A Journey in Other Worlds [78]
"let us proceed to Saturn,
where we may find even stranger things than here. I hoped we
could investigate the great red spot, but am convinced we have
seen the beginning of one in Twentieth Century Archipelago, and
what, under favourable conditions, will be recognized as such on
earth."
It was just six terrestrial weeks since they had set out, and
therefore February 2d on earth.
"It would be best, in any case, to start from Jupiter's equator,"
said Cortlandt, "for the straight line we should make from the
surface here would be at right angles to Saturn. We shall
probably, in spite of ourselves, swing a few degrees beyond the
line, and so can get a bird's-eye view of some portion of the
southern hemisphere."
"All aboard for Saturn!" cried Bearwarden enthusiastically, in
his jovial way. "This will be a journey."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SCENE SHIFTS.
Having returned the rugs to the Callisto, they applied the
maximum power of the batteries to rising, closed all openings
when the barometer registered thirty, and moved off into space.
When Several thousand miles above the pole, they diverted part of
the power to attracting the nearest moon that was in the plane of
Jupiter's equator, and by the time their upward motion had ceased
were moving well in its direction. Their rapid motion aided the
work of resisting gravity, since their car had in fact become a
small moon, revolving, like those of Uranus or that of Neptune,
in an orbit varying greatly from the plane of the ecliptic. As
they flew south at a height ranging from two thousand to three
thousand miles, the planet revolved before them, and they had a
chance of obtaining a thorough view. There were but a few
scattered islands on the side of the Northern hemisphere opposite
to that over which they had reached the pole, and in the varying
colours of the water, which they attributed to temperature or to
some substance in solution, they recognized what they had always
heard described on earth as the bands of Jupiter, encircling the
planet with great belts, the colour varying with the latitude.
At about latitude forty-five these bands were purple, farther
south light olive green, and at the equator a brown orange.
Shortly after they swung across the equator the ocean again
became purple, and at the same time a well-defined and very
brilliant white spot came into view. Its brightness showed
slight variations in intensity, though its general shape remained
unchanged. It had another peculiarity, in that it possessed a
fairly rapid motion of its own, as it moved eastward across the
surface of the ocean. It exhibited all the phenomena of the
storm they had watched in crossing Secretary Deepwaters Bay, but
covered a larger area, and was far more violent. Their glasses
showed them vast sheets of spray driven along at tremendous
speed, while the surface was milky white.
"This," said Bearwarden, picking up a book, "solves to my mind
the mystery of the white spot described by the English writer
Chambers, in 1889, as follows:
"'During the last few years a brilliant white spot has been
visible on the equatorial border of the great southern belt. A
curious fact in connection with this spot is, that it moves with
a velocity of some two hundred and sixty miles per hour greater
than the red spot. Denning obtained one hundred and sixty-nine
observations of this bright marking during the years 1880-1883,
and determined the period as nine hours, fifty minutes, eight and
seven tenths seconds (five and a half minutes less than that of
the red spot). Although the latter is now somewhat faint, the
white spot gives promise of remaining visible for many years.
During the year 1886 a large number of observations of Jupiter
were made at the Dearborn Observatory, Chicago, U. S., by Prof.
G. W. Hough, using the eighteen-and-a-half-inch refractor of the
observatory. Inasmuch as these observations are not only of high
intrinsic interest, but are in conflict,
where we may find even stranger things than here. I hoped we
could investigate the great red spot, but am convinced we have
seen the beginning of one in Twentieth Century Archipelago, and
what, under favourable conditions, will be recognized as such on
earth."
It was just six terrestrial weeks since they had set out, and
therefore February 2d on earth.
"It would be best, in any case, to start from Jupiter's equator,"
said Cortlandt, "for the straight line we should make from the
surface here would be at right angles to Saturn. We shall
probably, in spite of ourselves, swing a few degrees beyond the
line, and so can get a bird's-eye view of some portion of the
southern hemisphere."
"All aboard for Saturn!" cried Bearwarden enthusiastically, in
his jovial way. "This will be a journey."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SCENE SHIFTS.
Having returned the rugs to the Callisto, they applied the
maximum power of the batteries to rising, closed all openings
when the barometer registered thirty, and moved off into space.
When Several thousand miles above the pole, they diverted part of
the power to attracting the nearest moon that was in the plane of
Jupiter's equator, and by the time their upward motion had ceased
were moving well in its direction. Their rapid motion aided the
work of resisting gravity, since their car had in fact become a
small moon, revolving, like those of Uranus or that of Neptune,
in an orbit varying greatly from the plane of the ecliptic. As
they flew south at a height ranging from two thousand to three
thousand miles, the planet revolved before them, and they had a
chance of obtaining a thorough view. There were but a few
scattered islands on the side of the Northern hemisphere opposite
to that over which they had reached the pole, and in the varying
colours of the water, which they attributed to temperature or to
some substance in solution, they recognized what they had always
heard described on earth as the bands of Jupiter, encircling the
planet with great belts, the colour varying with the latitude.
At about latitude forty-five these bands were purple, farther
south light olive green, and at the equator a brown orange.
Shortly after they swung across the equator the ocean again
became purple, and at the same time a well-defined and very
brilliant white spot came into view. Its brightness showed
slight variations in intensity, though its general shape remained
unchanged. It had another peculiarity, in that it possessed a
fairly rapid motion of its own, as it moved eastward across the
surface of the ocean. It exhibited all the phenomena of the
storm they had watched in crossing Secretary Deepwaters Bay, but
covered a larger area, and was far more violent. Their glasses
showed them vast sheets of spray driven along at tremendous
speed, while the surface was milky white.
"This," said Bearwarden, picking up a book, "solves to my mind
the mystery of the white spot described by the English writer
Chambers, in 1889, as follows:
"'During the last few years a brilliant white spot has been
visible on the equatorial border of the great southern belt. A
curious fact in connection with this spot is, that it moves with
a velocity of some two hundred and sixty miles per hour greater
than the red spot. Denning obtained one hundred and sixty-nine
observations of this bright marking during the years 1880-1883,
and determined the period as nine hours, fifty minutes, eight and
seven tenths seconds (five and a half minutes less than that of
the red spot). Although the latter is now somewhat faint, the
white spot gives promise of remaining visible for many years.
During the year 1886 a large number of observations of Jupiter
were made at the Dearborn Observatory, Chicago, U. S., by Prof.
G. W. Hough, using the eighteen-and-a-half-inch refractor of the
observatory. Inasmuch as these observations are not only of high
intrinsic interest, but are in conflict,