Jupiter

Abstract

DURING the present opposition of this planet, the details of the belts and spots have continued to furnish materials of great interest. Some very obvious modifications have occurred since the previous year, and several curious new features have become conspicuous. The great red spot has surprised us by its extended duration. As early as 1882 it lost such a considerable depth of tone that its obliteration seemed imminent, but it has lingered on, until now its existence appears likely to be indefinitely prolonged, though under visible conditions far less imposing than at an earlier stage. All that at, present remains of this remarkable formation is a dusky elliptic ring, darkest at the following end, and only well seen under good definition. Whether this ellipse is identical with similar appearances delineated by Dawes in 1857, Huggins in 1858, and Gledhill in 1869, 1870, and 1871 is involved in doubt, because of the lack of intermediate observations. We have no definite information as to what became of the various objects alluded to. It is very possible that they severally represent an object considerable permanency. The changes such as observed may have been induced by atmospheric interference. There is every indication that the dense vaporous envelopes of this planet are rapidly variable, especially in the zone included by the two equatorial belts, and that the chief features undergo singular fluctuations, some of which may possibly be of periodical character.