Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-08-23
THE PLANET JUPITER
IA Monster World, 1900 Times
! the Size of Ours.
iWHIRLS WITH AWFUL SPEED.

lt Spins Around at Such a Fearful
Gait That a Furious Gale Perpetual
ly Encireles Its Equator-Its Posi-
BILE Inhabitants and Its 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-
terry.
In the first place, Jupiter, according
to some astronomers, is inhabited.
$50 are some of its moons, in the
midst of which the great planet spins
speed that it causes around the equator
furious wind that blows .perpetually
at 3 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 cat could stand on
this vast world. ,~..< .,.....
But this is no doubt 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 its surface But
as a fact the tremendous rate Of revo-
luton is SO much faster than the
earth's that in spite Of its monstrous
size it turns about In less than ten
hours as against our twenty-four
hours. IL
| As it Is, man Of normal earthly
size, If transported to the equator Of
Jupiter, would actually feel much
Tighter 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
ian hour tornado that blows incessant-
nv would pick him up and carry him
around and around the planet like
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-fiye feet. Like all big bodies, the
Iovian would have q 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
10y the hurricanes, would pay no atten-
ton to one moon such as moves the
tides on our earth, and it takes no
fewer than Ave 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 moonlight on Jupiter is indeed
glorious sight, for these moons have q
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 Joyian footsteps.
In the polar and semipolar areas the
$50 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 1t 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
diminutiye races. The polar oceans
are not frozen because of the great
internal heat Of Jupiter And on these
y still oceans probably ships not greatly
different from ours ply, but about the
equator the unending storm would
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. Loconotion by flying machines
is extremely easy on the equator be
cause, by taking advantage of tht
wind, the Jovians can navigate thei
planet at tremendous speed
1t is possible that because of thu
noise in the wind swept equator tbt
JoYian is deaf
Quite likely, on the other hand, b,
has good ears. but with device, eithe
artificial or contributed by nature. TO
stopping his ears. except when b
wishes to listen.
This tremendous, good natured 10
Wan has a leatherlike skin to protec
himself from the scratches of fyin;
things and a device for sitting the al
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