Show lO JF IF f th the Baby D b WorM e r rG G e a yah ip aM a v M t Q k t 4 F k x f N y k I Ky h ht r i JJ F h i t y a N Yr l lJ lu u J v STAR GAZERS HAVE JUST RECLAIMED i AETHRA r ONE OF THE MANY SMALL FRY f WORLDS OF THE t SOLAR F FAMILY AMIL Y SOME OF THEM SO I 1 TINY THEY rHEY CANNOT t BE MEASURED t IF r I r F l T OST OST-A OST A baby world Liberal reward reward re- re re- re LOST LOST- J i ward to finder and nd no questions questions' asked Substantially that was the advertisement advertisement advertisement advertise advertise- ment published But nobody had kid kid- the little world It simply 4 turned up missing quite a while ago and astronomers astronomers astronomers as as- have been looking for it ever since Bince i News comes however that it has been found A star-gazer star named Jekowski d ini in i Algiers put it back the other day where 1 lit it t belongs on the map of the sky Its name is Aethra and as baby worlds go it is rather except exceptionally on lly im im- The path it follows in m its endless endless end end- less journey around the sun is sufficiently sufficient sufficient- lly ly eccentric to render it interesting and I there is the further circumstance that it M has money in bank I The latter point seems somewhat surprising surprising sur sur- rising but it is easily explained This little world is one of of- two twenty-two minor planets which were discovered by the late Professor Watson of Ann Arb Arbor r Mich J He was afraid that after his I I death some of them might get lost ost and BO so he left a sizable sum by will a trust fund to the National Nation l Academy of Sciences Sciences to pay for taking care of them I and to make sure that none of them got away They are the only heavenly bodies j for for which an annuity has ever been pro- pro y I vided The interest on th the money meets Ithe the c court so to speak of their keep 1 Like the baby in the humorous story Aethra is is C only Conly a n very little one Its diameter is about fifteen miles which means that its surface area is about kt t square miles or a little less than two- two f r thirds that of the state of Rhode Island The biggest of all the little worlds is Vesta whose diameter is miles and V p v its surface area miles miles about about equal to the area of the state of Montana Next r in size comes Ceres with a diameter of I miles and a surface area approximating approximating approximating mating that of New Mexico Pallas with a diameter eJ of miles corresponds i in extent of surface to Oregon Juno diameter miles has a surface area area slightly greater than that of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsyl Pennsyl- vania ania Hygeia diameter miles is superficially almost exactly the size of Maine r These are arc the big ones ores Next in size comes Circe with a diameter of only I twenty nine miles and a surface area slightly greater than that of Delaware Virginia and Hestia are each twenty-five twenty miles in diameter j Asia two twenty-two miles Atalanta eight eighteen en miles and Echo seventeen seventeen seven seyen- teen miles M Most of the little worlds are so tiny that it has been found impossible to measure them In surface area many of them be he likened to countries might some someo o are arc probably no bigg bigger r than sized good-sized farms Some Soine o of them lem seem seen to ia in IJ groups 1 ry y V J a A r iC r rJ II I a I 4 J J r d Ti fP i v S r v vA r n. n 7 all s l rf t d Sl a ati I ti f or S S t S rC f N 1 1 u y d t t r rs s t n r d s a Tn N Nr r ONE NI of the my mysteries teries of the h heavens avens is the ther x Black H Horse in Orion which rich be beLk r y F or se w. w may may be Y Lk either d debris bris o of ast worlds or ma material eriaL for for F r future worlds I r a o r x w a t i 7 w. w aF i w h ha o r. r A r rai f fi ice i v y a A y fa JD i h t d l b Z l t R c 3 q O Q Q N v yr C q A f u iJ iJA S A v ro ri A w g r R Nt y 4 A rl's c t r In this y vast t. t tower of the Mt Wilson observatory tory r F to N heavenly explorers range the skies almost nightly J One one of Cf the lures which constantly I appeal app al to the astronomer is the On On Vesta hope of finding a new world owing to the small force of Y gravity a aF F 15 T pound manN man N A would weigh k only fifteen pounds But Buthe he could lift r n k pound pounds Y a S ai r evv xii Y Yr r d y X i a r y A Spiral nebula which may be a distant universe or families One at least is' is twins It was vas discovered in 1898 is called Eros ros and has lias since been ascertained to be bo bea boa I a double two double two baby worlds revolving revolving revolving re re- re- re about a common center renter of gravity Together the they ha- ha have hare e a surface surface surface sur sur- face area equal to about half that of Connecticut Eros is particularly interesting for another re reason son It comes nearer to the earth than any other celestial I body save only the moon and an oc- oc oc-I oc of Here Hero is a group 1 of stars each brighter than than- the sun It is II known as the the Hercules Cluster E and and- the star I within the little circle is isone isone one oIe hundred times as large t. t as as our sun i comet Next tt year in 1924 those heavenly tw twins twins' will twins will make their nearest app approach o cl to us us within 15 miles When that happens the astronomers are going to m make ke use of or the circumstance circumstance circum circum- stance for a very important purpose They are going to employ observations of Eros as a means of measuring the distance of the sun from the earth carth That distance is not known exactly exactly- l within a possible margin of error erro of miles that is to say and and it i is s necessary to know it because it is u utilized utilized util util- il- il I as a unit for measuring the distance dis distance dis- dis I dis-I of the stars star tance i Why all these baby worlds nearl nearly a thousand thousand thousand thou thou- sand of of them Where did they come from What are they good for for Is Is- IsIt It possible th that t tanY any of them are ate inhabited inh Is- Is there any animal or plant life Ilfe on them Those questions cannot be answered at I present Nevertheless astronomers have I ventured guesses Take the first question Heavenly Heavenly- bodies are of all sizes Com Coin C Compared m- m pared hared with B and other giant glant stars our own own solar luminary luminari i Is small The earth on which we dwell Is small The earth carth on which we dwell