Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-04-18

was Uranus which had been seen and
regarded as a satellite OF Venus.
The greatest of all the planets that
revolve about our sun. Jupiter, presents
besides its colossal size some features
that render it especially interesting.
In size 1t is 1900 times larger than the
earth. but in mass only 80 times. This
is remarkable fact, proving that
Jupiter must be a world of a kind very
different from that on which we stand.
The earth is made up Of rocks and
minerals, largely also of iron, and all
globe of very high density-between
, five and six times the weight of a globe
| of water OF equal dimensions.
In regard to Jupiter the case Is wide
ly different, and from this it follows at
once that the great planet cannot be
organized on anything like the same
plan as our own globe. That Jupiter
weighs only one and one-fOurth as
| much as a globe Of water of the same
size proves conclusively that 1t is--on
its exterior at all events-largely made
up of great oceans Of clouds and vapors
which weigh but little in comparison
with their bulk, and it proves, further
more. that if the materials now in
vapor were condensed into more liquid
| or solid form the size of Jupiter would
be considerably diminished.
| Now the interesting question arises as
to what those immense clouds envelop-
| ing Jupiter are due. Clouds cannot
exist without heat, for without the
latter they would take the liquid state.
| The great distance Of the planet from
the sun precludes the assumption that
the amount of heat received by reflec-
ton from the sun could produce
quantities of vapor so copious and con-
tinuOusly impenetrable as they are on
Jupiter. There is no comparison be-
tween the clouds in the terrestrial at
mosphere and the thick and massive
varors around Jupiter. and conse-
quently we are compelled to suppose
that the heat by which the vapors to
form clouds are manufactured must be
much more abundant and intense on
Jupiter than it is on our own globe.
Now if Jupiter cannot receive enough
heat from the sun to produce this effect
the question is, Whence does it derive
this heat? This question puzzled
astronomers for considerable time,
but it is now generally conceded that
Jupiter still retains vast stores of
internal heat, which are sufficient to
preserve in the vaporous state the
oceans that shall one day roll upon its
surface.
No longer need the dense clouds Of
the giant planet be a mystery, for they
ire merely an indication Of a certain
stage in the process of cooling through
which Jupiter, like every other planet
in our system, has to pass. In other
words, Jupiter is n sort of semi-sun-
not. though not so hot as to be sensibly
'elfluminous.
At about nine o'clock during the
April evenings we see the Zodiacal con-
stellation Leo. or the Lion, on the
meridian. 1t is fine constellation that
cannot fail to arrest the attention of
anybody that looks up at the starry
host. The head and the breast of the
ion are marked by SIX stars grouped SO
ogether as to resemble a sickle, by
which name it is best known. and the
handle of which is Regulus, or "COr
Leonis" Ohe lions hearD. a star of the
'rst magnitude. The curved line-Eta,
;amma, Zeta, Mu and Epsilon-is the
blade. To the east Of the sickle we see
three stars, the eastern-mcst Of which
IS Beta I.eoni, or DenebOla, n bright
second-magnitude star. A few small
stars north of Leo form Leo Minor, or
the smaller Lion, an insignificant