The Ways of the Planets

by Martha Evans Martin

Jupiter is nearly five times farther from the sun than we are. His mean distance from that orb is four hundred and eighty-three millions of miles. His orbit is not so eccentric as that of Mercury or of Mars, but the eccentricity is sufficient to make his distance vary by as much as forty-two millions of miles. His distance is five hundred and four millions of miles when he is farthest from the sun, and four hundred and sixty-two millions when he is nearest to it. On account of his orbit being outside of ours, we are at times nearer to him and at others farther from him than the sun ever is. At his best situation when in opposition, we are three hundred and sixty-nine million miles from him. This is more than ten times farther than we are from Mars at that planet’s most favorable oppositions, and yet Jupiter is much brighter at such times than Mars ever appears to be. At the times of conjunction he is five hundred and ninety-six millions of miles from us, but is still always brighter than a first-magnitude star like Capella or Vega.

Although the distance of Jupiter from us varies thus two hundred and twenty-seven million miles, there is never in him the marked difference in brilliancy that we see in Mars. He is at all times so far away that the variation in distance does not count for as much, though we can see the effect of it plainly enough, even with the naked eye. Light, with all its marvelous speed, consumes more than fifty-three minutes in its journey from Jupiter to the earth when we are most widely separated from him. When we are nearest to him light comes to us from the planet in twenty minutes less time. At his average distance from the sun it requires about forty-three minutes for light to pass from the sun to Jupiter.

Notwithstanding the sun’s great power over Jupiter in shaping his course, it does not give him much in return for his subserviency. So far as light and brilliancy are concerned, it is to Jupiter a very small sun indeed. To an observer on Jupiter the sun would not appear to be more than one-fifth as large as it seems to us. The light it furnishes to Jupiter is twenty-five times less than we receive; and if the planet depended entirely upon the sun for heat, his temperature would be more than two hundred degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. There is every reason to believe that the little heat the sun gives to this mighty planet does not count for much one way or the other at the planet’s present stage of development. Jupiter does not need the nourishing that the smaller terrestrial planets must have, or die. He is probably almost a sun himself. We are not at all certain that the planet is even so far cooled as to have a solid surface. If it has, there is reason to think that the surface is at least red hot, and gives to the planet a temperature higher than anything we have any comprehension of. Jupiter’s atmosphere, too, is extremely thick and dense, so that the planet is probably so protected that it gets very little heat from the sun and loses very little of its own.

It is certain, however, that this great planet is not so much of a sun as to shine by its own light. The light we receive, though it is very brilliant, is reflected sunlight. This is shown by the fact that the planet does not furnish light for its own satellites. When they pass into its shadow the sunlight is shut off from them; and if they receive any light from Jupiter, it is too dusky to be perceptible to us. That the planet may have a red glow, though, is also suggested by the action of the satellites. When they pass between us and Jupiter they sometimes cast less of a shadow on his surface than would be expected, thus indicating that the surface is not altogether dark, though it may only dully glow rather than shine.

DAY AND NIGHT, SEASONS, AND ATMOSPHERE

Jupiter accomplishes one rotation in a little less than ten hours; but, curiously enough, all parts of the planet do not rotate in the same length of time. A day at the equator is nine hours and fifty minutes in length. In some of the higher latitudes it is nine hours and fifty-five minutes, and this notwithstanding the equator is so much larger in circumference than any other part and any one point on it has farther to go in a revolution. As many as eight different rates of rotation have been observed; and even in the same zones some parts seem to lag behind others, taking a little more time to complete the rotation than other parts surrounding them. This is another indication that Jupiter is not a solid body. The surface features are none of them permanent, though some of them remain practically the same for years. It is through this occasional stability of them that it has been possible to mark the planet’s time of rotation.

In the matter of seasons Jupiter has very little variety. The axis of the planet is inclined but little more than three degrees to its orbit, so that whatever amount of heat the sun’s radiance affords must be very nearly uniform during the entire Jovian year. Its distance, too, is at all times so great that there would be no appreciable change in temperature between its perihelion and aphelion positions.

There is every indication that Jupiter has an extraordinarily dense and deep atmosphere. It has been sometimes estimated to be as much as a thousand miles in depth, and the spectroscope shows it to be heavily laden with vapor. But beyond these very general facts not much is definitely known about it. It is certain, though, that it is very different from our atmosphere. The spectroscope shows in it elements, or compounds of elements, which are not familiar to us. The enormous gravitative power of Jupiter would enable him to hold gases rarer than the earth, or the smaller planets like the earth, ever acquired. A molecule of gas would have to move more rapidly than thirty-seven miles a second to escape from Jupiter. The earth, as we have seen, cannot hold any gases moving faster than seven miles a second. So there are many gases which may forever remain in Jupiter’s atmosphere and yet have never had a place in ours.

SURFACE FEATURES

Seen through a telescope, Jupiter shows the loveliest variety of colors, with the reddish ones always most conspicuous. The slightly pink-tinted steady light that we get from the planet with the naked eye in no way suggests the turbulent, flame-like aspect that a telescopic view opens to us. The telescope also reveals very clearly that flattening at the poles which has already been spoken of.