, 1935-07-24
LOUTHAN TELLS.
MOONS HISTORY.
San Benito Attorney Is
Keenly Interested In
Astronomy
Especial 20 The Heraldl

Especial TO The Heraldl
SAN BENTTO, July 24.-One Of
the most interested groups watch
ing the recent eclipse Of the moon
was at the home Of James q.
LOuthan. attorney and astronomer
who invited his guests to watch the
phenomenon through his large
telescope.
The heavenly body we cali the
moon was once "a part OF the earth
and hurled from that part now the
Pacific Ocean" MI. Louthan told
hic guests. IL Is held in its course
around the earth and. with the
earth. around the sun by the
gravitational force OF the parent
body. 1t has lost TO the earth what
ever atmosphere it may have had.
because OF the greater gravity OF the
latter. II is a dead thing. its in
terror probably rock greatly COM
pacted. its surface volcanic ash. 10
reflects only about seven per centum
Ct the light ii receives from the
sun, absorbs but little and stores up
none OF the heat. It Is 2l60 miles
IN diameter. its volume about l-64,
its mass about l2-lOOO. its density
about 6-10. its diameter about 81
100. its gravity about 1-6 Cat sur
face). that OF the earth. Its surface
temperature varies from frigidity
to about plus so deg. F. at its noon.
It, rotation on itself and its revolu-
ton around the earth r the same
in time-27 days. 7 hours. t3 min
utes and II seconds OF u time. IL
travels in its orbit at the rate Of "a
mile per second. At its greatest dis
tarce IL Is 252.972 miles from the
earth. at its shortest. 22i GA. The
distance varies because its orbit Is
an eIlipSe. Tonight 1t is about 226.-
O0c.
Neptune Is the only other planet
OF system having a single moon.
Mercury. Venus and (prObably)
Pluto have none. Mars has two.
Uranus 4 and Jupiter and Saturn
2 each. The two outer moons Of
Jupiter. the outer n OF Saturn and
the single one OF Neptune are
CAPTURED" bodies and revolve at
variance with the motions Of the
native" moons OF the planets. OF
the two moons Of Mars. the inner
Phobos. only $500 miles from the
center OF that planet. revolveS In
only 7 hours and 80 minutes. the
shortest Of any body in IA system
end the only one shorter than the
rotation time Of its primary. II
takes the outer moon. DeimOS. about
80 hours to revolve. These two
moons are too small for us to see
toright. but we shall see 4 of JupiterS
Their names. commencing with the
one nearest the primary, are 10
EUROPA. Ganymede and Callisto
Both Ganymede and CalliSto are
larger than Mercury and Mars and
about the size Of Venus.
an addition to its nine moons
Saturn has its brilliant ring which
makes that planet the most spec
tacular object in the heavens al
certain times. This ring is composed
or the millions OF fragments into
which the planets nearest moon
was shattered because IL came with
in the danger zone" Of its primary.
This danger zone surrounds all ro-
tating bodies, including the earth.
end in time our moon will approach
too near and suffer the same fate.
Then we shall have an all-night
light greater than that OF a full
moon, but we shall live in constant
danger OF being struck by the fall
OF these fragments.
Tonight four Of our sister planets
viii be visible. Venus, bright and in
the low west, Mars, red. smaller
and not so low in the west, Jupiter.