The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-12-12
TRANSIT OF VENUS.
Observations in the Hawaiian Islands, by
the British Astronomical Party.
INTEREST TELr IN HAWAII.

sASCc84 o n eminent helroDOfnerS now reSi1iDR mere
is 8 cause for rejoicing in this community. Hawaii
has fully appreciated the interest felt in the scientific
world in respect to this notable event. for the Observ-
alton Of whose occurrence such wise and liberal
preparation has been made by the British Govern
nent, for this part Of the world. Therefore, when q
long continued succession Of bad weather seemed to
threaten a defeat Of all the preparations for observ-
alton, the feeling Of apprehension and anxiety was
quite general. and this was not confined alone to the
educated portion Of the foreign community, but we
know that numbers Of intelligent natives we're earn
estly expressing the hope that the observation would
be successful. Wherever you went, and whoever you
met on the days just preceding the transit, you
would hear but one expression from every mouth, as
eyes An1iOusly scanned the murky skies-"I do hope
the astronomers viii have q fine day on the eighth
PRAYERS FOR FINE WEATHER.
Butt was hoping against hope; because for nearly
two months previous to the eighth instant, there had
not been 3 day that would afford q satisfactory OBJ
servatiOn. And when the eve of the notable day
showed masses Of cloud obscuring the western horizon,
hopes abated, but prayers were redOubled, and we
do not think We viii indulge in an extravagant ex-
preston when We say that q united prayer went up
from these islands for q fine day to enable astrono-
mers to observe this especial movement and mechan-
ism Of heavenly bodies for the enlightenment Of
mankind.
THE PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED.
As the day dawned. early risers looking over land
and sea. and observing only light masses Of vapor on
the misty mountain-tops. and a soft, sweet, calm air,
with just breeze enough to fan our city's rich umbra-
geous foliage into soft rustling kisses among its leaves,
whilst resplendent shafts Of light shot clearly into
the heavens from the top Of towering Tantalus, then
hope sprang up and mounted triumphant with an
unclouded sun in order to observe our sister planet
make her centennial solar call.
PREPARING SMOKED GLASS.
Daring the day, there was a very general demand
for broken panes of glass and bottles, which were
smoked and held in readiness for looking at the sun
at ~half-past three O'Clock, when the great celestial
event was predicted to take place. The natives were
as busy with their preparations for astronomical OBJ
s~ervations as the white foreigners. Little -kanakas
we're going about the streets with pieces of blackened
glass in hand, for the purpose of looking as they
said at the HOkuLOa, the morning star, go through
the sun, which they expect will be hereafter burn
ished with an increased solar ~splendor.
NATIVE INTEREST IN THE PREDICTED TRANSIT.
II was curious to listen to the remarks and specu-
latiOns of natives whose savage fathers had never
suspected this occasional moving spot on the great
light Of day. They knew that LOno, or Capt. Cook,
the discoVerer of their isles had come to these seas to
observe a star in the sun, and it had been predicted
in his day that it should be seen again more than a
hundred years afterwards on this day, with the hour,
and the minute, and the very second specified. And
now there were tens of thousands throughout these
isles looking upwards to prove the truth of this
century old prediction.
THE PROPHECY FULFILLED.
At o few minutes past three, you could see every
where in the streets, faces looking upward to the sun,
with q piece of shaded glass in hand to screen his
fierce rays from mans weak, yet ambitious, search
ing eyes. A minute or two elapsed, and no change
in the dusky red ball above. Another minute gazing
upwards and still no spot fecks the face of the
sombre rubescent orb.-Ha -" ala la I'-there it
is, cries one keen sighted, close watching kanaka;
and now we begin to see a little to the right of the
top or vertex Of the sun, q slight dent or notch; and
as we gaze on, the dent or spot enlarges, advances
within the borders of the disc; and as the clearly de-
fined dark macula upon the rudy plane is now dis
tinctly seen by every eye, an enthusiastic native
says, q surely they who behold this were prophets, and
Lono was O prophet"
THE ASTRONOMERS WATCHING.
But we must turn to where the real star prophets
we're at work, close to the beach in the grounds
known as Honokaupu, which will hereafter be desig-
mated as our ' Point Venus" There in astronomi-
cal huts planned and constructed with great care,
and whose instruments are erected on solid, deep laid
Lases of masonry, we find the indefatigable Chief
Captain Tupman gazing sunwards through a tele-
spectroscope, whilst his co-observers Mr.. NichOl and
Lieut.. Noble are Watching the disc Of the great lumi-
nary through their telescopes, and Lieut.. Ramsden is
making vigilant preparation with the photoheliograph
to picture the path Of the planet across the burning
field of the sun. Lieutenants Clapp, Oldham and
of II. B. NJ. S. Seoul, assisted the astron-
omers, by recording the times, etc.
THE CRITICAL PHASE.
What a moment, and what a sense Of responsibility
for three thoughtful, studiOus men, who have to deal
with q great crisis in q fraction of a second, whilst
the audience Of an enlightened. expectant world is
alphabetically present Faithfully the heavenly
traveller comes, as first foretold by Kepler, and the
chief observes the first external contact of disc and
at Oh. I'm. Is, and Lieutenant Noble at Oh. I'm.
&c., according to local mean solar time. The
is singular but must be regarded
as purely accidental. But this is not the
crisis Of greatest moment; it Is when the per-
rounded orb Of the planet is within the sun,
the edge of its disc at the moment of leaving the
inner circle of the luminary indicates the internal
contact, the most interesting point to be observed, in
all this transit phenomenon.
As the body of the planet was indenting the suns
rim, and advancing on towards immersion within its
body, the Chief who was now watching through q
micrometer saw the complete disc of Venus defined
about 80 seconds before the actual internal contact
determined, and for q while he imagined he had
the critical phase Of the phenomenon; but
this revelation of the complete circle of the planet,
before actual internal contact had taken place, wa
owing to the e~ffulgence Of the corona, or outer fame
waves of the sun, which Illuminated the whole sur
Of Venus, some time before complete immersion,
"A phase of the phenomenon never observed before,
and its detection on this occasion is due to the optical
Of the telescope instruments employed.
Noble could distinguish the complete
Of Venus fHlly Eve minutes before internal con-
tact. And Mr.. johnson observing at Waimea on the
Island Of Kauai, saw this complete disc no less than
minutes before the complete entrance of the