February 17th, 1897, through a
powerful refracting telescope. We at once notice in this drawing that
the outline of Jupiter is distinctly elliptical. The surface of the
planet usually shows the remarkable series of belts here represented.
They are nearly parallel to each other and to the planet's equator.

When Jupiter is observed for some hours, the appearance of the belts
undergoes certain changes. These are partly due to the regular rotation
of the planet on its axis, which, in a period of less than five hours,
will completely carry away the hemisphere we first saw, and replace it
by the hemisphere originally at the other side. But besides the changes
thus arising, the belts and other features on the planet are also very
variable. Sometimes new stripes or marks appear, and old ones disappear;
in fact, a thorough examination of Jupiter will demonstrate the
remarkable fact that there are no permanent features whatever to be
discerned. We are here immediately struck by the contrast between
Jupiter and Mars; on the smaller planet the main topographical outlines
are almost invariable, and it has been feasible to construct maps of the
surface with tolerably accurate detail; a map of Jupiter is, however, an
impossibility--the drawing of the planet which we make to-night will be
different from the drawing of the same hemisphere made a few weeks
hence.

It should, however, be noticed that objects occasionally appear on the
planet which seem of a rather more persistent character than the belts.
We may especially mention the object known as the great oblong Red Spot,
which has been a very remarkable feature upon the southern hemisphere of
Jupiter since 1878. This object, which has attracted a great deal of
attention from observers, is about 30,000 miles long by about 7,000 in
breadth. Professor Barnard remarks that the older the spots on Jupiter
are, the more ruddy do they tend to become.

The conclusion is irresistibly forced upon us that when we view the
surface of Jupiter we are not looking at any solid body. The want of
permanence in the features of the planet would be intelligible if what
we see be merely an atmosphere laden with clouds of impenetrable
density. The belts especially support this view; we are at once reminded
of the equatorial zones on our own earth, and it is not at all unlikely
that an observer sufficiently remote from the earth to obtain a just
view of its appearance would detect upon its surface more