THE TRANSIT OF VENUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1193, 10 November 1882, Page 2

THE TRANSIT OF VEN US.

4 Corn meting on the arrival of the American scientific expedition, the Auckland Herald says : — " It may hardly be ne-n.-.-S'iry to state that a correct observation of the transit of Venus is r.c^ssary as determining the distance of the sun from the earth, which is of the first importance in j navigation and other practical affairs. I Another transit will not take place for I 120 years. The transit of IS 17 did i not settl/j th>- question which was cxi peotf-d to lie determined as accurately ; as had been expected, owing to a good many of the difficulties arising out of the observations themselves — that is, the results were effected l>y personal peculiarity to such a decided extent that if, was impossible to combine them. j?or instance, one man instead of seeing a sharp geometrical contact of Venus with the sun's edge, would

see a dark ligament or band connecting the two just before the contact. This phenomenon is known as the ■' black drop,' Others did not see anything at all, while others observed the transit to a greater or less extent. Out of the mass of observations which were made, it is impossible to state always what phase of this contact each astronomer observed. The observations for these reasons were not comparable, and on account of this the calculations have not been rendered with that accuracy which was expected. For instance, the Knglish astronomers have published four or five separate I'esults from their observations, the discrepancies arising from the fact tha| different interpretations were put! upon the various observations. Th^ experience gained in the last transit] however, will be of great use to astronomers in the transit of December next It is regarded as a SPttled fact by the scientific men now that the transit of W.Vus will not be the method upon v>!idhthe determination of the distance -A the earth from the sun will il-'fy ■■Je.pend. There are other lnotlio-iS which will render more accurate results, but in the present state of science it behoves astronomers to use every method they can for a trune determination of the parallax. On the morning when the transit takes plane, the sun will rise with a shadow of Venus projected on its disc, To ascertain the difference of longitude between Au-kland and a place which lias already been tertimined it may be necessary to use the telegram. Wellington has been determined by Sydney, and as it is not known by the United astronomers whether Auckland has been accurately determined, the position of Auckland will probably he ascertained from Wellington's known situation.