THE PLANETS
133. PLANETS.--Circling about the sun, under the influence of his
attraction, is a family of planets each member of which is, like the
moon, a dark body shining by reflected sunlight, and therefore
presenting phases; although only two of them, Mercury and Venus, run
through the complete series--new, first quarter, full, last
quarter--which the moon presents. The way in which their orbits are
grouped about the sun has been considered in Chapter III, and Figs. 16
and 17 of that chapter may be completed so as to represent all of the
planets by drawing in Fig. 16 two circles with radii of 7.9 and 12.4
centimeters respectively, to represent the orbits of the planets Uranus
and Neptune, which are more remote from the sun than Saturn, and by
introducing a little inside the orbit of Jupiter about 500 ellipses of
different sizes, shapes, and positions to represent a group of minor
planets or asteroids as they are often called. It is convenient to
regard these asteroids as composing by themselves a class of very small
planets, while the remaining 8 larger planets fall naturally into two
other classes, a group of medium-sized ones--Mercury, Venus, Earth, and
Mars--called inner planets by reason of their nearness to the sun; and
the outer planets--Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune--each of which is
much larger and more massive than any planet of the inner group. Compare
in Figs. 84 and 85 their relative sizes. The earth, _E_, is introduced
into Fig. 85 as a connecting link between the two figures.
Some of these planets, like the earth, are attended by one or more
moons, technically called satellites, which also shine by reflected
sunlight and which move about their respective planets in accordance
with the law of gravitation, much as the moon moves around the earth.
[Illustration: FIG. 84.--The inner planets and the moon.]
[Illustration: FIG. 85.--The outer planets.]
134. DISTANCES OF THE PLANETS FROM THE SUN.--It is a comparatively
simple matter to observe these planets year after year as they move
among the stars, and to find from these observations how long each one
of them requires to make its circuit around the sun--that is, its
periodic time, _T_, which figures in Kepler's Third Law, and when these
periodic times have been ascertained, to use them in connection with
that law to determine the mean distance of each planet from the sun.
Thus, Jupiter requires 4,333 days to move completely around its orbit;
and comparing this with the periodic time and mean distance of the earth
we find--
a^{3} / (4333^{2}) = (93,000,000^{3}) / (365.25^{2}),
which when solved gives as the mean distance of Jupiter from the sun,
483,730,000 miles, or 5.20 times as distant as the earth. If we make a
similar computation for each planet, we shall find that their distances
from the sun show a remarkable agreement with an artificial series of
numbers called Bode's law. We write down the numbers contained in the
first line of figures below, each of which, after the second, is
obtained by doubling the preceding one, add 4 to each number and point
off one place of decimals; the resulting number is (approximately) the
distance of the corresponding planet from the sun.
Mercury. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. Neptune.
0 3 6 12 24 48 96 192 384
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
0.4 0.7 1.0 1.6 2.8 5.2 10.0 19.6 38.8
0.4 0.7 1.0 1.5 2.8 5.2 9.5 19.2 30.1
The last line of figures shows the real distance of the planet as
determined from Kepler's law, the earth's mean distance from the sun
being taken as the unit for this purpose. With exception of Neptune, the
agreement between Bode's law and the true distances is very striking,
but most remarkable is the presence in the series of a number, 2.8, with
no planet corresponding to it. This led astronomers at the time Bode
published the law, something more than a century ago, to give new heed
to a suggestion made long before by Kepler, that there might be an
unknown planet moving between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and a
number of them agreed to search for such a planet, each in a part of the
sky assigned him for that purpose. But they were anticipated by Piazzi,
an Italian, who found the new planet, by accident, on the first day of
the nineteenth century, moving at a distance from the sun represented by
the number 2.77.
This planet was the first of the asteroids, and in the century that has
elapsed hundreds of them have been discovered, while at the present time
no year passes by without several more being added to the number. While
some of these are nearer to the sun than is the first one discovered,
and others are farther from it, their average distance is fairly
represented by the number 2.8.
Why Bode's law should hold true, or even so nearly true as it does, is
an unexplained riddle, and many astronomers are inclined to call it no
law at all, but only a chance coincidence--an illustration of the
"inherent capacity of figures to be juggled with"; but if so, it is
passing strange that it should represent the distance of the asteroids
and of Uranus, which was also an undiscovered planet at the time the law
was published.
135. THE PLANETS COMPARED WITH EACH OTHER.--When we pass from general
considerations to a study of the individual peculiarities of the
planets, we find great differences in the extent of knowledge concerning
them, and the reason for this is not far to seek. Neptune and Uranus, at
the outskirts of the solar system, are so remote from us and so feebly
illumined by the sun that any detailed study of them can go but little
beyond determining the numbers which represent their size, mass,
density, the character of their orbits, etc. The asteroids are so small
that in the telescope they look like mere points of light, absolutely
indistinguishable in appearance from the fainter stars. Mercury,
although closer at hand and presenting a disk of considerable size,
always stands so near the sun that its observation is difficult on this
account. Something of the same kind is true for Venus, although in much
less degree; while Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are comparatively easy
objects for telescopic study, and our knowledge of them, while far from
complete, is considerably greater than for the other planets.
Figs. 84 and 85 show the relative sizes of the planets composing the
inner and outer groups respectively, and furnish the numerical data
concerning their diameters, masses, densities, etc., which are of most
importance in judging of their physical condition. Each planet, save
Saturn, is represented by two circles, of which the outer is drawn
proportional to the size of the planet, and the inner shows the amount
of material that must be subtracted from the interior in order that the
remaining shell shall just float in water. Note the great difference in
thickness of shell between the two groups. Saturn, having a mean density
less than that of water, must have something loaded upon it, instead of
removed, in order that it should float just submerged.
JUPITER
136. APPEARANCE.--Commencing our consideration of the individual planets
with Jupiter, which is by far the largest of them, exceeding both in
bulk and mass all the others combined, we have in Fig. 86 four
representations of Jupiter and his family of satellites as they may be
seen in a very small telescope--e. g., an opera glass--save that the
little dots which here represent the satellites are numbered _1_, _2_,
_3_, _4_, in order to preserve their identity in the successive
pictures.
