The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-12-31

az great ulstance IN VI
Viewed from this enormou distance.
Mercury,8Vyqpu the Earth and Mars
would be 80 close FtoSour sun as to res
main forever invisible, whlle Tho sun
itself would. look like q point Of light and
with the aid of "a telescOpe.S9ELike Jupiter
and Saturn Neptune Ia exceedingly light,
q foot Of Neptune weighing but81,5
as much as g cubic foot, Of the earth
from WhichHtt5i s supposed that theFplanet
Is still Intensely hot and in5 gaseous#orr
yaporlzed state, II will Q @renelnbered.
Neptune was@dlscoyere by It's pull
on the planet Uranus and that Its size o
and position ln#tEABsky were known with
perfect accuracy before 1T had even been.
discovered with the telescope. There Ia
some evidence that the motion of .Nep-
tune IS being similarly disturbed by z
moves SO very slowly. It's year being s164
of ourBEyears3 long. hat this question can
not be thoroughly investigated. for sorre
time to- come...lf another #body.is theres
will some day be discovered! mathemati.
cally, Just as Neptune has been unless
indeed, III Is accidentally picked. u @Witll
the telescope: For,thls far8dlstan t ,W Y !
Elirrollos nr the Mmekeeper mas been
suggested sSaSs SSBs
The stars marked p in Els. 2, arc
pea STATS E lUbEtOU6 t6lllHl NcSll
is q triple and also varies IN bright
ness about one whole magnitude every
ten days.
The planet Jupiter IS stlll In Taurus,
between the iyades and the Flel ades 1ts
Cease tho ath Of the month Il and i Vii
begin to move slowly eastward again.
This planet Is now the most interesting
object IN the sky, to the owner Df 81
iying nearly parallel to the equator and
the great variety Of Irregular markings
are plainly Visible and will be seeN.rap-s
Idly shifting their positions as the. planet
Viii be detected folnIrfTiittle points Of Light
which are the four brightest moons of
Jupiter, and these, too, WILL be seen con-.
stantly altering their positions as the
with its retinue of satellites Is one OF tho
most beautiful md Interesting OF allNthe.
objects inS4the heavens.
Tho moons OF Jupiter frequently pass
behind ne planet ana adlsappear 4 from Y
Elected sunlight. Just as our moon does,
At Is attended by an enormous conical
SHADOW sllntch!ns or. into space directly
away from the IN, The, molten Of ,t q
shadow and they are then, ee!lppsed; Els
"a shows on tho proper scale this shadow
with the orhlks Of the niooiis9 81 Che
planet. On nearly every night q MlnlA
SAtSgAkl&S ~ SIEilASA stsNtstNt N.NN 1890
to- be aclipsed by passing into this g
aoW. .IIts was from these eclipses that the
velocity of light was discovered by thes
Danish Astronomer Iloenrer In 1915, since
the earth moves about tho sun IN M orbit
glsb millions gofg miles IN diameter, " fol-
laws that our distance ftoR, JnpIteE ya,s
v!es by JUS. this amount, Now lt8is no
iced that w!lel! ,Wa arc nearest tho planet
the eellpses of his moons occur SIN. lps.
early, and When we are farthest away
Just BIN, 1as, late. All wo draw near tho
planet tbs, eclipses occur earlier ana
8enIl.er and nA4 We reeedefthey fall more
and more behind tine, Evidently thias
VIII he fully accounted foI8py assuming
that the light by Which se view the
katelllt1es REQUIRES an appEee|AhIlo time toS
when We increase pur distance from, Jupl,
ter 1856 million miles, the eellpsas occur
tipat ION. ssss late. frnm which tile feyess
Slority Of lLghtsts found q 10 $1,000 miles
per secpndat
Fig. i shows tile MONS us they will
appear ~ ~ O'clock I. MI Eastern time,
on six different dialles DURING the mouth
ri VIII be noticed that on the llbtih. 18th
aud Goth tho outer Moon Is attn grcnt
distance from, nv planet. In y small