The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1908-10-28
THE PLANET JUPITER
A Monster World, 1900 Times
the Size of Ours.
WHIRLS WITH AWFUL SPEED

II Spins Around at Such a Fearful
Gait That a Furious Gallo Perpetual
iy Encireles Its Equator-lts Posi-
BILE inhabitants and Its Moons. -..
1t 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 its five
moons, its IA months yearly. known
as Jupiter is almost if not quite a mys
terry.
In the first place, Jupiter, according
to some astronomers, Is inhabited.
So are some Of its moons, in the
midst OF which the great planet spins
around like a top at such tremendous
speed that 1t causes around the equator
a furious wind that blows perpetually
at n rate of about $50 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 q mistake. II
Jupiter stood still or revolved no faster
than our earth all that astronomy says
would be true, and a terrestrial man
could not stand upon its surface. But
as fact the tremendous rate of revo-
luton Is so much faster than the
earth's that in spite of its monstrous
size 1t turns about in less than ten
hours as against our twenty-four
hours.
AS 1t is, 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
fifty-five feet Like all big bodies. the
Jovian would have a tendency to slow
ness Of motion. Having once seated
himself, he would spend a 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
flying 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 a
glorious sight, for these moons have
variety of colors. Two are blue, one
is yellow and one red.
Jupiter needs all its moons at night
for illumination. for without them its
five hours of darkness would be black
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
250 mile an hour tornado of the equa-
tor is not present Doubtless there are
eddies and occasional windstorms 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
ped to the equatorial regions by the
dimlnutlve races. The polar oceans
are not frozen because of the great
internal heat Of Jupiter And on these
still oceans probahly>ships not greatly