The chief interest of these pictures lies in the satellites, but,
reserving them for future consideration, we note that the planet itself
resembles in shape the full moon, although in respect of brightness it
sends to us less than 1/6000 part as much light as the moon. From a
consideration of the motion of Jupiter and the earth in Fig. 16, show
that Jupiter can not present any such phases as does the moon, but that
its disk must be at all times nearly full. As seen from Saturn, what
kind of phases would Jupiter present?
137. THE BELTS.--Even upon the small scale of Fig. 86 we detect the most
characteristic feature of Jupiter's appearance in the telescope, the two
bands extending across his face parallel to the line of the satellites,
and in Fig. 87 these same dark bands may be recognized amid the
abundance of detail which is here brought out by a large telescope.
Photography does not succeed as a means of reproducing this detail, and
for it we have to rely upon the skill of the artist astronomer. The
lettering shows the Pacific Standard time at which the sketches were
made, and also the longitude of the meridian of Jupiter passing down the
center of the planet's disk.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.--Jupiter and his satellites.]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--Drawings of Jupiter made at the 36-inch
telescope of the Lick Observatory.--KEELER.]
The dark bands are called technically the belts of Jupiter; and a
comparison of these belts in the second and third pictures of the group,
in which nearly the same face of the planet is turned toward us, will
show that they are subject to considerable changes of form and position
even within the space of a few days. So, too, by a comparison of such
markings as the round white spots in the upper parts of the disks, and
the indentations in the edges of the belts, we may recognize that the
planet is in the act of turning round, and must therefore have an axis
about which it turns, and poles, an equator, etc. The belts are in fact
parallel to the planet's equator; and generalizing from what appears in
the pictures, we may say that there is always a strongly marked belt on
each side of the equator with a lighter colored streak between them,
and that farther from the equator are other belts variable in number,
less conspicuous, and less permanent than the two first seen. Compare
the position of the principal belts with the position of the zones of
sun-spot activity in the sun. A feature of the planet's surface, which
can not be here reproduced, is the rich color effect to be found upon
it. The principal belts are a brick-red or salmon color, the intervening
spaces in general white but richly mottled, and streaked with purples,
browns, and greens.
The drawings show the planet as it appeared in the telescope, inverted,
and they must be turned upside down if we wish the points of the compass
to appear as upon a terrestrial map. Bearing this in mind, note in the
last picture the great oval spot in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter.
This is a famous marking, known from its color as the _great red spot_,
which appeared first in 1878 and has persisted to the present day
(1900), sometimes the most conspicuous marking on the planet, at others
reduced to a mere ghost of itself, almost invisible save for the
indentation which it makes in the southern edge of the belt near it.
138. ROTATION AND FLATTENING AT THE POLES.--One further significant fact
with respect to Jupiter may be obtained from a careful measurement of
the drawings; the planet is flattened at the poles, so that its polar
diameter is about one sixteenth part shorter than the equatorial
diameter. The flattening of the earth amounts to only one
three-hundredth part, and the marked difference between these two
numbers finds its explanation in the greater swiftness of Jupiter's
rotation about its axis, since in both cases it is this rotation which
makes the flattening.
It is not easy to determine the precise dimensions of the planet, since
this involves a knowledge both of its distance from us and of the angle
subtended by its diameter, but the most recent determinations of this
kind assign as the equatorial diameter 90,200 miles, and for the polar
diameter 84,400 miles. Determine from either of these numbers the size
of the great red spot.
The earth turns on its axis once in 24 hours but no such definite time
can be assigned to Jupiter, which, like the sun, seems to have different
rotation periods in different latitudes--9h. 50m. in the equatorial belt
and 9h. 56m. in the dark belts and higher latitudes. There is some
indication that the larger part of the visible surface rotates in 9h.
55.6m., while a broad stream along the equator flows eastward some 270
miles per hour, and thus comes back to the center of the planet, as seen
from the earth, five or six minutes earlier than the parts which do not
share in this motion. Judged by terrestrial standards, 270 miles per
hour is a great velocity, but Jupiter is constructed on a colossal
scale, and, too, we have to compare this movement, not to a current
flowing in the ocean, but to a wind blowing in the upper regions of the
earth's atmosphere. The visible surface of Jupiter is only the top of a
cloud formation, and contains nothing solid or permanent, if indeed
there is anything solid even at the core of the planet. The great red
spot during the first dozen years of its existence, instead of remaining
fixed relative to the surrounding formations, drifted two thirds of the
way around the planet, and having come to a standstill about 1891, it is
now slowly retracing its path.
139. PHYSICAL CONDITION.--For a better understanding of the physical
condition of Jupiter, we have now to consider some independent lines of
evidence which agree in pointing to the conclusion that Jupiter,
although classed with the earth as a planet, is in its essential
character much more like the sun.
_Appearance._--The formations which we see in Fig. 87 look like clouds.
They gather and disappear, and the only element of permanence about them
is their tendency to group themselves along zones of latitude. If we
measure the light reflected from the planet we find that its albedo is
very high, like that of snow or our own cumulus clouds, and it is of
course greater from the light parts of the disk than from the darker
bands. The spectroscope shows that the sunlight reflected from these
darker belts is like that reflected from the lighter parts, save that a
larger portion of the blue and violet rays has been absorbed out of it,
thus producing the ruddy tint of the belts, as sunset colors are
produced on the earth, and showing that here the light has penetrated
farther into the planet's atmosphere before being thrown back by
reflection from lower-lying cloud surfaces. The dark bands are therefore
to be regarded as rifts in the clouds, reaching down to some
considerable distance and indicating an atmosphere of great depth. The
great red spot, 28,000 miles long, and obviously thrusting back the
white clouds on every side of it, year after year, can hardly be a mere
patch on the face of the planet, but indicates some considerable depth
of atmosphere.
_Density._--So, too, the small mean density of the planet, only 1.3
times that of water and actually less than the density of the sun,
suggests that the larger part of the planet's bulk may be made of gases
and clouds, with very little solid matter even at the center; but here
we get into a difficulty from which there seems but one escape. The
force of gravity at the visible surface of Jupiter may be found from its
mass and dimensions to be 2.6 times as great as at the surface of the
earth, and the pressure exerted upon its atmosphere by this force ought
to compress the lower strata into something more dense than we find in
the planet. Some idea of this compression may be obtained from Fig. 88,
where the line marked _E_ shows approximately how the density of the air
increases as we move from its upper strata down toward the surface of
the earth through a distance of 16 miles, the density at any level being
proportional to the distance of the curved line from the straight one
near it. The line marked _J_ in the same figure shows how the density
would increase if the force of gravity were as great here as it is in
Jupiter, and indicates a much greater rate of increase. Starting from
the upper surface of the cloud in Jupiter's atmosphere, if we descend,
not 16 miles, but 1,600 or 16,000, what must the density of the
atmosphere become and how is this to be reconciled with what we know to
be the very small mean density of the planet?
