The Equatorial Current on Jupiter

Abstract

THAT differences occurred in the rate of motion of different markings on Jupiter was first discovered by Cassini in the seventeenth century. But other observers in later years appear to have neglected the systematic study of the planet. His disc was occasionally surveyed, it is true, and the positions of the belts described, but the details were not perseveringly followed. Telescopes were formerly of inordinate length and not very effective in performance, but what was accomplished by Cassini might also have been achieved by others. Jupiter's dimensions are such that comparatively small and imperfect instruments are capable of revealing the principal markings. Herschel never made a thorough investigation of the Jovian spots, though he obtained some observations in 1779 and recognised the difference in their motions. Until the last half of the nineteenth century the planet seems to have been generally surveyed in a desultory manner.