Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-11
THE NOVEMBER SKIES.
The ConsteIIations-Saturn and His
Rings and Moons.

only in midWinter. The summer con-
s.ellation Virgin. Scorpion and
Auuarius. rav. now sunk in the west
to be seen no more until next wear.
while II take their places the far more
brilliant consultations. Taurus. Orion
and Gemini. have appeared in the east.
The little group of the Pleiades. which
la st month was low down in the east.
has now risen more than half way to
the zenith, while Orion, the most
beautiful constellation of the entire
heavens, is rising just below. In two
months more Orion will be due south
in the carly evening. with the two
Dogs, the Twins and the Crab "a little
to TIE east Of south and Taurus 10 the
vest. This will be the most brilliant
sky of the year. the midwinter sky.
Eut the most Interesting object in
the constellation this month is the
planet Saturn. which appears as a
bright star in the position marked 5.
The observer should not fail to cX-
anime this object with a small tele-
scope for soon it viii follow the sum
MGR considerations and be lost to view
until next year.
His first sight of this great world
will he Very striking. He will see a
round ball surrounded by two rings.
near which The largest moon of Saturn
shines out as a faint Star-like object.
If he has access u "A very large tele-
scope, he will see that instead of two
rings. there are really three. the inner
being Very faint. seven moons beside
the large one will also be detected
some OF which are at great distances
from the planet.
The little ball is $4,000 miles
through. nearly nine times as thick as
the clrth, the distance across the
rings is 16S. 600 miles and their width
about 37.u06 miles This great world
il very different from our owi,-in
fact, il is almost certainly very hot and
probably IN a gaseous or vapOrizod
condition. This is believed to be 50.
partly because the material OF which
Saturn is composed is very light Il
cubic foot of Saturn would only weigh
as much as cubic foot of
tlln earth. The slight markings on the
VI met too. ar" continually changing.
\ Few months ago the ball was COW
cred with nun,trou white areas: at
present there is 4 dark band across il
on the lower side and numerous other
faintcr bands and markings. but these
change their position and shape from
day to day. and even from hour to
hour.
So we conclude that this world is an i
immense hot globe. which undoubtedly 4;
is slowly Cooling and shrinking to-
gether just as the earth has done |
l., Il. l. !.
abode of life. we can only conjecture. !
but some time in the remote future il |
" i'll certainly lie solid, and for ages !
its temporal are and condition will re- |
main not unlike those of our earth.
The rings of Saturn are made up of |;
an immense number Of mcteOric par /,
ticlrs. each one of which revoives
around and around the planet just as
tie moon rtvolves around the earth. !
Each separate particle is far too small |
I" be seen with the telescope. but |
tn re ar. 50 many of them that when |
they are reviewed from the earth they |
appear as continuous ring. AT ,
present We see the rings obliquely. as |
shown in figure >, but sometimes the |
earth is in such position that they I,
are seen eGgcwiSe. as in figure >. This !
happens every fifteen years. 1t Is |
then seen that the thickness of the !
rings is very small indeed. scarcely |
more than 100 miles. They are. in
fact so thin that DR.. Barnard of
Chicago has seen one of the moons of
Saturn when it was behind the rings
and shining directly through them.
This would. of course. have been i'm
possible, had the rings been solid
mass
Titan. the largest moon of Saturn. !
can be seen even in small eleScopc.
1t is about iU" miles in diameter. and
po sses completely around the planet III
sixteen days. Beside this moon. there
are seven others. the inner one OF
which GOES around the planet in less
than one day. while the outer requires
10 days 20 make the circuit.
IN 1881 the surprising announcem
was made from the Harvard OBSERVE
tory that new satellite to Saturn had
been discovered on delicate photo-
craph Of the planet. AS later photo
cr.uhs showed no trace of this object.
and ,s a most careful search failed to
revaa, il. it was supposed that prob
ably II had no existence. Now. how
c-er. il has been many times pho'o-
GRABBED a..Iin ard even measured
vis.ally with the great lerkes tele-
scOpe at Chicago.
Jupiter is by far tn. brightest Object
in the sky during the present month.
1t will he noticed at once. it'll" east
of south in the constellation Pisces.
The large ball Of the planet is seen.
crossed by several very beautiful rose
colorcd bands. while nearby four
bright star-like obj", is will be detec-
red: these are the four moons of Jupi-
ter.
The moons rrVolVe RAPIDLY about the
planet. 50 that their relative positions
are continually ch mGinG. Sometimes
one or mere If them pass behind the
ball. are shut out nom view while
sometimes. on very rare occasions,
none Of them can he seen. Jupiter then
presents the appearance. very peculiar
to an astronomer. If being mOOnless
When the light of a moon is thus cut
of. the body does not remain invisible
FOR more than a few fouls at most: its
rapid motion about the planet sooh
l<,s..