We are here in a dilemma between density on the one hand and the effects
of gravity on the other, and the only escape from it lies in the
assumption that the interior of Jupiter is tremendously hot, and that
this heat expands the substance of the planet in spite of the pressure
to which it is subject, making a large planet with a low density,
possibly gaseous at the very center, but in its outer part surrounded by
a shell of clouds condensed from the gases by radiating their heat into
the cold of outer space.
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--Increase of density in the atmospheres of
Jupiter and the earth.]
This is essentially the same physical condition that we found for the
sun, and we may add, as further points of resemblance between it and
Jupiter, that there seems to be a circulation of matter from the hot
interior of the planet to its cooler surface that is more pronounced in
the southern hemisphere than in the northern, and that has its periods
of maximum and minimum activity, which, curiously enough, seem to
coincide with periods of maximum and minimum sun-spot development. Of
this, however, we can not be entirely sure, since it is only in recent
years that it has been studied with sufficient care, and further
observations are required to show whether the agreement is something
more than an accidental and short-lived coincidence.
_Temperature._--The temperature of Jupiter must, of course, be much
lower than that of the sun, since the surface which we see is not
luminous like the sun's; but below the clouds it is not improbable that
Jupiter may be incandescent, white hot, and it is surmised with some
show of probability that a little of its light escapes through the
clouds from time to time, and helps to produce the striking brilliancy
with which this planet shines.
140. THE SATELLITES OF JUPITER.--The satellites bear much the same
relation to Jupiter that the moon bears to the earth, revolving about
the planet in accordance with the law of gravitation, and conforming to
Kepler's three laws, as do the planets in their courses about the sun.
Observe in Fig. 86 the position of satellite No. _1_ on the four dates,
and note how it oscillates back and forth from left to right of Jupiter,
apparently making a complete revolution in about two days, while No. _4_
moves steadily from left to right during the entire period, and has
evidently made only a fraction of a revolution in the time covered by
the pictures. This quicker motion, of course, means that No. _1_ is
nearer to Jupiter than No. _4_, and the numbers given to the satellites
show the order of their distances from the planet. The peculiar way in
which the satellites are grouped, always standing nearly in a straight
line, shows that their orbits must lie nearly in the same plane, and
that this plane, which is also the plane of the planets' equator, is
turned edgewise toward the earth.
These satellites enjoy the distinction of being the first objects ever
discovered with the telescope, having been found by Galileo almost
immediately after its invention, A. D. 1610. It is quite possible that
before this time they may have been seen with the naked eye, for in more
recent years reports are current that they have been seen under
favorable circumstances by sharp-eyed persons, and very little
telescopic aid is required to show them. Look for them with an opera or
field glass. They bear the names Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, which,
however, are rarely used, and, following the custom of astronomers, we
shall designate them by the Roman numerals I, II, III, IV.
[Illustration: FIG. 89.--Orbits of Jupiter's satellites.]
For nearly three centuries (1610 to 1892) astronomers spoke of the four
satellites of Jupiter; but in September, 1892, a fifth one was added to
the number by Professor Barnard, who, observing with the largest
telescope then extant, found very close to Jupiter a tiny object only
1/600 part as bright as the other satellites, but, like them, revolving
around Jupiter, a permanent member of his system. This is called the
fifth satellite, and Fig. 89 shows the orbits of these satellites around
Jupiter, which is here represented on the same scale as the orbits
themselves. The broken line just inside the orbit of I represents the
size of the moon's orbit. The cut shows also the periodic times of the
satellites expressed in days, and furnishes in this respect a striking
illustration of the great mass of Jupiter. Satellite I is a little
farther from Jupiter than is the moon from the earth, but under the
influence of a greater attraction it makes the circuit of its orbit in
1.77 days, instead of taking 29.53 days, as does the moon. Determine
from the figure by the method employed in § 111 how much more massive is
Jupiter than the earth.
Small as these satellites seem in Fig. 86, they are really bodies of
considerable size, as appears from Fig. 90, where their dimensions are
compared with those of the earth and moon, save that the fifth satellite
is not included. This one is so small as to escape all attempts at
measuring its diameter, but, judging from the amount of light it
reflects, the period printed with the legend of the figure represents a
gross exaggeration of this satellite's size.
[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Jupiter's satellites compared with the earth
and moon.]
Like the moon, each of these satellites may fairly be considered a world
in itself, and as such a fitting object of detailed study, but,
unfortunately, their great distance from us makes it impossible, even
with the most powerful telescope, to see more upon their surfaces than
occasional vague markings, which hardly suffice to show the rotations of
the satellites upon their axes.
One striking feature, however, comes out from a study of their influence
in disturbing each other's motion about Jupiter. Their masses and the
resulting densities of the satellites are smaller than we should have
expected to find, the density being less than that of the moon, and
averaging only a little greater than the density of Jupiter itself. At
the surface of the third satellite the force of gravity is but little
less than on the moon, although the moon's density is nearly twice as
great as that of III, and there can be no question here of accounting
for the low density through expansion by great heat, as in the case of
the sun and Jupiter. It has been surmised that these satellites are not
solid bodies, like the earth and moon, but only shoals of rock and
stone, loosely piled together and kept from packing into a solid mass by
the action of Jupiter in raising tides within them. But the explanation
can hardly be regarded as an accepted article of astronomical belief,
although it is supported by some observations which tend to show that
the apparent shapes of the satellites change under the influence of the
tidal forces impressed upon them.
