Sat. II. is probably involved in an atmosphere sufficiently dense to
enable it to present undue luminosity relatively to the others; and if
so, the feeble shadow it transmits on Jupiter may be partly explained
by the effects of refraction. On the day of opposition both satellites
and shadows are projected on the same part of the disk, and the latter
are occulted by the former. On Jan. 14, 1872, Mr. F. M. Newton saw I.
centrally placed on its shadow; so that the satellite was apparently
surrounded with a ring of shade. On May 13, 1876, Mr. G. D. Hirst saw
Sat. I. partly occulting its own shadow; a black crescent was seen in
the bright zone N. of the equator. On Feb. 18, 1885, Dr. R. Copeland,
at Dun Echt, saw the shadow of I. “almost totally occulted by the
satellite itself; as the satellite approached Jupiter’s limb it came
out quite bright and large, with a mere crescent of the shadow showing
on its southern edge.” This phenomenon was also observed at Bristol.
Occasionally all the satellites become invisible at the same time,
being either eclipsed, occulted, or in transit. An instance of this
kind was recorded by Molyneux on Nov. 2, 1681 (O.S.). Sir W. Herschel
observed a similar occurrence on May 23, 1802; also Wallis on April
15, 1826, and Dawes and others on Sept. 27, 1843, and Aug. 21, 1867.
A visible repetition of the event was narrowly avoided on the morning
of Oct. 15, 1883. On this occasion the planet should, according to
the ‘Nautical Almanack,’ have been denuded of his satellites for a
period of 19 minutes; but this disappearance did not occur, for at no
time were all the satellites included within the margin or shadow of
Jupiter. I observed that Sat. III. entered upon the disk just as IV.
released itself, and the two formed a curious configuration at 4^h
A.M., hanging close upon the planet’s limbs.
Spots have been seen on the satellites both in transit and while
shining on the dark sky. This particularly refers to III. and IV. II.
has never given indications of such markings on its bright uniformly
clear surface. Dawes, Lassell, and Secchi frequently observed and drew
the spots. Secchi described III. as similar in aspect to the mottled
disk of Mars as seen in a small telescope; his drawings exhibit no
analogy, however, to those by Dawes of the same object. III. has been
remarked of a curious shape, as if dark spots obliterated part of the
limbs. Sat. I. was observed in transit on Sept. 8, 1890 by Barnard and
Burnham, and it appeared to be _double_, being divided by a bright
interval or belt. They used a 12-inch refractor, powers 500 and 700,
and the seeing was very fine.
Many other curious points have been noticed in the various aspects and
phenomena of the Jovian satellites. Further observations will doubtless
throw new light on some of the puzzling records of the past.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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