Preparing To Alight

: LAST OF EARTH

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.



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(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

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(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



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(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 0.91 14.6 102(?)



Neptune......... ......... 0.20 0 0.88 14.2 .....



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"You see," Ayrault explained, "on Jupiter we shall need our

apergetic outfits to enable us to make long marches, while on

Saturn they will not be necessary, the increase in our weight as

a result of that planet's size being considerably less than the

usual load carried by the Roman soldier."



"I do not imagine," said Cortlandt, "we should long be troubled

by gravitation without our apergetic outfits even on Jupiter,

for, though our weight will be more than doubled, we can take off

one quarter of the whole by remaining near the equator, their

rapid rotation having apparently been given providentially to all

the large planets. Nature will adapt herself to this change, as

to all others, very readily. Although the reclamation of the

vast areas of the North American Arctic Archipelago, Alaska,

Siberia, and Antarctic Wilkes Land, from the death-grip of the

ice in which they have been held will relieve the pressure of

population for another century, at the end of that time it will

surely be felt again; it is therefore a consolation to feel that

the mighty planets Jupiter and Saturn, which we are coming to

look upon as our heritage, will not crush the life out of any

human beings by their own weight that may alight upon them."



Before going to bed that evening they decided to be up early the

next day, to study Jupiter, which was already a brilliant object.



The following morning, on awakening, they went at once to their

observatory, and found that Jupiter's disk was plainly visible to

the naked eye, and before night it seemed as large as the full

moon.



They then prepared to check the Callisto's headlong speed, which

Jupiter's attraction was beginning to increase. When about two

million miles from the great planet, which was considerably on

their left, they espied Callisto ahead and slightly on their

right, as Deepwaters had calculated it would be. Applying a mild

repulsion to this--which was itself quite a world, with its

diameter of over three thousand miles, though evidently as cold

and dead as the earth's old moon--they retarded their forward

rush, knowing that the resulting motion towards Jupiter would be

helped by the giant's pull. Wishing to be in good condition for

their landing, they divided the remainder of the night into

watches, two going to sleep at a time, the man on duty standing

by to control the course and to get photographic negatives, on

which, when they were developed, they found two crescent-shaped

continents, a speckled region, and a number of islands. By 7 A.

M., according to Eastern standard time, they were but fifty

thousand miles from Jupiter's surface, the gigantic globe filling

nearly one side of the sky. In preparation for a sally, they got

their guns and accoutrements ready, and then gave a parting

glance at the car. Their charge of electricity for developing

the repulsion seemed scarcely touched, and they had still an

abundant supply of oxygen and provisions. The barometer

registered twenty-nine inches, showing that they had not lost

much air in the numerous openings of the vestibule. The pressure

was about what would be found at an altitude of a few hundred

feet, part of the rarefaction being no doubt due to the fact that

they did not close the windows until at a considerable height

above Van Cortlandt Park.



They saw they should alight in a longitude on which the sun had

just risen, the rocky tops of the great mountains shining like

helmets in its rays. Soon they felt a sharp checking of their

forward motion, and saw, from the changed appearance of the stars

and the sun, that they had entered the atmosphere of their new

home.



Not even did Columbus, standing at the prow of the Santa Maria,

with the New World before him, feel the exultation and delight

experienced by these latter-day explorers of the twenty-first

century. Their first adventures on landing the reader already

knows.



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