141. ECLIPSES OF THE SATELLITES.--It may be seen from Fig. 89 that in
their motion around the planet Jupiter's satellites must from time to
time pass through his shadow and be eclipsed, and that the shadows of
the satellites will occasionally fall upon the planet, producing to an
observer upon Jupiter an eclipse of the sun, but to an observer on the
earth presenting only the appearance of a round black spot moving slowly
across the face of the planet. Occasionally also a satellite will pass
exactly between the earth and Jupiter, and may be seen projected against
the planet as a background. All of these phenomena are duly predicted
and observed by astronomers, but the eclipses are the only ones we need
consider here. The importance of these eclipses was early recognized,
and astronomers endeavored to construct a theory of their recurrence
which would permit accurate predictions of them to be made. But in this
they met with no great success, for while it was easy enough to foretell
on what night an eclipse of a given satellite would occur, and even to
assign the hour of the night, it was not possible to make the predicted
minute agree with the actual time of eclipse until after Roemer, a
Danish astronomer of the seventeenth century, found where lay the
trouble. His discovery was, that whenever the earth was on the side of
its orbit toward Jupiter the eclipses really occurred before the
predicted time, and when the earth was on the far side of its orbit they
came a few minutes later than the predicted time. He correctly inferred
that this was to be explained, not by any influence which the earth
exerted upon Jupiter and his satellites, but through the fact that the
light by which we see the satellite and its eclipse requires an
appreciable time to cross the intervening space, and a longer time when
the earth is far from Jupiter than when it is near.
For half a century Roemer's views found little credence, but we know now
that he was right, and that on the average the eclipses come 8m. 18s.
early when the earth is nearest to Jupiter, and 8m. 18s. late when it is
on the opposite side of its orbit. This is equivalent to saying that
light takes 8m. 18s. to cover the distance from the sun to the earth, so
that at any moment we see the sun not as it then is, but as it was 8
minutes earlier. It has been found possible in recent years to measure
by direct experiment the velocity with which light travels--186,337
miles per second--and multiplying this number by the 498s. (= 8m. 18s.)
we obtain a new determination of the sun's distance from the earth. The
product of the two numbers is 92,795,826, in very fair agreement with
the 93,000,000 miles found in Chapter X; but, as noted there, this
method, like every other, has its weak side, and the result may be a
good many thousands of miles in error.
It is worthy of note in this connection that both methods of obtaining
the sun's distance which were given in Chapter X involve Kepler's Third
Law, while the result obtained from Jupiter's satellites is entirely
independent of this law, and the agreement of the several results is
therefore good evidence both for the truth of Kepler's laws and for the
soundness of Roemer's explanation of the eclipses. This mode of proof,
by comparing the numerical results furnished by two or more different
principles, and showing that they agree or disagree, is of wide
application and great importance in physical science.
SATURN
142. THE RING OF SATURN.--In respect of size and mass Saturn stands next
to Jupiter, and although far inferior to him in these respects, it
contains more material than all the remaining planets combined. But the
unique feature of Saturn which distinguishes it from every other known
body in the heavens is its ring, which was long a puzzle to the
astronomers who first studied the planet with a telescope (one of them
called Saturn a planet with ears), but, was after nearly half a century
correctly understood and described by Huyghens, whose Latin text we
translate into--"It is surrounded by a ring, thin, flat, nowhere
touching it, and making quite an angle with the ecliptic."
[Illustration: FIG. 91.--Aspects of Saturn's rings.]
Compare with this description Fig. 91, which shows some of the
appearances presented by the ring at different positions of Saturn in
its orbit. It was their varying aspects that led Huyghens to insert the
last words of his description, for, if the plane of the ring coincided
with the plane of the earth's orbit, then at all times the ring must be
turned edgewise toward the earth, as shown in the middle picture of the
group. Fig. 92 shows the sun and the orbit of the earth placed near the
center of Saturn's orbit, across whose circumference are ruled some
oblique lines representing the plane of the ring, the right end always
tilted up, no matter where the planet is in its orbit. It is evident
that an observer upon the earth will see the _N_ side of the ring when
the planet is at _N_ and the _S_ side when it is at _S_, as is shown in
the first and third pictures of Fig. 91, while midway between these
positions the edge of the ring will be presented to the earth.
[Illustration: FIG. 92.--Aspects of the ring in their relation to
Saturn's orbital motion.]
The last occasion of this kind was in October, 1891, and with the large
telescope of the Washburn Observatory the writer at that time saw
Saturn without a trace of a ring surrounding it. The ring is so thin
that it disappears altogether when turned edgewise. The names of the
zodiacal constellations are inserted in Fig. 92 in their proper
direction from the sun, and from these we learn that the ring will
disappear, or be exceedingly narrow, whenever Saturn is in the
constellation Pisces or near the boundary line between Leo and Virgo. It
will be broad and show its northern side when Saturn is in Scorpius or
Sagittarius, and its southern face when the planet is in Gemini. What
will be its appearance in 1907 at the date marked in the figure?
143. NATURE OF THE RING.--It is apparent from Figs. 91 and 93 that
Saturn's ring is really made up of two or more rings lying one inside of
the other and completely separated by a dark space which, though narrow,
is as clean and sharp as if cut with a knife. Also, the inner edge of
the ring fades off into an obscure border called the _dusky ring_ or
_crape ring_. This requires a pretty good telescope to show it, as may
be inferred from the fact that it escaped notice for more than two
centuries during which the planet was assiduously studied with
telescopes, and was discovered at the Harvard College Observatory as
recently as 1850.
Although the rings appear oval in all of the pictures, this is mainly an
effect of perspective, and they are in fact nearly circular with the
planet at their center. The extreme diameter of the ring is 172,000
miles, and from this number, by methods already explained (Chapter IX),
the student should obtain the width of the rings, their distance from
the ball of the planet, and the diameter of the ball. As to thickness,
it is evident, from the disappearance of the ring when its edge is
turned toward the earth, that it is very thin in comparison with its
diameter, probably not more than 100 miles thick, although no exact
measurement of this can be made.
[Illustration: FIG. 93.--Saturn.]
