The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21

longing to this earth could live on them
at all. Jupiter is so covered with ever
changing bands of clouds that we know
practically nothing about that stars sur
face. Its atmosphere must be many hun
dreds or thousands of miles deep, so
| that the Inhabitants. II any, can never
see the sun. In any case, Jupiter is so
far away from the sun that that body APP
pears only one-quarter as big as it does
' to US. and gives only one-twenty-hfth as
much light and heat. Another objection
to Jupiter is the storms it suffers from
Wind on the earth blows sometimes at
ninety miles an hour, and levels every
thing before 1t. But on Jupiter a 200
mile breeze is a common occurrence and
blows for weeks at time, as we can see
BY the movement of the clouds.
Jupiter Has Four Moons.
Some astronomers have noticed a deep
ooppery red hue appear through the torn
masses of the Jovian clouds, and argue
from this that Jupiter Is still in the same
condition which this earth passed through
300 0Oe. 600 years ago-a mass Of incandes-
cent material. covered with an envelope
or watery vapor. But no one knows for
certain, Jupiter beats us in the matter
OF moons. 1t has four. One appears to
the people of Jupiter bigger than our
moon. the next two are about half as
large. and the fourth quite small But,
as they shine only with reflected sun
light. all four together could only give
one-sixteenth as much light as our own
moon. As a matter of fact, they are new
err all visible at the same time The last
and, from a human point of view. the
chief disadvantage Of a resident in Jupi-
ter IL that a ten-stone man transported
to that planet would and that he weighed
AkA
would. therefore. be unable to do much
more than crawl.
No Animals in Saturn.
Great as are the sarth's advantages
over Jupiter, Saturn suffers stiTl more
in comparison. 1t is practically certain
that Saturn is destitute of animal life.
1t is no less than 745 times as big as this
earth, and yet weighs only ninety times
as much. II is indeed, only three-hfths
a. heavy as its bulk of water. Any one
moving to Saturn, therefore, from this
earth would be unable to keep afoat,
even were he the best of swimmers Sa-
turn must, indeed, be in a liquid condi-
ton. for astronomers watching this plan
ct have often noticed that it constantly
changes shape. One side of 1t will bulge
out as much as four to five hundred
miles. We on this earth get just ninety
times as much heat and light as Saturn
has from the sun, and all Saturns moons,
eight in number, can not make up for
the deficiency. for their combined light
Is bat one-sixteenth that of our satel-
lite.
As for Uranus and Neptune, they are
90 far away that our knowledge of them
ID limited. Uranus must, indeed, be a
dreary place. Its year makes eighty
four OF our years. Its axis slopes much,
and its winters, at least forty-two years
long. must be appalling. At the height
Of Its summer the sun looks but ,390th as
big as it appears to US Neptune is so
far from the center Of the universe that
to 1t the sun appears merely as a star
does to US.
Taking all things into consideration,
our own earth, IN spite of some disad-
vantsses. seems quite the more desirable
property among the various units of the
solar system.