Seeing Red: Observations of Colour in Jupiter's Equatorial Zone on the Eve of the Modern Discovery of the Great Red Spot

In 1856, Warren De La Rue described the “southern belt” and “northern [belt]” as brown. The poles were yellow — more so in the north. De La Rue also mentioned faint yellow streaks appearing under the “northern belt”, presumably in the northern component of the Equatorial Zone (“Observations of Jupiter, during October 1856”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society [hereafter: Monthly notices], xvii (1857), 5–7, p. 6). In March 1860, a diagonal North Equatorial Belt feature was described as “bluish-black” when contrasted with the “dull yellowish red colour of the large belt” by Baxendell Joseph (ibid., xx (1860), 243–4, p. 244). Observing that same month, the Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy described Jupiter thus: “In the region above the equator there was a double belt, inclined perhaps 15° to the equator … it had a most decided reddish tinge, a pale brick red” (“Remarks on the appearance of Jupiter”, ibid., xx (1860), 244–5, p. 245).

The system of belt and zone names used here follows that of Peek Bertrand (The planet Jupiter (London, 1958), 22–23).

Browning J. , “On a persistent marking on Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxviii (1868), 213.

Browning described the basic features observable at the time of his drawing: Two dark belts either side of a bright Equatorial Band with a “uniformly corrugated appearance on the lower or northern edge” (ibid). He noted that in the standard De La Rue drawing of 1856 (op. cit. (ref. 1)), the same corrugated appearance exists. (This aspect of the drawing cannot be seen in the comparatively crude woodblock prints; Browning evidently had access closer to the original engraving.) Browning deduced that the longevity of this border marking may have physical significance in regard to the actual ‘surface’ of the planet or, at least, is a unique property of that portion of the Jovian atmosphere (op. cit. (ref. 3)).

Ibid.

Browning J. , “Changes in Jupiter”, Nature, i (1869), 138–9, p. 138.

Mayer A. , “Observations of the planet Jupiter”, Journal of the Franklin Institute, lix (1870), 136–9, p. 138.

Ibid., 138.

Ibid., 137.

Mayer separated Sirius from its white dwarf companion as a resolution test (ibid., 136).

Ibid., 138.

Ibid., 138.

Ibid., 138.

Ibid., 138.

Ibid., 139.

The two visible northern belts and one southern belt were even more crimson lake and approached a “coppery hue”. The polar regions were yellow with a “light lead” tint added (ibid., 139).

Ibid., 137–8.

Ibid., 137.

Mayer's painting shows a provocative elliptical feature in Jupiter's southern hemisphere, but this spot seems to have attracted very little attention at the time outside of the pages of the amateur magazine, The astronomical register. Mayer promised (ibid., 139) to continue his observations and water colours of Jupiter and to report on them, but the next year he left Lehigh to start the Department of Physics at the new Stevens Institute of Technology.

Flammarion C. , Terres du ciel (Paris, 1877), 477.

Browning J. , “On a change in the colour of the Equatorial Belt of Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxx (1870), 39.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Denning W. , “Report of observations made from September 7 to November 6, 1869, inclusive”, The astronomical register, viii (1871), 15–17, p. 15.

Denning W. , “Report of observations made from November 7, 1869 to January 6, 1870, inclusive”, ibid., 59–62, p. 59.

Gledhill J. , “Physical observations of Jupiter, from Nov. 4 to Dec. 31, 1869”, ibid., 81–83, p. 81.

Browning J. , “Note on further changes in the coloured belt of Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxx (1870), 153.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Browning J. , “Note on the alteration in the colour of the belts of Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxx (1870), 202–3, p. 202.

Ibid., 203.

Ibid., 202.

Ibid., 202.

Secchi A. , Le Soleil (2nd edn, Paris, 1877), 394.

Browning J. , “Further note on the change of the colour in Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxx (1870), 220–1.

Browning , op. cit. (ref. 6), 138.

Ibid., 139.

Ibid., 138.

Webb T. , “The planet Jupiter, 1869–1870”, The popular science review, ix (1870), 127–37.

Ibid., 128.

Ibid., 130.

Ibid., 128.

Ibid., 133.

Ibid., 135.

Webb T. , “The planet Jupiter”, Nature, iii (1871), 430–1, p. 430.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Birmingham J. , “Report of observations made from January 7 to February 6, 1870, inclusive”, The astronomical register, viii (1871), 84.

Whitley H. , “Report of observations made from January 7 to February 6, 1870, inclusive”, ibid., 85.

Elger J. , “Report of observations made from February 7 to March 6, 1870, inclusive”, ibid., 94.

Browning J. , “On a photograph of Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxxi (1871), 33–35, p. 33.

Ibid., 35.

Ibid., 33.

Ibid.

Browning J. , “On a photograph of Jupiter”, The astronomical register, ix (1872), 15–16.

Ibid., 16.

Mitchell M. , “On Jupiter and its satellites”, American journal of science and the arts, i (1871), 393–5, p. 393.

Ibid., 393.

Ibid., 394, my emphasis.

Birmingham J. , “Jupiter”, The astronomical register, x (1873), 42.

Neison A. , “Observations to May 31”, The astronomical register, ix (1872), 171.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Browning J. , “On the change in the colour of the Equatorial Belt of Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxxi (1871), 201–2, p. 202.

Ibid., 202.

Ibid., 201.

Ibid., 201.

Ibid., 201.

Ibid., 201.

Ibid., 202.