From theoretical reasons based upon the law of gravitation astronomers
have held that the rings of Saturn could not possibly be solid or
liquid bodies. The strains impressed upon them by the planet's
attraction would tear into fragments steel rings made after their size
and shape. Quite recently Professor Keeler has shown, by applying the
spectroscope (Doppler's principle) to determine the velocity of the
ring's rotation about Saturn, that the inner parts of the ring move, as
Kepler's Third Law requires, more rapidly than do the outer parts, thus
furnishing a direct proof that they are not solid, and leaving no doubt
that they are made up of separate fragments, each moving about the
planet in its own orbit, like an independent satellite, but standing so
close to its neighbors that the whole space reflects the sunlight as
completely as if it were solid. With this understanding of the rings it
is easy to see why they are so thin. Like Jupiter, Saturn is greatly
flattened at the poles, and this flattening, or rather the protuberant
mass about the equator, lays hold of every satellite near the planet and
exerts upon it a direct force tending to thrust it down into the plane
of the planet's equator and hold it there. The ring lies in the plane of
Saturn's equator because each particle is constrained to move there.
The division of the ring into two parts, an outer and an inner ring, is
usually explained as follows: Saturn is surrounded by a numerous brood
of satellites, which by their attractions produce perturbations in the
material composing the rings, and the dividing line between the outer
and inner rings falls at the place where by the law of gravitation the
perturbations would have their greatest effect. The dividing line
between the rings is therefore a narrow lane, 2,400 miles wide, from
which the fragments have been swept clean away by the perturbing action
of the satellites. Less conspicuous divisions are seen from time to time
in other parts of the ring, where the perturbations, though less, are
still appreciable. But it is open to some question whether this
explanation is sufficient.
The curious darkness of the inner or crape ring is easily explained.
The particles composing it are not packed together so closely as in the
outer ring, and therefore reflect less sunlight. Indeed, so sparsely
strewn are the particles in this ring that it is in great measure
transparent to the sunlight, as is shown by a recorded observation of
one of the satellites which was distinctly although faintly seen while
moving through the shadow of the dark ring, but disappeared in total
eclipse when it entered the shadow cast by the bright ring.
144. THE BALL OF SATURN.--The ball of the planet is in most respects a
smaller copy of Jupiter. With an equatorial diameter of 76,000 miles, a
polar diameter of 69,000 miles, and a mass 95 times that of the earth,
its density is found to be the least of any planet in the solar system,
only 0.70 of the density of water, and about one half as great as is the
density of Jupiter. The force of gravity at its surface is only a little
greater (1.18) than on the earth; and this, in connection with the low
density, leads, as in the case of Jupiter, to the conclusion that the
planet must be mainly composed of gases and vapors, very hot within, but
inclosed by a shell of clouds which cuts off their glow from our eyes.
Like Jupiter in another respect, the planet turns very swiftly upon its
axis, making a revolution in 10 hours 14 minutes, but up to the present
it remains unknown whether different parts of the surface have different
rotation times.
145. THE SATELLITES.--Saturn is attended by a family of nine satellites,
a larger number than belongs to any other planet, but with one exception
they are exceedingly small and difficult to observe save with a very
large telescope. Indeed, the latest one is said to have been discovered
in 1898 by means of the image which it impressed upon a photographic
plate, and it has never been _seen_.
Titan, the largest of them, is distant 771,000 miles from the planet and
bears much the same relation to Saturn that Satellite III bears to
Jupiter, the similarity in distance, size and mass being rather
striking, although, of course, the smaller mass of Saturn as compared
with Jupiter makes the periodic time of Titan--15 days 23 hours--much
greater than that of III. Can you apply Kepler's Third Law to the motion
of Titan so as to determine from the data given above, the time required
for a particle at the outer or inner edge of the ring to revolve once
around Saturn?
Japetus, the second satellite in point of size, whose distance from
Saturn is about ten times as great as the moon's distance from the
earth, presents the remarkable peculiarity of being always brighter in
one part of its orbit than in another, three or four times as bright
when west of Saturn as when east of it. This probably indicates that,
like our own moon, the satellite turns always the same face toward its
planet, and further, that one side of the satellite reflects the
sunlight much better than the other side--i. e., has a higher albedo.
With these two assumptions it is easily seen that the satellite will
always turn toward the earth one face when west, and the other face when
east of Saturn, and thus give the observed difference of brightness.
URANUS AND NEPTUNE
146. CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS.--The two remaining large planets are
interesting chiefly as modern additions to the known members of the
sun's family. The circumstances leading to the discovery of Neptune have
been touched upon in Chapter IV, and for Uranus we need only note that
it was found by accident in the year 1781 by William Herschel, who for
some time after the discovery considered it to be only a comet. It was
the first planet ever discovered, all of its predecessors having been
known from prehistoric times.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HERSCHEL (1738-1822).]
Uranus has four satellites, all of them very faint, which present only
one feature of special importance. Instead of moving in orbits which are
approximately parallel to the plane of the ecliptic, as do the
satellites of the inner planets, their orbit planes are tipped up nearly
perpendicular to the planes of the orbits of both Uranus and the earth.
The one satellite which Neptune possesses has the same peculiarity in
even greater degree, for its motion around the planet takes place in the
direction opposite to that in which all the planets move around the sun,
much as if the orbit of the satellite had been tipped over through an
angle of 150°. Turn a watch face down and note how the hands go round in
the direction opposite to that in which they moved before the face was
turned through 180°.
Both Uranus and Neptune are too distant to allow much detail to be seen
upon their surfaces, but the presence of broad absorption bands in their
spectra shows that they must possess dense atmospheres quite different
in constitution from the atmosphere of the earth. In respect of density
and the force of gravity at their surfaces, they are not very unlike
Saturn, although their density is greater and gravity less than his,
leading to the supposition that they are for the most part gaseous
bodies, but cooler and probably more nearly solid than either Jupiter or
Saturn.
Under favorable circumstances Uranus may be seen with the naked eye by
one who knows just where to look for it. Neptune is never visible save
in a telescope.
147. THE INNER PLANETS.--In sharp contrast with the giant planets which
we have been considering stands the group of four inner planets, or five
if we count the moon as an independent body, which resemble each other
in being all small, dense, and solid bodies, which by comparison with
the great distances separating the outer planets may fairly be described
as huddled together close to the sun. Their relative sizes are shown in
Fig. 84, together with the numerical data concerning size, mass,
density, etc., which we have already found important for the
understanding of a planet's physical condition.
VENUS
[Illustration: FIG. 94.--The phases of Venus.--ANTONIADI.]
