The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-06-16

~ NE Of the most interesting recent dis
coveries Of modern astronomy is
that of the existence Of huge invfs
ible companions to many stars. and still moro
interesting Is the conclusion that these ex-
lraorLinary bodies may be gigantic planets
revolving in the light of the stars with which
they are connected II they are planets they
SO enormously exceed those that -evolve
around our sun, IN magnitude, that they must
be regarded as an entirely different species
Of worlds than ours, The earth placed be-
side one of them would be like mouse be-
side an elephant. or trout beside whale.
Even the great planet Jupiter. which is
1900 times as large as the whole earth. would
be utterly Insignificant in comparison with
one Of these mysterious bodies which has
been found revolving around the star Algol
In the northern sky. That body Is more than
a million times as large as the earth. In
fact, It is almost as large as the star around
which II .evoIves-although that star is
larger than our sun-and yet 1t Is utterly In
visible except at certain periods when It
passes between and Algol and thus causes
a partial eclipse Of its bright companion.
Even then II cannot be seen directly and Its
form and dimensions are estimated from the
amount Of observation that IL causes. It's
diameter Is calculated at about $4,000 miles.
We can get realizing sense Of what this
means Y we imagine that tremendous world
10 be hollow sphere. with the earth placed
at Its center. Then there would not only be
pleuLy OF room lot Cne moon TO continue 10
revolve round the earth. as It now does at a
distance OF 100000 miles. but there would be
q clear space Of 100000 miles, on all sides,
between the orbit OF the moon and the inside
Of the shell of the Brodignagian planetl
The surface of such a planet exceeds that
Of the earth ten thousand times. The At
Ianttc ocean stretched out upon II, to the
same relative size that II Is on the earth,
would be more than 100000 miles broad II
II had surface features exactly proportioned
fp ~ "a I'm loft fnuf ole
would be from 400 to 800 miles high and ito
oceans from 200 to 900 miles deepi dis
tance corresponding TO that between New
York and Chicago would be ninety thousand
structed on the same ecale. men would be
500 feet tall. and the giant redwoods of Cali
fornia eight or nine miles hight
or course. the force of gravity, or the
weight OF bodies. must also be enormously
Increased. II We suppose the mean density
Of the giant planet to be the same as that OF
che earth, body that weighs one pound here
weighs about a hundred pounds there. and
an average man. having the same size that
he has on the earth. would there weigh seven
and half tons But II he we're 500 feet tall
that Is TO say, proportioned to the size of
the planet-he would weigh seven and a half
million tons
But there are many other Interesting caicu-
Iations, all based upon perfectly we'll known
principles that can be made about the condl-
ton Of things on void 30 gigantic as that
which accompanies Algol. We may. for In
stance. inquire about the state OF its atmos-
phere. The density and nature of the air
surrounding any planet depend upon the force
Of gravity OF that planet II the planet Is
very small, the force with which 1t holds
bodies, or gases. upon Its surface Is proper
tionately small Thus we know that little
world, like the moon, on which the weight
of bodies ts only about onesixth as great aa
on the earth, is unable TO hold permanently
under its control any of the light gases which
constitute the air that we breathe The
lighter a gas the quicker 1t escapes. because
its molecules are IN more rapid vibration
than those Of heavier gases gas Is a sub
stance In which the molecules are continually
Aying about in every direction. with a speed