History of Research and Exploration
History of Research and Exploration
History of Research and Exploration
Model in the Almagest of the longitudinal motion of Jupiter (☉) relative to Earth (⊕)
The observation of Jupiter dates back to at least the Babylonian astronomers of the 7th or 8th
century BC.[111] The ancient Chinese also observed the orbit of Suìxīng (歲星) and established
their cycle of 12 earthly branches based on its approximate number of years; the Chinese
language still uses its name (simplified as 岁) when referring to years of age. By the 4th century
BC, these observations had developed into the Chinese zodiac,[112] with each year associated
with a Tai Sui star and god controlling the region of the heavens opposite Jupiter's position in the
night sky; these beliefs survive in some Taoist religious practices and in the East Asian zodiac's
twelve animals, now often popularly assumed to be related to the arrival of the animals
before Buddha. The Chinese historian Xi Zezong has claimed that Gan De, an ancient Chinese
astronomer, discovered one of Jupiter's moons in 362 BC with the unaided eye. If accurate, this
would predate Galileo's discovery by nearly two millennia. [113][114] In his 2nd century work
the Almagest, the Hellenistic astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus constructed
a geocentric planetary model based on deferents and epicycles to explain Jupiter's motion
relative to Earth, giving its orbital period around Earth as 4332.38 days, or 11.86 years.[115]
Galileo Galilei, discoverer of the four largest moons of Jupiter, now known as Galilean moons
In 1610, Italian polymath Galileo Galilei discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter (now known
as the Galilean moons) using a telescope; thought to be the first telescopic observation of moons
other than Earth's. One day after Galileo, Simon Marius independently discovered moons around
Jupiter, though he did not publish his discovery in a book until 1614. [116] It was Marius's names for
the four major moons, however, that stuck—Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. These findings
were also the first discovery of celestial motion not apparently centered on Earth. The discovery
was a major point in favor of Copernicus' heliocentric theory of the motions of the planets;
Galileo's outspoken support of the Copernican theory placed him under the threat of
the Inquisition.[117]
During the 1660s, Giovanni Cassini used a new telescope to discover spots and colorful bands
on Jupiter and observed that the planet appeared oblate; that is, flattened at the poles. He was
also able to estimate the rotation period of the planet. [118] In 1690 Cassini noticed that the
atmosphere undergoes differential rotation.[48]
The Great Red Spot, a prominent oval-shaped feature in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter,
may have been observed as early as 1664 by Robert Hooke and in 1665 by Cassini, although
this is disputed. The pharmacist Heinrich Schwabe produced the earliest known drawing to show
details of the Great Red Spot in 1831. [119]
The Red Spot was reportedly lost from sight on several occasions between 1665 and 1708
before becoming quite conspicuous in 1878. It was recorded as fading again in 1883 and at the
start of the 20th century.[120]
Both Giovanni Borelli and Cassini made careful tables of the motions of Jupiter's moons, allowing
predictions of the times when the moons would pass before or behind the planet. By the 1670s, it
was observed that when Jupiter was on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth, these events
would occur about 17 minutes later than expected. Ole Rømer deduced that light does not travel
instantaneously (a conclusion that Cassini had earlier rejected), [34] and this timing discrepancy
was used to estimate the speed of light.[121]