148. APPEARANCE.--Omitting the earth, Venus is by far the most
conspicuous member of this group, and when at its brightest is, with
exception of the sun and moon, the most brilliant object in the sky, and
may be seen with the naked eye in broad daylight if the observer knows
just where to look for it. But its brilliancy is subject to considerable
variations on account of its changing distance from the earth, and the
apparent size of its disk varies for the same reason, as may be seen
from Fig. 94. These drawings bring out well the phases of the planet,
and the student should determine from Fig. 17 what are the relative
positions in their orbits of the earth and Venus at which the planet
would present each of these phases. As a guide to this, observe that the
dark part of Venus's earthward side is always proportional in area to
the angle at Venus between the earth and sun. In the first picture of
Fig. 94 about two thirds of the surface corresponding to the full
hemisphere of the planet is dark, and the angle at Venus between earth
and sun is therefore two thirds of 180°--i. e., 120°. In Fig. 17 find a
place on the orbit of Venus from which if lines be drawn to the sun and
earth, as there shown, the angle between them will be 120°. Make a
similar construction for the fourth picture in Fig. 94. Which of these
two positions is farther from the earth? How do the distances compare
with the apparent size of Venus in the two pictures? What is the phase
of Venus to-day?
The irregularities in the shading of the illuminated parts of the disk
are too conspicuous in Fig. 94, on account of difficulties of
reproduction; these shadings are at the best hard to see in the
telescope, and distinct permanent markings upon the planet are wholly
lacking. This absence of markings makes almost impossible a
determination of the planet's time of rotation about its axis, and
astronomers are divided in this respect into two parties, one of which
maintains that Venus, like the earth, turns upon its axis in some period
not very different from 24 hours, while the other contends that, like
the moon, it turns always the same face toward the center of its orbit,
making a rotation upon its axis in the same period in which it makes a
revolution about the sun. The reason why no permanent markings are to be
seen on this planet is easily found. Like Jupiter and Saturn, its
atmosphere is at all times heavily cloud-laden, so that we seldom, if
ever, see down to the level of its solid parts. There is, however, no
reason here to suppose the interior parts hot and gaseous. It is much
more probable that Venus, like the earth, possesses a solid crust whose
temperature we should expect to be considerably higher than that of the
earth, because Venus is nearer the sun. But the cloud layer in its
atmosphere must modify the temperature in some degree, and we have
practically no knowledge of the real temperature conditions at the
surface of the planet.
It is the clouds of Venus which in great measure are responsible for its
marked brilliancy, since they are an excellent medium for reflecting the
sunlight, and give to its surface an albedo greater than that of any
other planet, although Saturn is nearly equal to it.
Of course, the presence of such cloud formations indicates that Venus is
surrounded by a dense atmosphere, and we have independent evidence of
this in the shape of its disk when the planet is very nearly between the
earth and sun. The illuminated part, from tip to tip of the horns, then
stretches more than halfway around the planet's circumference, and shows
that a certain amount of light must have been refracted through its
atmosphere, thus making the horns of the crescent appear unduly
prolonged. This atmosphere is shown by the spectroscope to be not unlike
that of the earth, although, possibly, more dense.
MERCURY
149. CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS.--Mercury, on account of its nearness to the
sun, is at all times a difficult object to observe, and Copernicus, who
spent most of his life in Poland, is said, despite all his efforts, to
have gone to his grave without ever seeing it. In our more southern
latitude it can usually be seen for about a fortnight at the time of
each elongation--i. e., when at its greatest angular distance from the
sun--and the student should find from Fig. 16 the time at which the next
elongation occurs and look for the planet, shining like a star of the
first magnitude, low down in the sky just after sunset or before
sunrise, according as the elongation is to the east or west of the sun.
When seen in the morning sky the planet grows brighter day after day
until it disappears in the sun's rays, while in the evening sky its
brilliancy as steadily diminishes until the planet is lost. It should
therefore be looked for in the evening as soon as possible after it
emerges from the sun's rays.
Mercury, as the smallest of the planets, is best compared with the
moon, which it does not greatly surpass in size and which it strongly
resembles in other respects. Careful comparisons of the amount of light
reflected by the planet in different parts of its orbit show not only
that its albedo agrees very closely with that of the moon, but also that
its light changes with the varying phase of the planet in almost exactly
the same way as the amount of moonlight changes. We may therefore infer
that its surface is like that of the moon, a rough and solid one, with
few or no clouds hanging over it, and most probably covered with very
little or no atmosphere. Like Venus, its rotation period is uncertain,
with the balance of probability favoring the view that it rotates upon
its axis once in 88 days, and therefore always turns the same face
toward the sun.
If such is the case, its climate must be very peculiar: one side roasted
in a perpetual day, where the direct heating power of the sun's rays,
when the planet is at perihelion, is ten times as great as on the moon,
and which six weeks later, when the planet is at its farthest from the
sun, has fallen off to less than half of this. On the opposite side of
the planet there must reign perpetual night and perpetual cold,
mitigated by some slight access of warmth from the day side, and perhaps
feebly imitating the rapid change of season which takes place on the day
side of the planet. This view, however, takes no account of a possible
deviation of the planet's axis from being perpendicular to the plane of
its orbit, or of the librations which must be produced by the great
eccentricity of the orbit, either of which would complicate without
entirely destroying the ideal conditions outlined above.
MARS
150. APPEARANCE.--The one remaining member of the inner group, Mars, has
in recent years received more attention than any other planet, and the
newspapers and magazines have announced marvelous things concerning it:
that it is inhabited by a race of beings superior in intelligence to
men; that the work of their hands may be seen upon the face of the
planet; that we should endeavor to communicate with them, if indeed they
are not already sending messages to us, etc.--all of which is certainly
important, if true, but it rests upon a very slender foundation of
evidence, a part of which we shall have to consider.
Beginning with facts of which there is no doubt, this ruddy-colored
planet, which usually shines about as brightly as a star of the first
magnitude, sometimes displays more than tenfold this brilliancy,
surpassing every other planet save Venus and presenting at these times
especially favorable opportunities for the study of its surface. The
explanation of this increase of brilliancy is, of course, that the
planet approaches unusually near to the earth, and we have already seen
from a consideration of Fig. 17 that this can only happen in the months
of August and September. The last favorable epoch of this kind was in
1894. From Fig. 17 the student should determine when the next one will
come.
[Illustration: FIG. 95.--Mars.--SCHAEBERLE.]
