Abstract
THE ROTATION OF VENUS.—Notwithstanding the persistence with which the planet Venus has been telescopically observed, the period of rotation is still undetermined with anything like certainty. Schröter believed the time of rotation to be 23h. 21m.; and this period, or thereabouts, was pretty generally adopted until the announcement by Schiaparelli, in 1890, that the time of rotation was probably equal to that of the planet's revolution round the sun, that is, about 225 days. This conclusion was based on the rigidity of the markings at different hours of the day and for weeks together. Observations by M. Perrotin and Dr. Terby tend to strengthen the conclusion arrived at by Schiaparelli. On the other hand, M. Niesten observed the planet between 1881 and 1890, and found that a period of 23 hours satisfied his observations; while M. Trouvelot, from nearly twenty years’ work, concluded that the rotation period was about 24 hours. In this divided state of opinion, therefore, it is evident that much remains to be done before any satisfactory conclusion can be drawn.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 52, 348 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/052348a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/052348a0