The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-02
WHITE SPOT ON SATURN.
A PuzzIing and Unusual Development
on the Rinqed Planet.

on the hinged Planet.
Prof. E. E. Barnard. of the Yerkes
observatory. Williams Bay. Wis. re-
ports having seen white spot on the
planet Saturn a short distance north of
the equator. AS soon as teh word was
passed around among professional star
gazers they began to speculate upon
the nature of this phenomenon, and
some Of them probably proceeded to
look for it themselves. Although no
one can witness this exhibition with
out a reserved seat in some obSerV-
atory, no doubt thousands of wide
awake. thinking people will be curious
to know more about the matter.
A similar marking was discovered in
1876 by Prof Asaph Hall, probably at
the naval observatory in Washington,
where there is a twenty -six-fnch glass.
1t was close to the equator. He follow
ed it through sixty rotations, and thus
was able to compute the time required
for a rotation of the planet at ten
hours, fourteen minutes and twenty
four seconds. The only previous esti-
mate of Saturn's aerial movements
was made by Hershcel. in 1894. and he
put it at ten hours and sixteen min
utes. Mr.. Denning, an English anna
teur, obtained results closely conform
ing to Prof. Halls in May and June,
1891 For his study he had as many as
ten spots, but they seem to have been
less conspicuous than those seen at
Washington and Williams Bay.
What has always made Saturn
unique among the planets are the wide.
thin rings which encircle that body.
The surface is much more uniform in
brightness than most of the other
members of the solar system. Jupiter
and Mars are the most conSpicuouSly
marked of the lot. the former with al
ternating bands of light and darkness.
parallel with it's equator, and the latter
by shadings suggestive of seas and
continents and fine. straight lines re-
sembling canals. The sun itself de-
velops dark spots occasionally, as well
as bright ones, both being regarded as
indicative of some form of eruptive
action. Nothing of the sort is observed
on Saturn, whose only superficial &c
centricities are of the kind just men
toned
From the fact that some Of these
white spots have apparently changed
their positions at times, the suspi-
cion is excited that the planet is not
quite as solid as the earth. Inasmuch
as these portions of the sun nearest its
equator revolve more rapidly than the
polar regiens-one going around in
about twenty-six days and the other
needing twenty nlne---lt may De III
ferred that the surface Of semi fluid
mass, or an atmospheric shell full of
luminous clouds, is presented to the eye
by that body. Only a slight inequality
of the same nature has been observed
on Saturn and Jupiter; but even this
has led to the impression that perhaps
these two planets were more nearly in
a molten state than the earth, and
hence more nearly allied to the sup
posed condition of the sun.
Miss Agnes NJ. Clarke mentions sew
eral reasons for thinking that Saturn
is younger and hotter than its giant
neighbor, Jupiter. One is that for its
size it appears to be wonderfully light
It's density is less than that of water,
or of any other planet. 1T may be
concluded" says she. without much
risk of error, that a large proportion
of this bulky globe. 10000 miles in di-
ameter, is composed of heated vapors,
kept in active and agitated circula7
ton by the process Of cooling"
Saturn is in the constellation of Cap
rieornus at present. and rises at about
s %. m. An hour or two later it may
be identified as being a little to the
eastward of Affair. then the brightest
star in the southeastern skies. When
the two are visible identification OF the
planet ought to be easy.