The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-10-05
LEVERRIER'S INTER.MERCU-
RIAL PLANET.
Probable Transit of Vulcan. Octo'
Der IL or Is, 1881.
F.. SACRAMENTO, Sep. 80, 1881.


The time is drawing near for the
probable transit Of Vulcan, which
1 compute may occur on October Il
or 10, according to four adaptations
of Leverrier's hypothesis ia 1876, OF
sidereal periods of about S2.0225
days as a mean from 1850, Jan. 1,
noon; making the apparent or syn
odical periods about $3.50 days each
but admitting of small variations
in accordance with several recorded
observations, simply denoting the
perturbations which act and react
upon Mercury and Vulcan, or the
intermediate planets. 1t is an open
question at present how many there
are, and therefore it cannot be deln-
itely shown how many or which OF
the several observations on record
may be classed together. But this
question has not received the atten-
ton of astronomers that it should
have done since Leverrier's decease
and unfortunately some facts were
not presented to him during his life
time that might have thrown addl-
tional light upon the question, and
accounted for the failure OF his pre-
diction of transit on March 22d,
1877. LeYerrier also indicated a
transit would occur in the fall OF
1881. have published articles In
the Scientific american Supplement
of August 9th, 1881, and the San
Francisco Mining and Scientific
Press Of August 18th and july 10Th,
and the Alta California OF Septem-
Der 18th, which may draw some pub
lie attention to the matter, and as
my computations indicate that mid
transit may be more favOrably seen
at Honolulu, 1879 W., and still
further west, l have OBJ
tanned the cooperation of the
Occidental and Oriental Steamship
Company and / trust the Pacific
Mail steamers to take what observa-
lions are practicable on ship-board.
The Oceanic, Captain Metcalf, will
be we'll situated about six or seven
DAYS out from San Francisco on the
18th and 18th of October, or 1922 to
1852 w. longitude from Greenwich,
England), and the BeIgic will be
about six or seven days east OF
y okohama, or 1740 10 1902 east OF
Greenwich, and the city Of Sydney
two days this side of Auckland,
New Zealand. Those three steam
shins Should be noted with interest.
But Salt Lake and Ogden cities, be-
ing about 1120 w. longitude, makes
only about twenty minutes differ
ence in clock time from San Bern
ardino in longitude 1171a0 W., from
which all my computations are
based, a probable transit having
been observed there by w. G..
Wright, Esq, on Oct. "a, 1916, which
| believe, affords the key to the So
luton of the Leverrier hypothesis of
about S3.O225 day sidereal periods.
The San Francisco Mining Press of
July 18th, 1881, explains that in de-
tail. but my computations are more
fully given in August 18th, and the
american of August 9th,
already alluded to. Want Of time
and space precludes my repeating
those details here, but the report of
Mr.. Wright'S two observations, the
same afternoon, October oath. 1876,
was published and illustrated in the
american of November
18th, 1876.
My computations make the hours
for said transit, according to four
as follows: For san Bernar-
dino, Cal, 1171a0 W. longitude and
about 80 n. latitude, October 18th,
5h. SIM. pm, OF October 18th, Oh.
3Hm, pm; 3h. 52m. pm, or 5h.
Ism. pm. We cannot tell what the
arc OF the transit may be across the
suns disc, and therefore what the du-
ration may be-from thirty minutes
to eight or ten hourS-and the two
dates practically give a margin of
JWenty-fOur hours for mid-translt,
nor can we be sure for twelve hours
before or after. It therefore makes
It desirable to take hourly Observa-
lions all day on the 18th and 18th,
md at least one more after first
detection to settle the motion and
perhaps on the morning of the 14th
n case of failure on the 18th and
9Th. Professor Swift, at Rochester,
New York state, although so far
,ast as Washington, and therefore
light chances Of seeing the transit
1t all, has still written to me that he
Will look out for it. Of course Salt
lake City and Ogden have better
hances than Rochester or Wash
ngton, especially if it occurs as
on the 18th about Oh.
m. pm. at San Bernardino. You
night then see the middle at about
b. 23m. pm, and therefore prob
bly, the ending too, as we'll as the
if fine, but of course if it
ccurs according to computation
n the 10Th you could only see the
as the middle would oc-
ur at Oh. 12m. pm, or considerably
fter sunset. Of course solar OBJ
in broad daytime re-
Iuire a darker colored glass at
ached to the eye-piece, and some
lines pasteboard tube, blackened
inside, Is inches long, is put on the
bject glass end, to protect it from
he heat and light, and an aperture
f 81 inches reduced to IL inches;
mt observers can 1Sa their diScre-l