The fifth satellite, discovered in 1892, is the nearest to Jupiter,
and the smallest of all his satellites. Its diameter is probably not
more than one hundred and twenty miles, but its exact size can be
estimated only by the amount of light it reflects. It is too small to
show a measurable disc, and cannot even be seen when it makes a transit
across the planet. It would seem then a mere speck, if we could see
it at all. It makes one revolution about Jupiter in less than twelve
hours (eleven hours and fifty-seven minutes), and is only a little more
than twenty-two thousand miles from the surface of the planet at the
equator. It appears to us as a star of about the thirteenth magnitude,
and cannot be seen except with a large telescope. Owing to the great
curvature of the planet, and to the satellite’s being so near him, it
cannot be seen from the surface of Jupiter beyond sixty-five degrees
of latitude. It moves faster than any other satellite in the solar
system, going at the rate of sixteen and a half miles a second. It
does not make a revolution in as short a time as Phobos, the little
satellite of Mars, does, but it has a much longer distance to travel
and goes at a faster rate. The fact that Jupiter rotates in ten hours
and the satellite makes a revolution around him in twelve hours results
in the satellite’s taking five of Jupiter’s days to cross from the
eastern horizon to the western. It would go through all its phases four
times during that period if it were not that, being so near the planet,
his huge form cuts off the sunlight from the little satellite for
nearly one-fifth of the time, and it is never seen “full.”
This satellite is very difficult for us to see on account of its
diminutive size and its nearness to the shining disc of Jupiter; yet
it was discovered by means of the telescope, and not by photography,
as so many small bodies are discovered nowadays, and by a man who thus
far has not been able to see the fine line markings on Mars, which some
other astronomers think they can see--a fact that is very interesting
as showing the difference between observers even of great keenness of
vision. From this satellite Jupiter would seem an enormous body, nearly
eighty-five times larger than our sun appears to us, and, no doubt, a
splendid object. But the little satellite pays rather dearly for the
view by suffering numerous and long-continued eclipses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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