J. Brit. Astron. Assoc., 105, 6, 1995

The Giant Planet Jupiter

by John H. Rogers

Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-521-41008-8. Pp x + 418, £50.00 (hbk).

reviewed by David L. Graham

For many years, the classic treatise on the visual observation of Jupiter was Bertrand Meigh Peek's The Planet Jupiter. Published in 1958, the year after the flight of Sputnik I, Peek's work drew upon the annals of the Association's Jupiter Section and subsequently made essential reading for students of the planet. His account of the turbulent activity in the belts and zones of Jupiter, as followed through the first half of the twentieth century by the likes of A. Stanley Williams, T. E. R. Phillips, M. A. Ainslie and F. J. Hargreaves, makes inspiring reading to this day. However, much has happened since Peek put pen to paper, not least the Pioneer and Voyager missions to the outer planets, and as Peek was the first to admit, activity in Jupiter's clouds is never at a standstill! Thus for several years now, there has been a need for an authoritative treatment of the subject which would reconcile the long term Earth-based record with our new knowledge at a level accessible to the informed student of Jupiter. It is safe to say that with the publication of The Giant Planet Jupiter this requirement is now met.

A researcher in molecular biology and a lecturer in the Department of Physiology at the University of Cambridge, John Rogers was appointed Director of the BAA Jupiter Section in 1988 and has written most of the Section's apparition reports since 1972. He has demonstrated a firm grasp of the post-Voyager understanding of the Jovian environment and a realistic appraisal of the telescopic record. In Peek's day, Jupiter was largely the province of the amateur astronomer but recently a host of new scientific disciplines has emerged, to make tremendous strides in solving some of the mysteries of the planet. In fact, a significant fraction of the material covered by The Giant Planet Jupiter was simply not known prior to the Voyager flybys.

At first sight, The Giant Planet Jupiter may appear daunting – naturally a large volume is necessary to provide a comprehensive introduction to the largest planet in the solar system! However, the book is written in an engaging style and may be studied one topic at a time. The author has used visual conventions throughout which means drawings, photographs and maps are reproduced south up, including Pioneer and Voyager imagery. Wind velocities are quoted in degrees of longitude drift per 30 days from which rotation periods measured in hours, minutes and seconds are derived, as opposed to metres per second. This will be familiar to those who have studied the Jupiter Section apparition reports published in the Journal but perhaps less so to professional researchers not versed in BAA methods. However, the stated aim is to preserve continuity with a century of near constant observation of Jupiter, and the result more than justifies this approach.

The Giant Planet Jupiter is divided into six sections, the first of which, 'Observing Jupiter', serves as a useful introduction to the remainder of the book. Here we are given sage advice on the making of visual observations of Jupiter which would be applicable to planetary observing in general. Amateur astronomy has not stood still and the impact of fine grained photographic emulsions and CCDs has resulted in some contemporary amateur images being the equal of their professional counterparts.

The central theme of The Giant Planet Jupiter is a successful synthesis of the old and the new. Part 2, 'The Visible Structure of the Atmosphere' and 'Vertical Structure: Colours and Clouds' introduces the concept of domains, currents and jetstreams which control the appearance of Jupiter's clouds. Spots are revealed in their true guise as cyclonic and anticyclonic weather systems. By far the largest section is Part 3, 'The Observational Record of the Atmosphere'. Here we find the planet divided into eight regions, one of the most active being the 'South Tropical Region' (9°S – 27°S) where we learn about South Tropical Disturbances and Dislocations, revivals of the South Equatorial Belt, and the Great Red Spot. The remaining sections deal with theoretical models of the atmosphere and composition of Jupiter, the electromagnetic environment and the satellites. Readers of this review may have followed eclipses and occultations of the Galilean moons through their telescopes but here is published a sequence of Io emerging from Jupiter's shadow from the vantage of Voyager! The book concludes with a number of plates illustrating 160 years of Jupiter observation, but the text is profusely illustrated throughout. Unfortunately the Shoemaker–Levy impact came too late to be included in this volume (the one occasion to my knowledge when a comet surpassed all expectations but only because Jupiter was involved.). We must hope that this is covered in a second edition but who knows, the reduced results of the 'comet crash' may require some theories to be modified in any case!

The Giant Planet Jupiter is set to be the jewel in the crown of the Cambridge 'Practical Astronomy Handbooks' series. It will rank alongside similar classic works by B. M. Peek and A. F. O'D. Alexander. There can be no greater accolade than that and I recommend it without reservation.


David Graham is Director of the Saturn Section. He has followed Jupiter through various telescopes for 20 years, including most recently, the 36-inch Lick refractor on Mount Hamilton, California.

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