Abstract
THE FIFTH SATELLITE OF JUPITER.—The opposition of Jupiter in 1894 occurred at a very unfavourable time for observations at Mount Hamilton, but a few measures of the fifth satellite were secured with some difficulty by Prof. Barnard. During the observations of the satellite, the planet was obscured by a piece of smoked mica covering half the field. For the measurement of distances the micrometer wires were usually placed perpendicular to the belts on the planet; but on November 18 they were set parallel to the belts, and these measurements accordingly enable the Jovian latitude of the satellite to be determined. Only one eastern elongation was observed. This was on December 3, and the distance was found to be 59″˙5 ; or reduced to the mean distance of the planet=5˙20 astronomical units, 48″˙17. On this date the elongation occurred at 23h. 43˙6m. G.M.T., the corresponding time in Marth's ephemeris being 23h. 42m. G.M.T., so that the observed time was over a minute behind the computed time. The ephemeris is based on a period of 11h. 57m. 22˙6s., and the observed elongation indicates that this period will represent the motion of the satellite with sufficient accuracy to find it for several years to come (AstronomicalJournal, No. 367).
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 53, 495 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053495a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053495a0