The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-12-01

F"iI m.sN>. 80
New M. 24n.
Ter ar. 81 ~.
The cold, clear December evenings
find three great luminaries contending
" the premier position-the two great
planets Saturn and Jupiter and the
star Sirius, which is just projecting
it's rays over the horizon at the time
of our map. Procyon, another first
magnitude star, has already climbed
clear of the horizon, preceding the
Greater Dog. Still further up in the
heavens is the ringed Saturn, while
almost on the meridian itself we see
the great giant Of the entire solar sys-
tenn, Jupiter. Between the latter and
the eastern horizon we behold the
Pleiades, Aldebaran, Capella in Auri-
ga, the group of Orion, with its bright
stars Rigel and Betalgeux, and the
three stars in a perfect straight line
which form the Hunters Belt. To
the westward is the Great Square of
Pegasus, and low down on the hori-
ION in the northwest is Vaga prepar-
ing to say farewell to our map for
SSNSIol 1uOltIS, " Cll0 SCuI11 VI NdSd
is Affair and far in the southwest is
the great Fomalhaut of the constella-
ton of the Southern Fish. Add to
this list the groups Of the Great Bear,
with it's Dipper; Cassiopeia, Cygnus,
with Deneb; and the Twins, Castor
and Pollux, and you have indeed pre-
scented to your wondering gaze a sight
that is at once a delight to the eye
-
Election.
Jupiter and Saturn.
These two differ from all the 9TH
ers In the above list, in that they are
not stars, in the strict scientific use
Of the word, but planets, for they, just
like the earth, belong to the Suns
family and rotate in a regular clip
tic orbit about the Sun. To the ma
ked eye the difference between them
and the stars may not be apparent at
first, and it is true that they differ
practically not at all in appearance
from the stars Of great brightness, but
a little closer observation brings out,
perhaps, that they twinkle very little
or not at all, while the stars proper
twinkle theoretically. Continuous OBJ
servations covering a shorter or longer
period of time, as may be necessary,
will bring out the fact that they seem
to be in motion as regards their rela-
tive positions to the other stars. The
fixed stars change their positions in the
heavens in rising and setting but their
relative positions are practically in
variable. They are not absolutely in
variable; the most refined instruments
and methods of research give unnis-
taxable evidence of the individual mo-
tons of these so-cal1ed fixed stars
themselves. For our purposes here,
however, we may look upon them as
really fixed. Not so with the plan
cts for even in six months time, Ju-
piter and Saturn will show a marked
change in position, while the planets
still nearer to the Sun than they, show
it in. much shorter time.
Jupiter is the largest planet of our
system; its diameter is more than elev-
en- times that of the Earth and it's sur
face area 1872 times as great Its &C
tual mass is only 81 times as great
in spite of the fact that the space it
covers is 1856 times larger than the
EartIl's bulk. This must show that
this planet has not yet reached the
state Of qualification and cooling in
which we find the Earth and surely
precludes the possibility Of anything
like human life existing on the planet.
A similar state Of affairs exists on Sat-
urn, the next largest planet. The
diameter is nine times as great as the
| Earth's and the actual weight is 100
times as great, while the density again
| is much less-only an eighth. AS far
as surface conditions go the difference
between Jupiter and Saturn is not
very great. The average distance
from the Earth of the former is about
45O,OOO,OO0 miles, that Of the latter
sS6,O00,0O0 miles.
In the matter of moons both these
planets have great advantage over
us. for the planet Saturn has no less
than nine of commendable size re-,
yolving about him in addition to the
brilliant rings which form his most
interesting and prominent characters
tics. Jupiter also has nine small sat-
elites revolving about him, four of
which are easily visible in a small
telescope and indeed under fair con-
ditions in an ordinary opera or field
glass.
Saturn's Rings.
The view Of Saturn and his rings
through a. small telescope is unsur-
passable. You see great, cleaning
round ball. surrounded by a bright
ring of elliptic shape. It is really
circular, or very nearly SO, but you are
| looking at it edgewise. On a good
| night you will make out a dark space
| between the ring and Saturn itself,
| which is the black background Of the
heavens themselves, where you are
ooking between the planet and it's
ing. You may also see black line
If the ring itself, for what at first
eemed like one ring is in truth three,
only two visible in a low power tele-
scope and the third not visible because