Ibid., 201.

Browning J. “The condition of Jupiter”, The student and intellectual observer, i (1812), 1–7, p. 1.

Browning , op. cit. (ref. 67), 202.

Ibid.

Browning , op. cit. (ref. 75), 2.

Parsons L. , “Notes to accompany chromolithographs from drawings of the planet Jupiter, made with the six-foot reflector at Parsonstown, in years 1872 and 1873”, Monthly notices, xxxiv (1874), 235–47, p. 247.

Lassell W. , “Remarks on the planet Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxxii (1872), 82–83, p. 83, emphasis in original.

Ibid., 83.

Ibid., 82.

As magnification increases, Jupiter fills a greater portion of a telescope's field of view; thus, eventually, the human eye can adjust its contrast range for a field that is predominantly light as opposed to one that is predominantly black sky.

Browning J. , “On some observations of Jupiter in 1871–72”, Monthly notices, xxxii (1872), 321–2, p. 321.

Browning , op. cit. (ref. 75), 2.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Browning , op. cit. (ref. 84), 322.

Green N. , “Jupiter”, The astronomical register, xi (1874), 20.

Mitchell M. , “Notes of observations on Jupiter and its satellites”, The American journal of science and the arts, iv (1873), 454–6, p. 455.

Ibid.

Knobel E. , “Note on Jupiter, 1873”, Monthly notices, xxxiii (1873), 474–5, p. 474.

Ibid.

Flammarion , op. cit. (ref. 20), 478.

Tacchini P. , “Sur quelques phénomènes particuliers offerts par la planète Jupiter pendant le mois de Janvier 1873”, Comptes rendus, lxxvi (1873), 423–4, p. 423.

Proctor R. , “News from Jupiter”, Popular science review, xii (1873), 348–58, p. 348.

Browning J. , “Note on the disappearance of the coloured Equatorial Belt of Jupiter”, Monthly notices, xxxiii (1873), 475.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Even though they paid great attention to every detail of the appearance of the EZ over this period, few observers dared to speculate about the cause of this appearance. Henry Slack was an exception: “Colour-changes in Jupiter … may have been caused by soda flames, though not fierce enough or extensive enough to add materially to his ordinary luminosity … it is to be regretted that spectroscopes could not afford as much information as was hoped for” (“What is Jupiter doing?”, Belgravia, xl (1880), 453–8, p. 453).

Browning ran the following advertisement on the first page of the Astronomical register for August 1872 (x (1873), 180): NOTICE JOHN BROWNING begs respectfully to inform scientific gentlemen and the public generally, that he has taken the Premises, No. 63, Strand, opposite Bedford Street. These premises he will open as a West-end branch of his business on the 18th of March. In a Show-room on the ground floor there will be every convenience for testing, or seeing in action, Microscopes, Spectroscopes, Astronomical, Electrical, and other Philosophical Apparatus. There are light workshops on the premises. Communication has been established by electric telegraph with the factory at 111, Minories. JOHN BROWNING, Optical and Physical Instrument Maker to the Royal Society, the Royal Observatories of Greenwich and Edinburgh, &c., &c., &c., 63, Strand, W.C.; 111, Minories, E.; and 6 Vine Street, E.C. Specialties, Spectroscopes, Astronomical Telescopes, Polariscopes, Microscopes, and Electrical Apparatus.

Browning failed to obtain a useful spectrum of Jupiter (“Observations of Jupiter from December, 1871, to May, 1872”, The astronomical register, x (1873), 181–2, p. 182).

As soon as 1874, the EZ was once again “bronze yellow or sienna” ( Knobel E. , “Observations of Jupiter, 1874”, Monthly notices, xxxiv (1874), 403–9, p. 407). The following letter from T. W. Backhouse to the editor of the Astronomical register appeared that year (xii (1875), 115): “Sir, — I am surprised that no mention has been made by any of your correspondents of the fact that, unlike last year, the equatorial regions of Jupiter are this year of a strong orange tint, though not as strong as was the case in the two oppositions preceding last year.” In 1875, Fedor Bredikhin described the EZ as having the “couleur de fumée, avec une nuance rosée” (“Observations sur le Jupiter”, Annales de l'Observatoire de Moscou, ii (1876), 42–50, p. 43). More recently, the EZ was quite dark and orange during the 1964 apparition.

West R. Strobel D. and Tomasko M. , “Clouds, aerosols, and photochemistry in the Jovian atmosphere”, Icarus, lxv (1986), 161–217, p. 209.

Young A. , “What color is the solar system?”, Sky and telescope, lxix (1985), 399–403, p. 400.

West Strobel and Tomasko , op. cit. (ref. 104), 201 and 204.

Beebe R. and Hockey T. , “A comparison of the Red Spots in the atmosphere of Jupiter”, Icarus, lxvii (1986), 96–105, pp. 102–3.

Young , op. cit. (ref. 105), 399.

Ibid., 400.

A publication history of descriptions of the Jovian disk appears in Hockey T. , A historical interpretation of the visible cloud morphology on the planet Jupiter (Las Cruces, 1988), 37–60.

Most published observation reports from the mid-1870s onward include some description of colour. For examples, see ibid., 222–64. In 1876, an RAS committee, the first group specifically organized to study Jupiter, solicited observations and stated that “Careful notes of the tints and colours of the belts are most important” (quoted in Hirst G. , “Some notes on Jupiter during the opposition of 1876”, Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, x (1877), 83–98, p. 85.