The story of the sun, moon, and stars . that small pairof worlds, Venus and Earth, are called Jupiter is equal in size to over one thousandtwo hundred earths, Saturn is equal to about sevenhundred earths. And while Jupiter is equal in weightto three hundred earths, Saturn is only equal in weightto ninety earths. He appears to be made of very lightmaterials—not more than three-quarters as dense aswater. This would show the present state of Saturnto be very different from the present state of the are under the same uncertainty in speaking ofSaturn as in speaking of Jupiter.
The story of the sun, moon, and stars . that small pairof worlds, Venus and Earth, are called Jupiter is equal in size to over one thousandtwo hundred earths, Saturn is equal to about sevenhundred earths. And while Jupiter is equal in weightto three hundred earths, Saturn is only equal in weightto ninety earths. He appears to be made of very lightmaterials—not more than three-quarters as dense aswater. This would show the present state of Saturnto be very different from the present state of the are under the same uncertainty in speaking ofSaturn as in speaking of Jupiter. Like Jupiter, Saturnis covered with dense masses of varying clouds, occa- 214 SATURN. 215 sionally opening and allowing the astronomer peepsinto lower cloud-levels; but rarely or never permittingthe actual body of the planet to be seen. The same perplexities also come in here, to be an-swered much in the same manner. We should cer-tainly expect that in a vast globe like Saturn thestrong force of attraction would bind the whole into a. SATURN AND THE EARTH—COMPARATIVE SIZE. dense solid mass; instead of which, Saturn is aboutthe least solid of all the planets. He seems to bemade up of a light, watery substance, surrounded byvapor. One explanation can be offered. What if the globeof Saturn be still in a red-hot, molten state, keepingsuch water as would otherwise lie in oceans on hissurface, floating aloft in masses of steam, the outerparts of which condense into clouds? No one supposes that Jupiter and Saturn are in thesame condition of fierce and tempestuous heat as the 2l6 STORY OF THB SUN, MOON, AND STARS. sun. They may have been so once, but they mustnow have cooled down very many stages from thatcondition. Though no longer, however, a mass offar-reaching flames and fiery cyclones, the body ofeach may have only so far cooled as to have reached astage of glowing molten red-heat, keeping all water inthe form of vapor, and sending up strong rushes ofburning air to cause the h
Size: 2009px × 1244px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidstor, booksubjectastronomy
