Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-08-22
THE PLANET JUPITER
A Monster World, 1900 Times
the Size of Ours.
WHIRLS WITH AWFUL SPEED.
1t Spins Around at Such a Fearful
Gait That Furious Gale Perpetual
Iy EncircIes Its Equator-Its Posi-
BILE Inhabitants and Its Moons.

| Odll nat q FURIOUS tale FeFPetuaI-
ly EncircIes Its Equator-Its Posi-
BILE inhabitants and Its Moons.
It is curious how little the average
person knows about Jupiter. He has
heard a lot, too much perhaps, about
Mars, but that world, 1900 times the
size of ours, whirling in the terrible
outer distance of space with it's five
moons, it's IA months yearly, known
as Jupiter is almost if not quite mys-
terry.
In the first place, Jupiter, according
to some astronomers, is inhabited.
So are some of it's moons, in the
midst of which the great planet spins
\ around like a top at such tremendous
speed that it causes around the equator
furious wind that blows perpetually
at rate of about 25O miles an hour
In the midst of this never ending,
bowling gale live the Jovians. Some
astronomers say that because Jupiter
is so much bigger and heavier than
the earth no creature of any weight
can support itself. A man weighing
200 pounds on this earth would, if car
ried to Jupiter, weigh 500 pounds, and,
reasoning thus, they believe that moth
ing bigger than a cat could stand on
this vast world
But this is no doubt a mistake. If
Jupiter stood still or revolved no faster
than our earth all that astronomy says
would be true, and terrestrial man
could not stand upon it's surface. But
as a fact the tremendous rate of revo-
luton is so much faster than the
earths that in spite of it's mOnstrous
size it turns about in less than ten
hours as against our twenty-four
| hours.
AS it is, a man of normal earthly
size, if transported to the equator of
Jupiter, would actually feel much
lighter than he does here on earth, be-
cause the swift rotation Of the planet
would almost lift him from his feet
and throw him into the heavens. He
would feel so light that the $50 mile
an hour tornado that blows incessant-
ly would pick him up and carry him
around and around the planet like a
Speck of dust.
In order to keep on his feet the
Jovian man or WOMAN would have to-
be about fifty feet tall. Some of them
would doubtless reach the height of
ffty-five feet Like all big bodies, the
Joyian would Fave a tendency to slow
ness of motion. Having once seated
himself, he would spend good twelve
hours at his breakfast and perhaps
eighteen at his dinner and would prob
ably throw up his job if his employer
allowed him less than six hours for
his lunch
The oceans Of Jupiter, torn into fury
by the hurricanes, would pay no atten-
ton to one moon such as moves the
tides on our earth, and 1t takes no
fewer than five of these satellites to-
perform this work for Jupiter. They
| travel at various rates of speed, some
fyfng very close to Jupiter's surface
and others far off. They have atmos-
pheres somewhat like ours on earth,
and a moonlight on Jupiter is indeed q
| glorious sight, for these moons have g.
variety Of colors. Two are blue, one
is yellow and one red.
JuCtcer needs all its Moons at night
for Illumination, for without them It's
| FIVE hours of darkness would be DlacK
indeed. So distant is the sun that
broad daylight is hardly brighter than
| twilight on earth, and. one lone moon
would not reflect enough of the suns
rays to guide the Jovian footsteps.
| In the polar and semipolar areas the
go mile an hour tornado of the equa-
tor is not present. Doubtless there are
eddies and occasional VYindstorms such
as there are on earth. And in these
localities it is possible for smaller
creatures to exist, and here, too, vege-
tation would flourish. The food sup
ply of Jupiter must come from these
areas. where it is cultivated and ship
ned to the equatorial regions by the
diminutive races. The polar oceans
are not frozen because of the great
internal heat of Jupiter. And on these
still oceans probably ships not greatly
different from ours ply, but about the
| equator Lie uAcAO1A6 0IoA
make surface sailing impossible.
IF there are ships at all at the equa
tor they are submarines. which dive
into the calm depths beneath the sur
face. Locomotion by flying machines
is extremely easy on the equator be
cause. by taking advantage of the
wind the Jovfans can navigate theil
planet at tremendous speed
1t is possible that because OF the
noise in the wind swept equator the
Jovian is deaf.
Quite likely, on the other hand, h'
has good ears, but with device, eithel
artificial or contributed by nature, fol
stopping his ears, except when h'
wishes to listen.
This tremendous, good natured 10
Loo 1oo+bor-Iilyn skin fO DF0fRp