Abstract
DRAWINGS OF MERCURY.—Mr. Percival Lowell, writing (Astr. Nach., No. 3407) of the planet Mercury, says that the markings of the planet are distinct and dark. They are generally of the nature of lines. Both poles, he says, are shaded, and there is a conspicuous dark band cutting off the southern one from the rest of the planet. This band is stated to be continuous for several degrees of longitude, and may possibly girdle the zone completely. The period of rotation of the planet was found to be synchronous with the orbital revolution, thus endorsing Schiaparelli's previously determined period of eighty-eight days. Even from the drawings, several of which are reproduced, a slow period of rotation seems the more probable, while observations made since they were completed confirm this still more.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 55, 447 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/055447a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/055447a0