Evening star., 1954-04-01
Moy Wear
Belt Of Volcanoes
Could Be ExpIonotion
Of Shifting Block Spots
By Thomos R. Henrv

Ten-mooned Jupiter, largest Of tha
suns planets and supposedly a COM
pletely dead world, may be belted with
active volcanoes intermittently shoot
. ing great clouds Of black, hot ashes
thousands Of miles into It's atmosphere.
This thesis has been presented before
astronomers hefe by DR.. James c. Bart
lett. IT.. OF the American International
Academy OF Baltimore. as one explana-
ton of the shifting belts Of black spots
which appear on the visible surface
about 400 million miles distant In space.
These black spots have puzzled plan
etary astronomers since they first were
observed about century ago. They
snow some curious reSemblances to
sunspotS. the black spots which appear
IN cycles on the face Of the sun-but
there also are some striking differences
and the two cannot possibly represent
the same kind Of phenomena.
Only Atmosphere Seen.
The observer can see only the top of
Jupiter's atmosphere. This is a very
thick atmosphere. thousands of miles
deep, composed chiefly of extremely
cold heavy gas which is some combi-
nation OF hydrogen. Inside this at
mosphere the solid core Of the planet
rotateS at speed Of about 25, 900 miles
an hour. This speed gives Jupiter a
lO-hour day. The measurable tempera-
ture OF Jupiter is about -216 F. This is
Inc temperature at the top of it's thick
hydrogen clouds. These receive less
than thirtieth of the heat and light
from the sun received by the earth.
such a vast body as Jupiter must ra.
dlate some heat of it's own, as do all
the planets and even the moon, but
this evidently is so small that 1t can
not affect materially the temperature
of the surface clouds.
There is no way of observing the
landscape of Jupiter under the heavy
atmosphere but it probably would be
a place of titanic mountain ranges. It
always mas been assumed to be COM
pletely dead world, and this is UNI
doubtedly true so far as any plant or
animal life is concerned. But it does
not preclude the possibility. DR.. Bart
lett told the National Capital astrono-
mers, that there may be on the surface
many live mountains belching ashes
from great depths under the surface.
In these depths. it is quite likely. con-
siderable heat is generated both by
gravitational force and by radioactive
elements. This heat hardly could be
sufncient. however. to permit organic
LIE on the planets surface.
Cloudlike Eruptions.
The black spots-circular dots which
sometimes are coal black and some
times shades of dark gray-might be
explained by erupting volcanoes, said
DR.. Bartlett. who has devoted several
years to their study. They easily could
be great clouds from eruptions. AL
though they appear most frequently
around the equatorial zones of the
planet, they cannot be predicted and
may show up anywhere on the surface.
They do not seem to follow any regular
progression and have a life expectancy
of from 10 to Is days, about the time
to be expected before volcanic cloud
would diSintegrate in the heavy atmos-
phere.
At times they have slightly reddish
tinge. as If they were flaming. This
hypothesis is possible. On the other
hand. DR.. Bartlett stressed, they ep-
pear to have no relation at all to the
mysterious great spot often observed on
the surface Of Jupiter and which floats
about from place to place. The nature
Of this never has been satisfactorily
explained. There can be little doubt,
DR.. Bartlett said, that 1t consists Of
solid material Of some kind. If it were
cloud Of gas 1t would not remain
cohesive for such long periods.