The Cairo bulletin., 1911-06-16
THIEF Of THE SKY.
is SCIENTIFIC TERM FOR GREAT
JUs-ITER LARGEST OF
PLANETS.
Tremendous Power Attracts Smaller
Bodies Which Are Absorbed
Scores Of Sky Wand
erers Picked Up.

piter is the guilty member of this
solar system. He has been stealing
4 comets for some millions OF years
anil he has at last gathered about
him tremendous number of these
weary wanderers of space. says the
st. Louis Republic.
He is careless OF whose property
these comets may be. Sirius, Arc.
iurus and others of the big suns that
| blaze far out in space have been de-
spoiled by him of their wandering
members. He has long been sus-
pected of these thefts and robberies,
but recent Investigations have made
| plain his guilt Careful study mas at
lasi convinced the astronomers of
the fact that Jupiter is the attacker
and des1oiler of the weird wander.
ers.
From time 10 time a great "hairy
star sweeps into view in the heavens
II blazes in unearthly grandeur for
weeks and months. Scientists study
its structure with the far-reaching,
nany-prisned spectroscope. Big
telescopes are trained upon it during
every night Of its visit. In time ii
fades into space and liz lost even to
the most powerful glasses Even the
sensitive spectroscope can pick up
no ray Of its ghostly light.
Jupiter Largest Planet t
Jupiter is by far the largest OF the
planets that compose The solar sys-
tenn His diameter is $1,000 miles,
while that of the earth is but 1880.
forces of the solar system His pull
He is one of the powerful attracting
is much greater than that OF any of
the spheres that swing around the
sun. This tremendous attracting pow
er OF the planet with the banded disk
has made it impossible for him to
gather around him a family of comets
that are looked upon by scientists
as being his spoil for The last score
of ages. When once a flying, phos-
phorescent visitor enters the zones oi
his gravitational influence it is look
ed upon as lost
Jupiter as a god was less the thief
than some of his NEUROLOGICAL breth
ren. The planet, however. seems to
reach out with invisible fingers and
tug and pull at the comets that pass
within his reach. Many of hem sur
render to the enormous influence OF
this power that reaches across the
millions Of miles OF space, and their
orbits are modified. As rule, they
are made shorter, although there are
times that his strength seems to send
them off at a wide tangent, when
they are finally released from this
pulling influence.
Ct
dering through he zone of his tug.
ging influence it matters but little
whether ii comes from the stars that
blaze in Taurus or some OF the sun
bright points Of light that grace
Orion. Jupiter straightway whisks
it into his family, II is the haven of
the lost" harry stars, the port of
missing comets, this wide orbit OF
Jupiter shat Is crossed, crisscrossed
and recrossed again and again by the
wide and sweeping paths of the sky
monsters that he has tanned. He has
brought them down from the para.
boic or hyperbolic paths that were
once theirs in space and has forced
them to travel in measured ellipse
that may be shortened or made
logger by his pulls and repulsions
There is no harm in Jupiters theft
Of the numerous comets that are now
part of his weird family Some as
tronomers have had hardihood
enough to claim that the blazing er.
ratio wanderers contain the germs OF
life, all ready to burst into being
when the Sime OF the wanderings
shall be accomplished. What harm,
then, of the tremendous pull of this
| hievng planet. this hold-up of the
| sky drags these celestial tramps in
so they may warm themselves in the
rays of the sun. Why should they
not spread their immense tails in the
| blaze of light that the sun gives off
to the planets and comets allke[
The showers OF metcfttes that fol.
low in the wake Of these hobos of
the heavens vii 10 no damage H..
an planet save jupiter, and in ths
eai he will proNaDiy drag the comets
| themselves into his actual embraces
aud they may become a part of his
vast bulk 80 oae would begrudge
His Tremendous Power.
| In case the planet happens to be
near at the time Of this crossing.
many things may happen. In fact,
mcst of them have happened at DIFF