Abstract
MR. WILLIAMS has been known for about thirty years as a very painstaking planetary observer, and, considering the small sizes of his telescopes (5¼-inch and 6½-inch reflectors), his results have been remarkable in their comprehensiveness and importance. To Jupiter especially Mr. Williams has devoted attention, and, as a continuation or supplement to the “Zenographic Fragments” which he published twenty years ago, and dealing with his observations in 1887, has now issued a similar contribution for 1888. The individually observed transits of the various spots are given, and the periods of rotation are derived and compared with the results of 1887 and subsequent years. In 1888 the number of spots followed with sufficient fulness and accuracy to enable their rotation period to be well determined was 76. Of these, 48 were equatorial markings, and 15 were north tropical spots. The power used on the telescope was 150, and consisted of a single plano-convex lens. The planet was badly situated for observation, its meridian altitude only slightly exceeding 20° even in the south of England.
Zenographical Fragments, II. The Motions and Changes of the Markings on Jupiter in 1888.
By A. Stanley Williams. Pp. xiii + 104; 9 plates. (London: Taylor and Francis, 1909.)
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D., W. Zenographical Fragments, II The Motions and Changes of the Markings on Jupiter in 1888. Nature 81, 125 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/081125a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/081125a0