Is a a. dwarf planet compared with Jupiter 1300 times as big lS the terrestrial globe If the sun were suddenly withdrawn from the sky the earth would become a satellite of or Jupiter one of its its moons It Is surmised that baby baly worlds may be be scattered all through the illimitable void old of of space and that Jupiter by its tremendous tremendous tremendous dous attraction proportionate to Its Us mass picks them up p now and then as the solar system pursues its ts amazing voyage at a speed l of or twelve miles a second through the j starlit emptiness of fhe te infinite I 1 Accepting this theory they hey are cold and andi i dark ark globes discoverable only when they happen to Join our system Then the BUn sun lights them up and they are rendered vIsIble blo ble to the telescope Once captured they can can never escape and so in in- the inthe the th course of j I untold ages quite a lot of them have b bien baen bieni en i collected I That any of them are Inhabited seems 1 mostly unlikely Take ake Vesta for example which Is the biggest of them all It la It-la is two 1 and third one one times as far from the sun as weare are which means means' that that- it receives per ler acre of surface less than one fifth the sunlight sunlight sun sun- light and and- andSt St suns sun's neat heat that we get O Owing to its its' relatively ly small bUl bulk c it has hardly attraction enough to retain an envelope I of gases i In other words an atmosphere That there is water on its surface is surely Improbable Without an atmosphere and without eater va- va water wa- wa vater ter there could be bo no animal no-animal life no plant life The likelihood seems seems to be that the baby worlds are desert globes spheres spheres' of or Inhospitable rock On Vesta owing to the small email force force of I gravity a a. pound man would weigh only fifteen pou pounds ds He Ue could lift t pounds as easily as as he could pick up fifty pounds on n the earth He could jump ten times as far If It there were an an- atmosphere like ours and he were fitted with a pair pall of wings he might fly Many of the bab baby worlds are afe undoubtedly undoubtedly undoubtedly edly five miles or less In diameter On Ona 3 a f mile five world a pound man would I weigh onI only two ounces s. s He could pick up upa a rock w weighing a ton b by r. r our standard and throw It with such force that it would ll i n never ver come l back ack He could jump off orr the tiny planet and n never ver return Not long ago at a ax a meeting of the Royal Royall I Astronomical society in In London a a. jocular scientist s sand sad td It should hould made be be made an of offense of- of o- o I punishable by fine or imprisonment to discover any any more minor planets They They have he become ome an tol 11 Intolerable able nuisance and andare andare andare are a great burden upon the astronomers astronomers' rs' rs who have nave to keep track of th then them m. m and record them So far So-far far as I am ram n. n aware ware they are of no earthly use whatever The learned gentleman evidently forgot one very important use to tol which the baby worlds are put By their By-their their aid the earth earth- earth and and other major planets planets' are weighed that weighed that is to say eay by observing the extent to which the major planets by their attraction pull the little fellows out of their orbits To find names for all the baby worlds has been in Itself quito quite a task But BlIt as as s. s tron mera do not call them by their names nam s preferring to designate them by numbers Thus Ceres the first one discovered in 1801 is No 1 1 Pall Pallas as discovered in 1802 is No 2 2 Juno Tun 0 d discovered in 1807 Is N No 3 Vesta is No 4 and BO so IO on I Revolving about the planet Mars like golden shuttles are two little moons called and Demos Delmos Panic and Terror the largest of which Is only thirty miles mUes In diameter Th They y were discovered In 1877 1377 at nt the naval observatory in Washington by Professor Asaph Hall who named them after ter the tho attendants of ot of the ancient god of war It ls Is thought that quite po these moons may be De captured astero another term for minor planets plane ml I Mercury Venus the Earth and I relatively relatively- y near near to the sun The four I major planets Jupiter Saturn Neptune are separated from the iI group by an immense gap of spa space the gap It has been this gap may once upon a time evolved a a. a planet that exploded d m meats ments being represented today by br worlds all of all of of which travel In iri the wide interval of the Hie cosmic oI vol lies between cn the orbit of Mars am and of f Jupiter r. r Astronomers generally generall f Ing however are not inclined to Idea a. a H Gigantic Jupiter far out toward the theas as it were of the solar system by Its attraction catches Cosmic Cosmic- space seems to be full tull rt of f strange ce celestial estial wanderers Vho whose e apparently not governed 1 ments are Binary laws A famous astron e said that if we could stand on Nep outermost of all the planets we wo you cOUI cou thousands of them in the sk sky Tb I th that t are d drawn awn into hilo our system ti L LI swing around round the the sun for tor a wm k Ie I then break up or take flight night Into oth th gions glons of or the heavens 1 whence when e they come or whither they the g gIt It does not seem seeni at all unlikely unlike l I Jupiter ma may pick up baby worlds world time to time Ume Inducing them to j i planetary company The thought tha n nI little UWe globes miniatures ot or the e I be QC s scattered atter d through the empt space flying hIth hither r and yon ron in se seep see 1 aimless fashion is undeniably in n ing lag 1 P I Speaking of little worlds there thera I II is can can can-a a major pl planet net however if Jt I The smallest of all the major planet we know about and the nearest to toso t tso so so near that water on Its surface I C were any would boll In the intense e eIs is is- Mercury But certain perturbed perturb Mercury in its orbit led the Frew Fren Leverrier in 1859 to belle bell there must be an undiscovered pi closer to the solar luminary W Not long afterward another convinced that he actually saw it- it ita It a black spot passing across the face pun nun un His Ills calculations made It a larger than our moon them as aa at least st 1 the French government bestow ribbon of the Legion of or Honor up discoverer and th the planet receive name nom of ot Vulcan Vule I |