Fig. 95 presents nine drawings of the planet made at one of the epochs
of close approach to the earth, and shows that its face bears certain
faint markings which, though inconspicuous, are fixed and permanent
features of the planet. The dark triangular projection in the lower
half of the second drawing was seen and sketched by Huyghens, 1659
A. D. In Fig. 96 some of these markings are shown much more plainly, but
Fig. 95 gives a better idea of their usual appearance in the telescope.
[Illustration: FIG. 96.--Four views of Mars differing 90° in
longitude.--BARNARD.]
151. ROTATION.--It may be seen readily enough, from a comparison of the
first two sketches of Fig. 95, that the planet rotates about an axis,
and from a more extensive study it is found to be very like the earth in
this respect, turning once in 24h. 37m. around an axis tipped from being
perpendicular to the plane of its orbit about a degree and a half more
than is the earth's axis. Since it is this inclination of the axis which
is the cause of changing seasons upon the earth, there must be similar
changes, winter and summer, as well as day and night, upon Mars, only
each season is longer there than here in the same proportion that its
year is longer than ours--i. e., nearly two to one. It is summer in the
northern hemisphere of Mars whenever the sun, as seen from Mars, stands
in that constellation which is nearest the point of the sky toward which
the planet's axis points. But this axis points toward the constellation
Cygnus, and Alpha Cygni is the bright star nearest the north pole of
Mars. As Pisces is the zodiacal constellation nearest to Cygnus, it must
be summer in the northern hemisphere of Mars when the sun is in Pisces,
or, turning the proposition about, it must be summer in the _southern_
hemisphere of Mars when the planet, as seen from the sun, lies in the
direction of Pisces.
152. THE POLAR CAPS.--One effect of the changing seasons upon Mars is
shown in Fig. 97, where we have a series of drawings of the region about
its south pole made in 1894, on dates between May 21st and December
10th. Show from Fig. 17 that during this time it was summer in the
region here shown. Mars crossed the prime radius in 1894 on September
5th. The striking thing in these pictures is the white spot surrounding
the pole, which shrinks in size from the beginning to near the end of
the series, and then disappears altogether. The spot came back again a
year later, and like a similar spot at the north pole of the planet it
waxes in the winter and wanes during the summer of Mars in endless
succession.
[Illustration: FIG. 97.--The south polar cap of Mars in 1894.--BARNARD.]
Sir W. Herschel, who studied these appearances a century ago, compared
them with the snow fields which every winter spread out from the region
around the terrestrial pole, and in the summer melt and shrink, although
with us they do not entirely disappear. This explanation of the polar
caps of Mars has been generally accepted among astronomers, and from it
we may draw one interesting conclusion: the temperature upon Mars
between summer and winter oscillates above and below the freezing point
of water, as it does in the temperate zones of the earth. But this
conclusion plunges us into a serious difficulty. The temperature of the
earth is made by the sun, and at the distance of Mars from the sun the
heating effect of the latter is reduced to less than half what it is at
the earth, so that, if Mars is to be kept at the same temperature as the
earth, there must be some peculiar means for storing the solar heat and
using it more economically than is done here. Possibly there is some
such mechanism, although no one has yet found it, and some astronomers
are very confident that it does not exist, and assert that the
comparison of the polar caps with snow fields is misleading, and that
the temperature upon Mars must be at least 100°, and perhaps 200° or
more, below zero.
153. ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE.--In this connection one feature of Mars is
of importance. The markings upon its surface are always visible when
turned toward the earth, thus showing that the atmosphere contains no
such amount of cloud as does our own, but on the whole is decidedly
clear and sunny, and presumably much less dense than ours. We have seen
in comparing the earth and the moon how important is the service which
the earth's atmosphere renders in storing the sun's heat and checking
those great vicissitudes of temperature to which the moon is subject;
and with this in mind we must regard the smaller density and cloudless
character of the atmosphere of Mars as unfavorable to the maintenance
there of a temperature like that of the earth. Indeed, this
cloudlessness must mean one of two things: either the temperature is so
low that vapors can not exist in any considerable quantity, or the
surface of Mars is so dry that there is little water or other liquid to
be evaporated. The latter alternative is adopted by those astronomers
who look upon the polar caps as true snow fields, which serve as the
chief reservoir of the planet's water supply, and who find in Fig. 98
evidence that as the snow melts and the water flows away over the flat,
dry surface of the planet, vegetation springs up, as shown by the dark
markings on the disk, and gradually dies out with the advancing season.
Note that in the first of these pictures the season upon Mars
corresponds to the end of May with us, and in the last picture to the
beginning of August, a period during which in much of our western
country the luxuriant vegetation of spring is burned out by the
scorching sun. From this point of view the permanent dark spots are the
low-lying parts of the planet's surface, in which at all times there is
a sufficient accumulation of water to support vegetable life.
[Illustration: FIG. 98.--The same face of Mars at three different
seasons.--LOWELL.]
154. THE CANALS.--In Fig. 98 the lower part of the disk of Mars shows
certain faint dark lines which are generally called canals, and in Plate
III there is given a map of Mars showing many of these canals running in
narrow, dusky streaks across the face of the planet according to a
pattern almost as geometrical as that of a spider's web. This must not
be taken for a picture of the planet's appearance in a telescope. No man
ever saw Mars look like this, but the map is useful as a plain
representation of things dimly seen. Some of the regions of this map are
marked Mare (sea), in accordance with the older view which regarded the
darker parts of the planet--and of the moon--as bodies of water, but
this is now known to be an error in both cases. The curved surface of a
planet can not be accurately reproduced upon the flat surface of paper,
but is always more or less distorted by the various methods of
"projecting" it which are in use. Compare the map of Mars in Plate III
with Fig. 99, in which the projection represents very well the
equatorial parts of the planet, but enormously exaggerates the region
around the poles.
It is a remarkable feature of the canals that they all begin and end in
one of these dark parts of the planet's surface; they show no loose ends
lying on the bright parts of the planet. Another even more remarkable
feature is that while the larger canals are permanent features of the
planet's surface, they at times appear "doubled"--i. e., in place of one
canal two parallel ones side by side, lasting for a time and then giving
place again to a single canal.
