The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1908-08-13
The PLANET JUPITER
A Monster World, 1900 Times
the Size Of Ours.
WRlRLs WITH AWFUL SPEED.

It Spins Around at Such a Fearful
Gait That Furious Gale Perpetual
ly Encircles Its Equator-lts Posi-
BILE Inhabitants and It's Moons.
1t is curious how little the average
person knows about Jupiter. He has
heard 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. its ia months yearly. known
as Jupiter is almost if not quite mys.
tory.
In the first place, Jupiter. according
to some astronomers, is inhabited.
So are sosle of it's moons, in the
midst of which the great planet spins
around like Il top at such tremendous
speed that it causes around the equator
a furious wind that blows perpetually
at rate Of about $50 miles all 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
tie earth no creature of any weight
can support itself A man weighing
200 pounds Oh this earth would, if car
ried to Jupiter, weigh 500 pounds, and,
reasoning thus, they believe that moth
Ing bigger than cat could stand on
| this vast world.
Ent this is NO doubt mistake. If
Jupiter stood stiil or rcvolved no faster
than our earth all that astronomy SAYS
would be true. and a terrestrial man
| could not stand Upon it's surface. But
as Il fact the tremendous rate of revo-
luton is so much faster than the
carlh's that in spite of it's 1nunstrous
size it turns about i'll less than ten
!, hours rs against our twenty-four
hours
rs ii is, Il man of normal earthly
size if transported TO the equator of
Jupiter, would actually feel much
li"!ller than ne does here Oh earth. be-
cause the swift rotation Of the planet
would almost lift him from his feet
and throw him into the heavens. Re
would fee! SO light that tie 80 mile
an hour tornado that blow, inccssai,t
~ would pick him up and carry him
around and around The planet like Il
sDeck of dust.
In order to keep CD his feet the
joNian lllan 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
lovi"l would have a tendency to slow
hess of motion. Having once seated
himself, lie would spend Il good twelve
hours at his breakfast and perhaps
eighteen ut his dinner ani would prob
ably throw up his job if bis employer
allowed bim less than six hours for
his lunch.
The oceans OF Jupiter, torn into fury
by the hurricanes. would pay 10 atten-
tion 10 one moon such as moves the
tides on oar earth, and it takes no
fewer than five OF these satellites to
perform this work for Jupiter. They
travel ut various rates of speed, some
Dying very close 10 Jup;ters surface
and others far off. They have ;tmcs-
lilieics somewhat like ours on earth,
and Il moonlight on Jupiter is indeed a
glorious sight, for these moons have a
variety OF coiors. Two are blue one
is yellow ana one red.
Jupiter needs all it's moons ut night
fer Illumination. for without them its
five hours of darkness would be black
broad daylight is hardly brighter than
twilight on earth. and one lone neon
would not reflect enough of the SUNS
rays tn guide the ,Ioyian footsteps.
LII the polar and semi;,olar areas The
900 mile an hour tornado OF the cq,ia-
tor is not present. Doubtless there are
edd;nS and occasional WinuStorinS such
as there are on earth. And in these
localities it is possible for slna!lcr
creatures 10 exist. and here. too. ve.e-
ta!ion would flourish The food sup.
ply II Jupiter must come from these
ureas, where il is cultivated and ship.
ped to the equatorial regions by the
are not frozen because of the great
internal hea, Of Jupiter. And on these
still oceans probably ships not greatly
different from ours ply. but about the
equator the unerding STERN would
make surface sailing impossible.
II there are ships at all at the eGua-
tor they are submarines, which dive
int6 the calm depths beneath the sur.
face l.ocoinotion by flying machines
is extremely easy on the equator be.
cause. by taking advantage Of the
wind, the Jovians can navigate their
planet at tremendous speed.
II is possible that because of the
noise in the wind swept equator tss
Jovian is deaf
| Quite likely. on the other hand. lie
has coed ears. but with Il device, either
artificial or contributed by nature, for
stopping his ears. except when he
wishes to listen.
This tremendous, good naturei Jo-