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revealed a comet of radiant splendor."
"And that really and truly happened?"
"Really and truly; it was in all the papers and is so well authenticated that
an educated man must believe it."
"Well, then, naturally I believe it too," said Rieger, selfconsciously.
XVI THE ASTEROIDS
ON the following day, a day being calculated at twenty-four hours, the
Sannah came into the midst of the planetoids.
"The discovery of these planetoids or small planets, which are also called
asteroids," instructed Professor Schulze, "has once more shown that the
natural laws set up by science can never serve as something certain and fixed
for all time. Up to now it was actually believed that the planets moved around
the sun almost on the same level, and this was considered one of the great
natural laws. Then these diminutive planets were discovered by the hundred,
whose eccentric orbits demonstrate the weakness of the alleged law."
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"But wasn't only one planet supposed to exist between Mars and Jupiter?"
interjected Mitzie. "How is it that they were found by the hundred?"
"That's another one of those riddles," explained the Professor. "At the
outset, they were inclined to believe that it was only a matter of one large
planet which had been smashed into little bits by an explosion or a collision
with a comet.
They are exceptionally small and you could, for example, ride around the whole
of Atalanta in two hours with an express train. In addition, their feeble
light makes it enormously difficult to observe them from the earth and you
cannot determine their mass and extent with any certainty."
"All the more valuable are our observations at close
range," said Flitmore. "Look, Professor, we're coming past one of these dwarfs
again."
"Ah!" cried Schulze, "this is interesting: not a trace of globosity! It's a
Rocky Mountains whizzing through space. It ought to be about 186 miles long,
80 miles wide, and at most 2 miles high, apart from its points and peaks."
"Take good note, these planetoids have no rotation, they do not revolve around
their axes, nor do they have any light of their own, since their small size
caused them to cool off and freeze quickly," added Flitmore.
"In such formless lumps," laughed Munchhausen, "there aren't any axes anyhow."
A lengthier observation of the remarkable heavenly body actually showed that
no rotation was to be noticed. If it did take place, then it must have
proceeded exceptionally slowly. Hank remarked further: "All that we see here
shows such an irregular form one might conclude from it that, in spite of the
latest views on the subject, we nevertheless have before us fragments of a
planet."
Not without a malicious triumph, the Professor then made a discovery which
caused him to cry out: "And yet, my wise
Hank, you are mistaken: just look at that! Here is a planetoid of spherical
form which is spinning quite gaily around its axis; and it is giving forth
light, even if it is somewhat dull."
Flitmore regarded the unusual world body. It was hardly to be called
spherical, for it seemed so flattened out that it
looked more like a Swiss cheese, at least like one curved at the top and
bottom. The rotation was unmistakable; for mountain peaks could be recognized
at the rim which visibly changed their position within a quarter of an hour.
From this could be calculated a rotation period of five hours. That the planet
had its own light was indubitable.
Lord Flitmore shook his head. "If I had found this asteroid in glow, then my
view would surely be refuted, providing that it had not formed a short time
ago or been suddenly heated up by a collision. It is far from unlikely that
now and then the power of attraction affects such a rotating body, that a
larger fragment coming close to it plunges down upon it and unites with it, in
which case it would temporarily acquire a luminous glow from the violence of
the impact. I
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rather surmise, however, that this light is phosphorescent or comes from
luminous elements, radium and the like. I
think the matter is worth our being convinced by an inspection and landing on
the object of the dispute.''
"Lord Flitmore," warned the Professor, "you will run the risk of making the
Sannah glow and burning us all up."
"Should it become too hot for us," laughed Flitmore, "we shall simply make a
quick getaway."
Since a timely flight made possible an escape from any danger, all of them
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