The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1912-06-04
A JOURNEY IN OTHER WORLDS
By Col. John Jacob Aston
This Is the Only Book Col. Astor Wrote. Is Pub
lished Serially in The Evening World by Authority
Of the Trustees of the Astor Estate-"A journey in
Other Worlds" Is a Fantastic, Semi-Scient Tale
OF + our Explorers startling Adventures Among
the Planets


would come together ike q planet into
one solid masS. Perhaps some similar
force maintains gases in the distended
tall. though l know of no such. or even
any analogous manifestation on earth.
II the law on which we have been
brought up, that every atom In the uni
verse attracts every other atom were
without exceptions or notifications, that
comet could not continue to exist in its
present form. Until We get some addi-
tional Illustration. however. We shall be
short OF data with which to formulate
any iconoclastic hypothesis The source
OF the light. I must admit. also puzzles
me greatly. There Is certainly no heat
to which we can attribute It,"
Having gone beyond the fragments.
they applied a strong repulsion charge
to the comet. creating thereby a perfect
whirlpool among Its particles. and quick
ly left It. Half an hour later they again
shut of the current. as the Callisto's
speed was SUFFICIENT
= For some time they had been in che
belt Of asteroids. but as yet they had
seen none near. The morning following
their experience with the comet. how
ever. they went to their observatory
after breakfast as usual. and. on point
ing their glasses forward. espied a CONF
paratively large body before them. .
little to their right.
THAT must be Pallas." said Cortlandt.
scrutinizing II closely. TT was dlscov-
cred by Oilers in 1900, and was the Sec
ond asteroid found. Ceres having been
the first. in 1901. II has . diameter Of
about three hundred miles. being one
OF the largest OF these small planets.
The most wonderful thing about II Is .he
inclination OF It's orbit-thirty-fve do
grees-to the plane OF the elliptic; which
means that at each revolution in Its
orbit II swings that much above and be-
low the imaginary plane cutting the sun
at Its equator. from which the earth and
other larger planets vary but little.
This no doubt Is due to the near APP
proach and disturbing attraction Of some
large comet, or else II was flung above
or below the ordinary plane IN .he
catastrophe that we think befell the
large planet that doubtless formerly ex-
listed where we now find this swarm.
You can see that Its path makes con-
siderable angle to the plane OF the clip
tic. and that It Is now about crossing
the line"
It soon presented the phase Of half
moon, but the waviness OF the straight
line. as in the case OF Venus and Nor
curry. showed that the size OF the noun
tains must be tremendous compared
with the mass OF the body. some OF them
being obviously fifteen miles high. The
intense blackness OF the shadows, as on
the moon. convinced them there was no
trace of atmosphere.
There being no air." said Cortland..
at II safe to assume there Is no water.
which helps to account for the great IT.
regularities on the body's surface, since
the mountains will seem higher when
surrounded by dry ocean bottom than
they would II water came half way mp
their sides. Undoubtedly. however, the
main cause OF their height Is the slight
effect Of gravitation on an asteroid. and
the fact that the shrinking Of the In
terior and consequent folding OF the
crust In ridges may have continued for
q time after there was no longer water
on the surface to cut them down. They
had one genesis. and werc part OF the
same nebulous mass. But this does MOI
include the other systems and nebulae;
for, compared with them. our sun. as we
have seen, Is itself advanced and small
beside such stars as Sirius having diam
eters OF twelve million miles"
As they left Pallas between themselves
and the sun II became a crescent and
finally disappeared.
Two days later they sighted another
asteroid exactly ahead. They examined
II closely. and concluded II must be
Hilda. put down In the ASTRONOMERS as
No. 1853 and having almost tho greatest
mean distance OF any Of these small
bodies from the sun.
When they were so near that the Disk
was plainly visible to the naked eve
Hilda passed between them and Jupiter
eclipsing It. To their surprise, the light
was not instantly shut Off. as when the
moon occults star but there was evil
dent refraction.
by GEORGE" said Bearwarden. "here
Is an asteroid that has an atmosphere
There was no mistaking II. They soon
discovered a small ice-cap at ono pole
and then made out oceans and CONT.
nents. with mountains, forests. river,
and green fields. The sight lasted but q
few moments before they swept by. but
they secured several photographs and
carried a vivid impression In their minds