Astronomical Curiosities: Facts and FallaciesGore, J. Ellard (John Ellard)
Science
Astronomical Curiosities: Facts and Fallacies
Gore, J. Ellard (John Ellard)
Astronomy -- Miscellanea; Solar system -- Miscellanea
Sir William Huggins in 1871 found strong absorption lines (six strong
lines) in the spectrum of Uranus. One of these lines indicated the
presence of hydrogen, a gas which does not exist in our atmosphere. Three
of the other lines seen were situated near lines in the spectrum of
atmospheric air. Neither carbonic acid nor sodium showed any indications
of their presence in the planet's spectrum. A photograph by Prof. Slipher
of Neptune's spectrum "shows the spectrum of this planet to contain many
strong absorption bands. These bands are so pronounced in the part of the
spectrum between the Fraunhofer lines F and D, as to leave the solar
spectrum unrecognizable.... Neptune's spectrum is strikingly different
from that of _Uranus_, the bands in the latter planet all being reinforced
in _Neptune_. In this planet there are also new bands which have not been
observed in any of the other planets. The F line of hydrogen is remarkably
dark ... this band is of more than solar strength in the spectrum of
Uranus also. Thus free hydrogen seems to be present in the atmosphere of
both these planets. This and the other dark bands in these planets bear
evidence of an enveloping atmosphere of gases which is quite unlike that
which surrounds the earth."[176]
With the 18-inch equatorial telescope of the Strasburgh Observatory, M.
Wirtz measured the diameter of Neptune, and found from forty-nine measures
made between December 9, 1902, and March 28, 1903, a value of 2"·303 at a
distance of 30·1093 (earth's distance from sun = 1). This gives a diameter
of 50,251 kilometres, or about 31,225 miles,[177] and a mean density of
1·54 (water = 1; earth's mean density = 5·53). Prof. Barnard's measures
gave a diameter of 32,900 miles, a fairly close agreement, considering the
difficulty of measuring so small a disc as that shown by Neptune.
The satellite of Neptune was photographed at the Pulkown Observatory in
the year 1899. The name Triton has been suggested for it. In the old Greek
mythology Triton was a son of Neptune, so the name would be an appropriate
one.
The existence of a second satellite of Neptune is suspected by Prof.
Schaeberle, who thinks he once saw it with the 36-inch telescope of the
Lick Observatory "on an exceptionally fine night" in 1895.[178] But this
supposed discovery has not yet been confirmed. Lassell also thought he had
discovered a second satellite, but this supposed discovery was never
confirmed.[178]
The ancient Burmese mention eight planets, the sun, the moon, Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and another named Râhu, which is invisible.
It has been surmised that "Râhu" is Uranus, which is just visible to the
naked eye, and may possibly have been discovered by keen eyesight in
ancient times. The present writer has seen it several times without
optical aid in the West of Ireland, and with a binocular field-glass of 2
inches aperture he found it quite a conspicuous object.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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