Abstract
OBSERVATIONS OF JUPITER.—An excellent series of eighty-four drawings of the planet Jupiter at different periods during the years 1881–86, made with the reflector of 3 feet aperture at Birr Castle Observatory by Dr. Boeddicker, has just been published in the form of a communication to the Royal Dublin Society (vol. iv. series 2, March 1889). Twenty-two of the drawings were made during the opposition of 1881–82, thirty-one during 1882–83, twenty-one during 1883–84, eight during 1884–85, and two during 1885–86. The drawings made at the telescope have been exactly reproduced by a photo-mechanical process in order to avoid the errors which might have arisen by the employment of the ordinary lithographic process. Throughout the descriptive notes a very convenient notation has been employed for reference to the various features. Dr. Boeddicker draws attention to the three observations of March 16, 1883, showing remarkable changes in the appearance of one of the belts during the course of an hour. The first drawing shows two detached patches, which, in the succeeding dnwings, become the shadows of large cumulus-like clouds lying across the Jovian surface. It is suggested that these apparent changes may be simply due to the combination of the more obvious details with the finer ones after prolonged examination, and that the discrepancies between drau ings made at the same time by different observers may thus be accounted for. Photography may be expected in the near future to overcome this difficulty.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 39, 519 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/039519a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/039519a0