Abstract
NEW OBSERVATIONS OF VENUS.—During the first three months of the present year, Dr. Eduardo Fontseré, of the Observatory of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Barcelona, made a series of observations of the planet Venus with a refractor of 11 cm. belonging to that observatory. An account of these observations is briefly described in the current number of the Astronomischen Nachrichten (No. 3430), and is accompanied by numerous figures illustrating the different surface markings that were recorded. The colour of the planet was noted as being of a yellowish green tinge, the most brilliant regions of the disc being less coloured than the others. The polar regions were not found to resemble those on Mars. Attention was paid especially to the dark and light spots on the disc, which were at times very conspicuous. We cannot here enumerate the various differences of shade observed, but we may mention the most brilliant noticed, namely, that situated near the south pole, and forming the letter X by the crossing of two arcs of circles. Dr. Fontseré classifies the bright regions into two divisions: those which are, to rall intents and purposes, permanent, but of a variable nature, increasing and decreasing in relative brightness between certain limits; and those which appear like white trails always inclined towards the equator, but never parallel to it. As in the observations of Trouvelot, large deformations of the terminator were distinctly noticed, but are attributed for the most part to irradiation. The extremities of the horns were also found to be sometimes prolonged into the non-illuminated portion of the disc. The observations during these three months have indicated that, relatively to the sun, Venus has not undergone any rotation except as regards the small libration, which was exactly equal to that which corresponded to the change of geocentric latitude. The above-mentioned observations form a valuable contribution to our present knowledge concerning the telescopic appearance and time of rotation of this planet.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 56, 300 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/056300a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/056300a0