, 1880-12-25
Reees. Celestial Con,.ao:;ops.


t,ecolils = !asc Dissertations G5i3 n
orrers bo.S J5.,.;eT sri ihr Ssa ESye ar-
Tered 81 q Dcri'-l ef inverted 9ctIvi''-
TIE -giaa; plane l.ss i-"r'i ,,irr.F's -i,.-
hy SIDE wiih ms 7cl syn; d uUalec aS
~hite aneS, ami displaying ren.I sdniy
t.:.i.t cpiarias m is lvl5s B-.cs Is
equatorial Ue.1 Mr. j. Rand Csp-"n, i
England. noticed on the ID INST. "four or
FIVE irregular shaped spots nearly black
TINT, and he says that ",hese dark spots
seem nov 10 be affectius Jup!ters snr-
face III several parts ana are cert7;niy not
usual u it The night on which he
made these observations he suggested the
probability Of marked aurnra' displays, Il
the investigation OF which h has devoted
great research, and on the fwo succeeding
nights the Orkney Islands were brilliant
ly illuminated with aurorai banners. s.
great Is Jup;ter's distance from the Sun
that 1t requires ne rly twelve years t.
make Its revolution round the Sun, and
hence the Suns heat can scarcely suffice
to create such disturbance IN the Jovian
atmosphere by the evaporation of the pla-
nets aqueous masses. The source of the
eomn,o,t.n Indicated by the nnw obscrv
I'd spots must therefore be located deep
down bslnw the visible cloud strata in the
fiery maSs VI the planet itself. Beneath
the apparently quiescen; envelope "i THIS
vast Star Tremendous energies are at work,
causin. outhu:sts Compared with which
our glandest yulcanic crnp.ions are utter
IL insignificant, and originating hurricanes
which have heeu seen to sweep Us skies
for weeks with currents moving over a
hundred and fif,y miles en hnur In 1890
Mr. Long, of Manchester, watched an
obliqne dark streak IN immense riff lar
ger than the whole area of Enrnp--
lengthen out till II stretched across the
entire face Of the planet, which Is moro
than 100 times as large as our globe.
Our ;ierccss cyilenes, generated III the
tropical Atlantic, last but Il few days, ana
could the dark cloud canopy nverhansing
one Of them b. seen from distant orb its
area, compared with that uf the earth,
would seem Ike Il smoke ring III L large
hall. But the disturbance of 1850 IN
Jupiter's vapor-laden atmosphere, which
lasted SIX weeks and conpas ,ed the pla-
net, leaves no room for wonder Al any
eruption now detected rs nov .oins on
from It's voic nic surface.
Mysterious, however, as are the spots
recently observed by Mr.. Cspron on the
fiery planet, NJ Thollon. If France, has
recently recorded equally remarkable, eri
dcuc.s If unusual solar colnmpti"u. This
during the present Fall, has
Il CdmPtes Rcit,tas most striking
protuberances in the Sun, some of which
reached nearly to the corona, and in the
last two months our 0an GS.rnnn-
mers hare reported an unusual number
Of Sun spots, a single grohp of which
on the 18th Of September occupied
two-;hir.is If the solar diameter, or one
hundred and ninety thousand miles tram
ives. to east. The phenomena resulting
from these enormous outbursts of solar
energy can scarcely as yet be eonjec,nred;
1t is perhaps a long time before astrDno-
mers can determine their Effects upon our
own atmosphere. But that they are pow
erfully felt even il the remoter bnunds Of
the solar system, is not la be questioned.
An able writer in the latest issue uf the
Edinburgh Rcoiclc suggests, with Secchi,
there may be possible connection be-
tween the sun eruptive activity and the
formation of periodic stars similar To- that
observed br T'ycho Brahe in November,
l512 The Danish astronoiner then de
scried III the zenith a star bris shter than
Jupiter, 81 brilliant that persons were able
to detect it at noon IN clear weather, and
at night when all other stars were be-
dimmed but after the lapse Of seventeen
months it wholly vanished If, As asrrnn-
omic records indicate, it is a periodic star
of 800 years period, having appeared in
945 and l264, its temperance, this writer
suggests, may be looked for about this
time.
But however this may be, the present
activity observed in the envelope Of the
sun and in that of Jupiter, the mightiest
member of the solar system, should be
closely watched and compared with the
phenomenal weather now transporting on
our own inpressible atmosphere that if
possible the connection between the two
may be discovered. The new year, if We
may Judge from present Indications, prom
ises TO be one of marked meteorological
phenomena, which should be diligently
investigated from every view point, stellar
and terrestrial.