A Journey in Other Worlds [43]
hundred and fifty had been discovered; our photographic
star-charts have since then shown the number recorded to exceed
one thousand."
CHAPTER IV.
PREPARING TO ALIGHT.
That afternoon Ayrault brought out some statistical tables he had
compiled from a great number of books, and also a diagram of the
comparative sizes of the planets. "I have been not a little
puzzled at the discrepancies between even the best authors," he
said, "scarcely any two being exactly alike, while every decade
has seen accepted theories radically changed." Saying which, he
spread out the result of his labours (shown on the following
pages), which the three friends then studied.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Mean distance from sun in millions of miles
(2) Semimajor axis of orbit, earth's distance as 1
(3) Eccentricity of orbit
(4) Planets inclination of orbit to elliptic
(5) Light at perihelion
(6) Light at apehelion
(7) Heat, earth as 1
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Mercury... 36.0 0.387 0.2056 7@0'8" 10.58 4.59 6.67
Venus..... 67.2 0.723 0.0068 3@23'35" 1.94 1.91 1.91
The Earth. 92.9 1.000 0.068 0@0'0" 1.03 0.997 1.00
Mars......141.5 1.524 0.0933 1@51'2" 0.52 0.360 1.43
Asteroids 204.4 to 2.200 0.4 to 5@-35@ 325.2 to 3.500 0.34
Jupiter.. 483.3 5.203 0.0483 1@18'41" 0.04 0.034 0.037
Saturn... 886.0 9.539 0.0561 2@29'40" 0.012 0.0099 0.011
Uranus.. 1781.9 19.183 0.0463 0@46'20" 0.0027 0.0025 0.003
Neptune. 2791.6 30.055 0.0090 1@47'2" 0.0011 0.0011 0.001
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(1) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Velocity compared with earth as 1.
(2) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Period of revolution in years and days.
(3) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Orbital velocity in miles per second.
(4) Mean diameter in miles
(5) Surface compared with earth as 1.
(6) Volume compared with earth as 1.
(7) Mass compared with earth as 1.
Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Mercury..... 0.88 23 to 35 1.6 3,000 0.14 0.056 0.13
Venus.....0.224 1/2 21.9 1.17 7,700 0.94 0.92 0.78
The Earth... 1.00 18.5 1.0 7,918 1.00 1.00 1.00
Mars........ 1.88 15.0 0.81 4,230 0.28 0.139 0.124
Asteroids... 3.29 .... .... From a few to 6.56
miles to 300
Jupiter..... 11.86 8.1 0.44 86,500 118.3 1309.00 316.0
Saturn...... 29.46 6.0 0.32 1,000 0.4 760.0 95.0
Uranus...... 84.02 4.2 0.23 31,900 16.3 65.0 14.7
Neptune.... 164.78 3.4 0.18 34,800 19.3 90.0 17.1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Length of day. hrs. min. sec.
(2) Length of seasons
(3) DENSITY Compared with earth as 1
(4) DENSITY Compared with water as 1
(5) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Compared with earth as
1.
(6) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Bodies fall in one
second.
(7) Inclination of axis.
Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Mercury. ........ ......... 1.24 7.17 0.85 13.7 .....
Venus... 23 21 22 ........ 0.92 5.21 0.83 13.4 53+
The Earth. ..... Spring, 93 1.00 5.67 1.00 16.09 23 1/2
Summer, 93
Terrestrial days Autumn, 90
Winter,89
Mars... 24 37 23 Spring, 191 0.96 2.54 0.38 6.2 27 1/2
Summer, 181
Martian days Autumn, 149
Winter, 147
Asteroids........................................................
Jupiter. 9 55 28 ......... 0.22 1.29 2.55 40.98 1 1/2
Saturn..10 29 17 ......... 0.13 0.63 1.15 18.53 27
Uranus. ....... ......... 0.18 1.41
star-charts have since then shown the number recorded to exceed
one thousand."
CHAPTER IV.
PREPARING TO ALIGHT.
That afternoon Ayrault brought out some statistical tables he had
compiled from a great number of books, and also a diagram of the
comparative sizes of the planets. "I have been not a little
puzzled at the discrepancies between even the best authors," he
said, "scarcely any two being exactly alike, while every decade
has seen accepted theories radically changed." Saying which, he
spread out the result of his labours (shown on the following
pages), which the three friends then studied.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Mean distance from sun in millions of miles
(2) Semimajor axis of orbit, earth's distance as 1
(3) Eccentricity of orbit
(4) Planets inclination of orbit to elliptic
(5) Light at perihelion
(6) Light at apehelion
(7) Heat, earth as 1
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Mercury... 36.0 0.387 0.2056 7@0'8" 10.58 4.59 6.67
Venus..... 67.2 0.723 0.0068 3@23'35" 1.94 1.91 1.91
The Earth. 92.9 1.000 0.068 0@0'0" 1.03 0.997 1.00
Mars......141.5 1.524 0.0933 1@51'2" 0.52 0.360 1.43
Asteroids 204.4 to 2.200 0.4 to 5@-35@ 325.2 to 3.500 0.34
Jupiter.. 483.3 5.203 0.0483 1@18'41" 0.04 0.034 0.037
Saturn... 886.0 9.539 0.0561 2@29'40" 0.012 0.0099 0.011
Uranus.. 1781.9 19.183 0.0463 0@46'20" 0.0027 0.0025 0.003
Neptune. 2791.6 30.055 0.0090 1@47'2" 0.0011 0.0011 0.001
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(1) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Velocity compared with earth as 1.
(2) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Period of revolution in years and days.
(3) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Orbital velocity in miles per second.
(4) Mean diameter in miles
(5) Surface compared with earth as 1.
(6) Volume compared with earth as 1.
(7) Mass compared with earth as 1.
Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Mercury..... 0.88 23 to 35 1.6 3,000 0.14 0.056 0.13
Venus.....0.224 1/2 21.9 1.17 7,700 0.94 0.92 0.78
The Earth... 1.00 18.5 1.0 7,918 1.00 1.00 1.00
Mars........ 1.88 15.0 0.81 4,230 0.28 0.139 0.124
Asteroids... 3.29 .... .... From a few to 6.56
miles to 300
Jupiter..... 11.86 8.1 0.44 86,500 118.3 1309.00 316.0
Saturn...... 29.46 6.0 0.32 1,000 0.4 760.0 95.0
Uranus...... 84.02 4.2 0.23 31,900 16.3 65.0 14.7
Neptune.... 164.78 3.4 0.18 34,800 19.3 90.0 17.1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Length of day. hrs. min. sec.
(2) Length of seasons
(3) DENSITY Compared with earth as 1
(4) DENSITY Compared with water as 1
(5) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Compared with earth as
1.
(6) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Bodies fall in one
second.
(7) Inclination of axis.
Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
Mercury. ........ ......... 1.24 7.17 0.85 13.7 .....
Venus... 23 21 22 ........ 0.92 5.21 0.83 13.4 53+
The Earth. ..... Spring, 93 1.00 5.67 1.00 16.09 23 1/2
Summer, 93
Terrestrial days Autumn, 90
Winter,89
Mars... 24 37 23 Spring, 191 0.96 2.54 0.38 6.2 27 1/2
Summer, 181
Martian days Autumn, 149
Winter, 147
Asteroids........................................................
Jupiter. 9 55 28 ......... 0.22 1.29 2.55 40.98 1 1/2
Saturn..10 29 17 ......... 0.13 0.63 1.15 18.53 27
Uranus. ....... ......... 0.18 1.41