The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1874-12-16
The Transit OF Venus.

choice privilege of lifetime. The transi
of Venus as seen in Honolulu was an eminently
historical event.
The protracted storms of November, discour-
aging as they seemed at the time, yet wer,
perhaps an omen more good than otherwise
For they generally come in masses rather thar
scattered through the winter Accordingly
when, on the days Immediately preceding, the
barometer read at A. NJ, successfully on the
5th, 9th, and 9TH, 1904; sO.Os; 1910; (cor-
rected for temperature), with light n. E. trades
tending northerly, the prospects for fine weather
were indeed encouraging. Yet there were the
floating rounded trade-wind clouds, so indica-
tive of fine weather, and the hour of three
o'clock p. NJ, seemed to be a common and fa-
vorite time for battalion or so of these 10 dis
play over the western sky. 1t was therefore
still more matter of especial gratitude to a
kind Providence, that on the afternoon of Tues
day not a cloud loated over the sky from noon
till sunset, affording, so far as Nature was con-
oerned, the most perfect opportunity for all that
Man could do, and grateful cheer, moreover, to
those that had had the faith to pray.
OF course every one smoked glasses Even
the best provided, wished for chance to say
that they had seen the Transit with the unas-
sisted eye. Persons with telescopes and spy
glasses fitted them out as best they could, and
invited their friends,-when they could
The scene of he great observation was just
on the southern outskirts of Honolulu, between
the village proper and that low sandy waste,
cut into a labyrinth of fsh-ponds and salt
works, that stretches away to the seaward, and
finally loses itself in the reefs of Fisherman's
Point. To reach it, you drive down Punch
Bowl Street, nearly to its termination, tumin-
to an open inclosure beautifully sodded with
mdgisHte grass, from which sod shoot up a
couple of ancient cocoanut trees, the third one
having few weeks since blown over, and only
missed by few feet of crushing the pet Transit
Instrument and Clock into direw wreck. Across
this open lot you come to a high board fence
Lock the gate was the Captains first me-
morandum for the day, and locked it was to all
and every one save the four astronomers, three
officers from the Scout, three assistants to the
photographer, and the British Commissioner
Hon. J. H. Wodehouse. This was in accor-
dance with strict orders.
Within, say hundred and fry feet square OF
bright green sod flagstaff near the center, With
the nag hosted for the dsy-white with the British
ensign in miniature in the upper corner the astro
nomical sign for Venus IN the CENTRE with b. /
1874 also visible. On the n. E. side, long line /
Of workshop shed near the s corner, the conieal |
pointed hut in which, with the large 6nch Equato.
rial is the Chief Capt Tupmau, and his assistant
time-keeper Lieut.. Clapp The "modedrilln hut
near by is thing Of the past. In the centre OF the
yard, hard by the "Alaz" hut, Is Lieutenant Noble
sheltered by tent, with his 81 inch telescope and
assistant, Lieut. Shakespeare. In the west corner,
by the gate is the Transit hut for the time disused
next to it the Photograph hut, busy aud arduous
within being Lieut.. Ramsden and his three assis-
tanis, Meius, Currie and Myers, Of r. Engineers,
while between this and Capt Tupman is the AZ
inch telescope with punch and Judy" cover,
wherewith Mr.. NiehOl, with his assistant, Lieuten-
ant Oldham, is ready for innumerable micrometer
Of cusp distances. Without, a squad
Of marines in pink" keep guard, couple of na-
tive police, and curious descendants of wakea,
perched on the Adu trees, like grown.up boys, to
see the forbidden within.
Z
wavy external line; it is forever "boiiug;" never
steady Outside of this is the photosphere like the
flames of the sun shot out into space. 1t viii be I
seen bow difficult it must have been to
determine accurately the time OF contact especially
The external No reliance in fact placed on the
external contact.
As the time draws near, strange feeling comes
over one. The time given in the almanaes which
r,cs of R.1
planet. Has comet meddled With this momentous
flair! Is it possible that the top" OF the sun is
lot the place for it to appear? Ahundred thoughts
ush through the mind. barely perceptible bit
If sOlidity breaks the irresoIute suuine is the
dge Of Venus We quietly say time" The next
ew minutes possess intense interest Is it real,
bis specialization to say, of dream Do We in.
Iced see this crisis of astronomers life passing?
But astronomers must push all that sentiment aside
md betske themselves to energetic micrometer .
Measurement of cusps- They must have seen the
mb Of the planet in relief against the Photosphere
or the interval between external and internal con-
act was too great. Yet there was remarkable t
greement. Chief Tupman observed with the spec c
roseope with 2OOOth of an inch slit, thus detecting
'hen the "sun-linesn disappeared at the precise
oint ofcontaet His time, 3h I'm Is, diff ers but2 I
ecouds from Lieut.. Mobiles, viz: Sh,7m. S. I
There were other observers awaiting the internal
ontset with time-pieees. Capt Daniel Smith, I
'eli-knowu by uavigatoE; Mr. D. n Flituer, our d
xperieneed nter OF chronometers; aud Mr. F. S.
'ratt, formed party at Waikiki PROT Alexander,
I the Government Survey, was devoting the means \
his power at Punahou that the teachers, scholars
nd Others there might see the whole phenomenon. Il
: J. Lyons, Assistant the Government Survey, Fl
nth an instrument OF low power but most excel.
snt defniton Of outline, was at the room of the ~
urvey at AliOlani House, depending for time upon
titudes of the sun taken just before and after con-
act. Neither of these last two named gentlemen
ad previously had any idea that observations with
DIV power instruments would possess any particu- Y
IT scientific valne. The Survey Room aud Flituer's
observatory, by the way, almost precisely on p
be same meridian with the Transit Grounds. :,
Capt TUpman afier he phenomenon reports as
blows: !" The atmospheric conditions were favor
bic, exceedingly at times; $50 measures ofcusps
ID limbs were obtained, aud 90 fine photographs. o
totally unexpected appearance presented itself at ~
afsT7saI C0Hfad. The disc of the planet became :
isible entire circle many minutes before con
act, and from then TO complete establishment no
efuife or sudden phase was observed by anybody G.
GU will perceive, this is fundamentally different II