Rice Field.

1t is no surprising thing nowadays for the
announcement to be made that another
planet has been discovered. Time was,
however, when such an announcement was
received with much interest. 1t Is veil
known that between the orbits Of Mars and
Jupiter there Is belt Of tiny bodies,
pocket planets" as Hersche called them
none with diameter greater than 2"o
miles, and whose assigned diameter is loss
than seventeen miles worlds that could
ind room between here and In Porte,
There are doubtless some even smaller
about large enough for n rice field for
Texas farmer. So diminutive are these
curious members of the solar system that
even after one has been discovered 1t Is
quite likely TO be lost. OF course it is pos
sible to trace the movements Of the as
teroids as well as those of the larger plan
cts; but the labor OF doing So especially
of the many tiny ones Of little pracncai
interest. surpasses the probable value Of
the result, and In consequence the orbits
of most of them are not yet calculated.
The orbits of all these DIM Hutive worlds
lie In a belt about 10o.oo,uoO miles vide
and with mean distance from the sun of
about 250.OOo,OOO miles.
MAY BE MILLIONS OF THEM.
At present more than $50 of these little
worlds have been discovered, and more
are found nearly every year. How many
there may be 1t is impossible to estimate.
One astronomer thinks there may be as
many as 10000 of them. The total num-
Der, whatever it may be, depends largely
on whether or not there is any limit TO
their minuteness, If there is no such
limit that is. If some are very much small
er than those now known, too small to
be seen with the telescope now In use
there may be an indefinite number
Several theories have been advanced to
account for the presence of the aSterolds
In that part of the solar system 10 Wnlch
BODIES law assigned a planet long before
their existence was known OlDers pro.
posed the hypothesis that they once formed
a single planet which, at some remote
time. was shattered by a great explosion.
the fragments continuing to revolNe apont
the sun In approximately the orbit OF the
original planet. The considerable variation
In the eccentricity and inclination OF thelr
orbits, not to be accounted for by any
present mode of calculation. and the greater
probability of their separate formation lust
as were the other and larger planets, &C,
cordng to the nebular hypothesis, has led
to the great discardng of Oilers theory
None OF the greater planets have orbits
whose eccentrcity much exceeds one-tenth
the diameter. or whose inclination to me
ecliptic is greater than three degrees. OF
the asteroids, however, many orbits are
clined "a degrees). and have an eccentric
ity In excess of one-fourth OF the diam
eter.
According to the nebular hypothesis
which Is at present generally accented, the
minor planets as well as the greater ones
were formed by the condemnation OF rings
OF cosmic matter surrounding the sun. ~
the case of the asteroids the ring instead
Of condensing into one mass condensed
about many points, the result being great
number Of pigmy planets instead of one
large one. as In the case Of the others
AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY
II all the minor planets now known were
10 be combined into one, its diameter would
be less than 400 miles. thousand more OF
them, supposine them Of the average size,
would make the globe scarcely 100 miles
greater In dlamter, and its mass womb
even then be less than one four.thousandth
of the earth's. Assuming the density OF
these little worlds to be approximately that
of the earth. bodies on their surfaces would
weigh very little. A man placed on one OF
them could easily jump 10 a height Of SIX
~ feet. and in a day he could walk entire
" around his little world with less eNel-
tion than is required for his morning woth,
Though astronomers had from the ptpE