Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1877 — An Interesting Astronomical Question. [ARTICLE]

An Interesting Astronomical Question.

trot necessarily enter The* ftlaubt’s* shadow,. It only does so when the eon, the earth and JupiUr are eea*Jy to lind 1 , when the earth is coßsidcrpbly removed, from the Hue joining Jupiter dnfi thesun, a satellite {Utolfiig brtriuo the planet's (inline on one side rematoa in eunllght for a considerable time. .sit prcihaklyt,bps not pccurred to qbseryMto a satellite thus in sunlight bchud tbs ’’On the old thedryb Of- course; It would have been absurd to look for a satellite under such conditions, when tbpye would be several thousand miles Of the planet’s •olid substance in the way. Bpat of course, if the planet has an atmosphere thousands of mifos deep, laded morb or less heavily with cloud-masses.it might,quite readily happen tliat a satellite should be seen apparently through the plant**— i not! I bf(xjur%. through the middle , the planet, but through parts lying thousands, of miles witbin the appkrenf outline.’ ! ’ «’ This is what' has: now actually happened. / We should Dot quqtft the observation, if were pot, in the firat place, one which will probably be repeated (ndw that it has odee been made),'hud If it‘Hm| not. In the second place, bton accepted by aStronomers. It recorded by the council of the Astrpnomic.al : “A vary interesting phepomehoh wak ob- • served mbre than oncO’ fidlfependedtly.by Mt. Todd, of Adelaide 4 using a new eightinch telescope by Cooke, and bis assistant, Mr. Bingwood, when a satellite was on the point of being hidden, Instead of disappearing gradually" behind the planet’, it wa3 apparently projected on the disk, as if viewed through the edge of the planet, supposing the latter were subrounded by a transparent atmosphere laden with clouds. This curious pheno- < menon was noticed oq twooccasions at the disappearance of the first satellite, when it was thus distinctly visible through the edge of the disk for about two minutes before it was finally concealed.” , .( It must therefore have been seen where the line of sight passed fully 2,000 uiilct below the apparent outline of the planet, or along a range of fully 12,000 jbiles of cloud-laden air. It may safaky be” Inferred froiri this ' observation that the planet has an atmosphere extending six or seven, probably ten or twelve thousand miles below the apparent outline, so that a globe as large as otu* earth lying on the surface of Jupiter might not reach, or only baibly reach, his outermost cloudlayers.—London SpiUator,