Galileo's Planet: Observing Jupiter Before Photography

by Hockey; Thomas A

• ISBN13: 9780750304481
• ISBN10: 0750304480
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781000157178
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-01-01
• Publisher: CRC Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Since the earliest times one of the brightest lights in the heavens has been that of Jupiter, mythical king of the gods and the largest planet in the solar system. It was only natural that peoples from the dawn of history would be interested in such a planet and, indeed, Jupiter was one of the first objects to be observed with the telescope. Even today Jupiter captures the public interest like no other planet: a vast gaseous world, home to violent storms (larger than the Earth) that have raged for centuries.Galileo's Planet: Observing Jupiter before Photography presents the history of humankind's quest to understand the giant planet in the era before photography, a time when the only way to observe the universe was with the human eye. The book provides a comprehensive and fascinating account of the people involved in this quest, their observations, and the results of their findings.Many of the planetary features studied in detail by today's space probes were once glimpsed by keen-eyed, amateur astronomers. These Earth-bound explorers made up for their modest instruments and viewing conditions with their patience, perseverance, and passion for the night sky. Their greatest challenge was the fifth planet from the Sun and the search for its imagined surface-a revelation of the "real Jupiter." In the process, these part-time observers redefined the meaning of the word "planet." The book recounts their story from the earliest times right up until the invention of the camera.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Glossary	xv
Introduction	1	(6)
A Jupiter Primer	7	(6)
Before the Telescope	13	(4)
The Seventeenth Century	17	(22)
First Telescopic Observations	17	(4)
`Recognition'	21	(1)
Sightings of Jovian Features	22	(5)
Cosmological Implications	27	(1)
Questions on Precedence	27	(1)
Late Seventeenth-Century Work	28	(5)
Patronage	33	(1)
A Century of Discovery	34	(1)
Summary	35	(4)
The Eighteenth Century	39	(18)
Did the Permanent Spot = the Great Red Spot?	39	(1)
A Jovian Mystery	40	(2)
The Search for the `Surface' of Jupiter	42	(1)
Northward	43	(1)
The Shape of Jupiter	44	(1)
The Herschels	45	(4)
Further Contributions from the Continent	49	(3)
Why Observe Jupiter?	52	(1)
Summary	53	(4)
The First Half of the Nineteenth Century	57	(34)
Observations from Germany (`Barges')	57	(7)
The State of Knowledge at Mid-19th Century	64	(5)
Recurring Spots in the South Temperate Zone	69	(8)
Equatorial Plumes	77	(1)
A Widely Distributed Painting of Jupiter	78	(5)
Where To Observe?	83	(2)
A Latter-Day Italian Observer	85	(1)
Summary	85	(6)
The 1860s and 1870s	91	(34)
The Oblique Streak	91	(4)
The Challenge of Time-Varying Phenomena	95	(1)
Awareness of Colour on Jupiter	96	(2)
Mayer's Ellipse	98	(3)
Initial Reports Focusing on the Equatorial Zone	101	(3)
A Detailed Description of Jupiter and `Portholes'	104	(5)
Continued Reports Focusing on the Equatorial Zone	109	(7)
A Disturbance on Jupiter	116	(1)
The Significance of the EZ Reddening	116	(3)
Summary	119	(6)
The Modern Discovery of the Great Red Spot	125	(34)
Observations Made at Parsonstown	125	(4)
Observations Made at Moscow	129	(2)
The 1874 Apparition	131	(3)
Published Drawings: from Few to Many	134	(1)
Possible South Temperate Ovals	135	(1)
Reports from the Southern Hemisphere	136	(4)
The Great Red Spot	140	(9)
The Rotation of Jupiter	149	(3)
Summary	152	(7)
Theories of Jupiter	159	(26)
Initial Inquiries into the Physical Nature of Jupiter	160	(2)
What is Heating Jupiter?	162	(4)
Whither the Jovians?	166	(2)
Earth-Like or Sun-Like Joviophysics?	168	(6)
The Search for Periodicities in the Jovian Atmosphere	174	(4)
Observation versus Theory	178	(2)
Summary	180	(5)
Observations, Conclusions, and Final Thoughts	185	(20)
A Golden Age	185	(2)
Who Were the Jupiter Watchers?	187	(1)
Describing Jupiter	188	(3)
Drawing Jupiter	191	(2)
The Histories of Selected Jovian Features	193	(3)
Were there Impacts on Jupiter before Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9?	196	(3)
Barriers to Interpretation	199	(6)
A Oppositions of Jupiter	205	(4)
Index	209