WHAT AILS JUPITER?

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 340, 15 December 1879, Page 2

WHAT AILS JUPITER?

The New York Sun says:—One of the most remarkable spots that has ever appeared on the streaked discs of Jupiter, can now be seen with telescopes of moderate power, It is in shape a very eccentric ellipse, being seven or eight times broader than long, and it lies south of the southern equatorial belt, making a sharp contrast with the white expanse around it. This spot made its appearance several months ago, and it has before been briefly noticed in the Sun. A close inspection reveals some remarkable things In the first place its color— dßSr _,. Jm, differs strikingly from that Jft j,ny other part of the disc, although dombling the purplish hue of tho northern belt. This color is so pronounced that it immediately strikes the eye even of one who it .unaccustomed to the use of a telescope. It is not fiery, but somewhat resembles the red glow observed in clots ef molten metal when cooling. The position of the - spots is hardly less remarkable than the color. There is a striking difference in the tint of the two equatorial belts, the northern being of a reddish purple, and the southern grey. Curiously enough, the.spot adjoins the southern belt, instead of the one that it most resembles in color, and this gives it a striking appearance of isolation, It is as if a piece of the northern belt had been carried away across its grey neighbor, and thrown down upon thewhitesurface far beyond it, undergoing at the same time a considerable change of hue. The enormous size of the strange spot is another marvellous circumstance, especially when it is remembered that it made its appearance quite suddenly, and, as may be inferred from the previous great -spots on Jupiter, is liable to disappear with equal swiftness. A simple measurement shows that this spot probably covers not less than sixty million square miles—an area far exceeding that of all the islands and continents of our globe combined. Another peculiar feature is the seeming repulsion between the spots and the great south belt. In the longitude of the spot there is a perceptible narrowing of the belt, and a bending away from the neighborhood of the spot, as if in obedience to somo repellent force. If the spots were assumed to be the culminating point of an extensive elevation of the planet's surface, this appearance may be accounted for by the tipping of the belt in passing across the sur f ace of the elevation. What this great spot is, and precisely what form of physical activity it represents, are questions to which astronomers would probably hesitate to give a decided answer.