Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-12
AND VENUS IN LINE
Strange Coincidence Revealed When
Sun, Earth, Venus and Jupiter Mix.
PHENOMENON SEEN IN OMAHA
Father RieEe Invites the 10
Look ut the strange sight
Through Creighton UnIvers-
tty Telescope.

Jupiter and Venus co-operated last night
to present q spectacle that might occur any
time, but which is seldom seen In the
heavens by the Inhabitants Of the earth.
The people on Mars, II there are any, and
they are not too busy digging annals or
building airships,, also might observe a
similar occurrence II two planets happened
to get places In their orbits that would
throw them on a line or in conjunction
as was the case with one outer and one
inner planet last evening, when Jupiter and
Venus attracted the attention Of the world
for a few minutes.
Now, the event that occurred last night
and the reasons for it were these: Jupiter,
an outer planet, and Venus, an inner planet
both turning in their respective orbits
around the sun-one In q smaller orbit
than the earth's and the other in a larger
orbit-came around on the same side of the
earth, and owing to a certain inclination
Of their planes, they were observed from
this planet as being close together, They
really were not very near each other nor
the earth, but they were seen at the same
time In the range OF a telescope, and that
is all the significance there was to their
spectacle.
1t 1t not always that two planets can be
observed at the same time by gazing
through a telescope. Last night, however,
was one OF those rare occasions. The two
satellites OF the sun did not get into a
direct line. as the unastromical thought.
They simply came to points in their two
orbits, where, although they were several
million miles apart, they were yet 80 close
together that they both fell within tbs
view Of a telescope.
To fully understand the conditions that
brought about this extraordinary happening
1t Is necessary to have a clear conception
Of the true relation Of the planets in the
celestial world. When the planets were
made, by the nebular hypothesis, the ring
theory, or any other theory that has been
advanced for their origination, they were
thrown into space with a certain initial We
locity. Some went sailing out many mil
lions of miles from their place of origin;
others did not go so far, and still others
fell closer to the mother body.
All Go Around the sun.
Well, one OF these planets, Venus, took
an orbit only something over a hundred
million miles from the sun. Then a few
millions beyond Venus the earth took up its
course, and several million miles beyond
the earth Jupiter got in with a big orbit.
So that placed the planets with which
astronomers were concerned last night in
the following order: sun, Venus, earth and
Jupiter.
1t is easy, so astronomers say, for the
laymen to see how Jupiter and Venus
might never come close enough together
to be seen in the same plane of a telescope.
The two planets could easily be seen on
the same side of the earth, but wide apart,
and this would not permit the desired
sight.
But last night It happened that both APP
peared on the same side Of the earth and
got rather m with each other. As
tronomers throughout the country took
advantage of the occasion to show the
! sight to many people - no had never before
observed such a spectacle.
Prof. William ]. Rigge, Of Creighton uni.
versity, had his observatory open for the
public and, beginning about 1880 in tho
evening, he showed the planets to several
of the curious. They were plainly distin-
guished shortly after the sun set. They
were in the west, and Venus, In the teles-
COPE appeared on the left. 1t was far
brighter than the outer planet. Shortly
before 1 o'clock this morning they were
nearer together than at any other time
during the night.
While the two planets were going
through this unusual occurrence they
were not close enough to the earth to
cause a preceptible displacement Of this
planet in its orbit Venus was $50, 000,-
900 miles away, and Jupiter was distant
600. 900, 900 miles.