The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-06
he Heavens in March

but others are still skepticsl. II
they are right, Mercury at once be-
comes, according to human standards,
an uninhabitable planet
For the succession OF day and night
upon a planet results from its indie
pendent axial rotation and. under the
conditions described by Schiaparelli.
Mercury would have no days, only
years. And, so long as these years
continue. one side of the planet must
be exposed continuously to the scorch-
ing sun, while the other must be-
plunged into an endless night, with
Venus and the earth as its brightest
summarizes 1t Is true that, owing to
| the great eccentricity OF Mercury's
orbit and the resulting libration of
| the planet, there would be two zones,
stretching from pole to pole between
the regions of perpetual day and
hight, where the sun would rise and
set once in each Mercurial year. Each
! of these zones would be about I,200
miles broad at the equator and would
follow the lines OF longitude to their
conyergence at the pole, and each
would include about one-eighth OF the
planets surface. But for three-eighths
/ the night would never pass and, on
the remaining three-eighths, the sun
would never set, only oscillate east
and west Of the zenith through an arc
4 az forty-seyen degrees once In every
1Ss days.
i Oceans Boiled, Then Frozen.
4 1t would be hard to trace the cli-
matte effect of such an arrangement.
lit is conceivable that water might
exist in its liquid state in the zones OF
filtration, but only for short time az
any one point and that only at sun
, rise and sunset. If oceans ever exist
ed on Mercury they must long ago
have been boiled away and now exist
as sea of ice covering the dark side
of the planet from pole to pole
4 Mercury has a diameter of about 3,
} loco miles. It's surface is about one
seventh that of the earth and Its vol
: ume one-eigh.eenth. It's mass ane
gravity are uncertain. Probably
I 2oO-pound man transported to Mer
curry would weigh not more than 81
pounds.
Because of its nearness to the SUI
Mercury, seen through a telescope
presents the appearance OF littl'
I moon, running through all the phase
\ from full to new and back again. Thu
I possessor Of three-inch telescop'
/ should be able to see it as crescen
on the evenings of the 10th and 1lth
8 Theoretically 1t should present a hall
i disc at its greatest elongation, bu
y for some reason, probably weak tilt
u minuation along the terminator, it al
n sumes the crescent form.
n New Stars In the East.
81 BODIES (The Huntsman) and vire
(The Virgin are chief among tn
NEW consultations in the eastern fiel
5 this month. Spica, the principal sta
- in Virgo. rises little to the south
. the east point. 1t makes its appea
e ance at about nine o'clock at the b
5 ginning of March and, by the end
" the month, is well above the horizo
'e 1t is. "a pure white star of rather lie:
Is than the first magnitude and is a I
ea yorite with mariners for determinir
longitude.
~. Arcturus, principal star in Boote
affords a fine color contrast Wi
:. Spica. 1t has pronounced ruddy hu
!, yellow with a tinge Of red. Amor
:. stars visible in these latitudes Siril
:. alone surely surpasses it in brigf
- ness Capella, in Auriga, and Vega.
- the Lyre (now below the horizon
. are its only rivals north of the cele
- tial equator But Arcturus is I
:. mightier sun than either OF the Other
- one of the greatest in the univers
-, Moreover, it is one OF the swifte
- moving of the fixed stars, so-calle
It's speed is between 200 and 800 mil
- second. Yet 1t will require 10
-. years to change its position in t
- heavens by single moon.breadth,
va far does 1t lie In the depths of spa,
Arcturus Is readily found by I
lowing out the curve OF the handle
lar the Big Dipper for 25 or 80 degre
led
al -