It is exceedingly difficult to frame any reasonable explanation of these
canals and the varied appearances which they present. The source of the
wild speculations about Mars, to which reference is made above, is to be
found in the suggestion frequently made, half in jest and half in
earnest, that the canals are artificial water courses constructed upon a
scale vastly exceeding any public works upon the earth, and testifying
to the presence in Mars of an advanced civilization. The distinguished
Italian astronomer, Schiaparelli, who has studied these formations
longer than any one else, seems inclined to regard them as water courses
lined on either side by vegetation, which flourishes as far back from
the central channel as water can be supplied from it--a plausible enough
explanation if the fundamental difficulty about temperature can be
overcome.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.--A chart of Mars, 1898-'99.--CERULLI.]
[Illustration: PLATE III. MAP OF MARS (AFTER SCHIAPARELLI)]
155. SATELLITES.--In 1877, one of the times of near approach, Professor
Hall, of Washington, discovered two tiny satellites revolving about Mars
in orbits so small that the nearer one, Phobos, presents the remarkable
anomaly of completing the circuit of its orbit in less time than the
planet takes for a rotation about its axis. This satellite, in fact,
makes three revolutions in its orbit while the planet turns once upon
its axis, and it therefore rises in the west and sets in the east, as
seen from Mars, going from one horizon to the other in a little less
than 6 hours. The other satellite, Deimos, takes a few hours more than a
day to make the circuit of its orbit, but the difference is so small
that it remains continuously above the horizon of any given place upon
Mars for more than 60 hours at a time, and during this period runs twice
through its complete set of phases--new, first quarter, full, etc. In
ordinary telescopes these satellites can be seen only under especially
favorable circumstances, and are far too small to permit of any direct
measurement of their size. The amount of light which they reflect has
been compared with that of Mars and found to be as much inferior to it
as is Polaris to two full moons, and, judging from this comparison,
their diameters can not much exceed a half dozen miles, unless their
albedo is far less than that of Mars, which does not seem probable.
THE ASTEROIDS
156. MINOR PLANETS.--These may be dismissed with few words. There are
about 500 of them known, all discovered since the beginning of the
nineteenth century, and new ones are still found every year. No one
pretends to remember the names which have been assigned them, and they
are commonly represented by a number inclosed in a circle, showing the
order in which they were discovered--e. g., [circle 1] = Ceres,
[circle 433] = Eros, etc. For the most part they are little more than
chips, world fragments, adrift in space, and naturally it was the larger
and brighter of them that were first discovered. The size of the first
four of them--Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta--compared with the size of
the moon, according to Professor Barnard, is shown in Fig. 100. The
great majority of them must be much smaller than the smallest of these,
perhaps not more than a score of miles in diameter.
A few of the asteroids present problems of special interest, such as
Eros, on account of its close approach to the earth; Polyhymnia, whose
very eccentric orbit makes it a valuable means for determining the mass
of Jupiter, etc.; but these are special cases and the average asteroid
now receives scant attention, although half a century ago, when only a
few of them were known, they were regarded with much interest, and the
discovery of a new one was an event of some consequence.
It was then a favorite speculation that they were in fact fragments of
an ill-fated planet which once filled the gap between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter, but which, by some mischance, had been blown into pieces.
This is now known to be well-nigh impossible, for every fragment which
after the explosion moved in an elliptical orbit, as all the asteroids
do move, would be brought back once in every revolution to the place of
the explosion, and all the asteroid orbits must therefore intersect at
this place. But there is no such common point of intersection.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.--The size of the first four
asteroids.--BARNARD.]
157. LIFE ON THE PLANETS.--There is a belief firmly grounded in the
popular mind, and not without its advocates among professional
astronomers, that the planets are inhabited by living and intelligent
beings, and it seems proper at the close of this chapter to inquire
briefly how far the facts and principles here developed are consistent
with this belief, and what support, if any, they lend to it.
At the outset we must observe that the word life is an elastic term,
hard to define in any satisfactory way, and yet standing for something
which we know here upon the earth. It is this idea, our familiar though
crude knowledge of life, which lies at the root of the matter. Life, if
it exists in another planet, must be in its essential character like
life upon the earth, and must at least possess those features which are
common to all forms of terrestrial life. It is an abuse of language to
say that life in Mars may be utterly unlike life in the earth; if it is
absolutely unlike, it is not life, whatever else it may be. Now, every
form of life found upon the earth has for its physical basis a certain
chemical compound, called protoplasm, which can exist and perpetuate
itself only within a narrow range of temperature, roughly speaking,
between 0° and 100° centigrade, although these limits can be
considerably overstepped for short periods of time. Moreover, this
protoplasm can be active only in the presence of water, or water vapor,
and we may therefore establish as the necessary conditions for the
continued existence and reproduction of life in any place that its
temperature must not be permanently above 100° or below 0°, C., and
water must be present in that place in some form.
With these conditions before us it is plain that life can not exist in
the sun on account of its high temperature. It is conceivable that
active and intelligent beings, salamanders, might exist there, but they
could not properly be said to live. In Jupiter and Saturn the same
condition of high temperature prevails, and probably also in Uranus and
Neptune, so that it seems highly improbable that any of these planets
should be the home of life.
Of the inner planets, Mercury and the moon seem destitute of any
considerable atmospheres, and are therefore lacking in the supply of
water necessary for life, and the same is almost certainly true of all
the asteroids. There remain Venus, Mars, and the satellites of the outer
planets, which latter, however, we must drop from consideration as being
too little known. On Venus there is an atmosphere probably containing
vapor of water, and it is well within the range of possibility that
liquid water should exist upon the surface of this planet and that its
temperature should fall within the prescribed limits. It would, however,
be straining our actual knowledge to affirm that such is the case, or to
insist that if such were the case, life would necessarily exist upon the
planet.
On Mars we encounter the fundamental difficulty of temperature already
noted in § 152. If in some unknown way the temperature is maintained
sufficiently high for the polar caps to be real snow, thawing and
forming again with the progress of the seasons, the necessary conditions
of life would seem to be fulfilled here and life if once introduced upon
the planet might abide and flourish. But of positive proof that such is
the case we have none.
On the whole, our survey lends little encouragement to the belief in
planetary life, for aside from the earth, of all the hundreds of bodies
in the solar system, not one is found in which the necessary conditions
of life are certainly fulfilled, and only two exist in which there is a
reasonable probability that these conditions may be satisfied.