Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-08-19
THE COMING TRANSIT OF yENUS
An Event OF Interest to the Scientific
World.

| World.
| PREPARATIONS FOR THE OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES PAR
| TIES OF OBSERVERS IN AND FROM THE UNITED
sTATEs-MEMBERs OF THE SAME so FAR SELECTED
| PROGRAM OF Observation-Disclosures RES ULTs
| EXPECTED.
| The transit Of the planet Venus across the face
| OF the sun occurs on the 9th December next, and
the scientific world is looking forward to that event
| with great interest. In every civilized country
preparations are being made to observe the transit
| and the various civilized governments ha We made
| liberal appropriations to send out parties OF OBJ
servers TO various points. The United States gov
eminent IS not behind the of the world In this
respect, congress having appropriated $4,000 for
this purpose IJ Is the intention OF the authorities
distant parts of the earth will have to
start in the early part of the next month"; the
preparations are now under full headway at the
| Naval Observatory. The same method employed
In observing the transit OF 1874, by means of pho
tographs OF the suns surface viii be followed next
December, and it is believed that the results will
justify the wisdom OF this selection. Besides the
four stations in this country, which will be at
| Washington: Cedar Keys. Florida; San Antonio,
| Texas; and Fort Thorne, n. NJ. There will be four
foreign stations, namely:-Cape OF Good Hope;
Santa Cruz, Patagonia; Santiago, Chill; and one
| in New Zealand.
| THE NEW ZEALAND AND PATAGONIA PARTIES.
The party for the latter station will start out
first, and expect to leave about the 1st Of Septem
ber. 1t will be in charge OF Mr. Edwin Smith, OF
| the US. coast survey, who has for an assistant
Prof. Pritchett, OF Washington university, st.
Louis.
| same time, and will be stationed near the mouth
OF the Chico river Lieut. S. W. Very, U.S.N, Will
as assistant, and Mr.. VIM. Bell, of Philadelphia,
principal photographer, and Mr. Irbin Stanley, OF
Carmel, Ind, assistant photographer.
REHEARsALs AT THE NAVAL OBSERVATORY.
| In order that the arrangements for observing
the transit may go Off without hitch, the mem
| bers OF the parties have been devoting some time
| at the Naval Observatory to practice An appa.
ratus, similar to that which will be employed at
all the stations, has been erected at the observa-
| tory, and the practice in photOgraphing the sun
has been made familiar to all those who are mem
barS Of the parties. This apparatus consists OF a
long Shed, having at one end Photographic lense
| and helostat, which turns the rays of the sun
and throws them horizontally into small frame
house at the other end OF the shed, where the
| photograph is made. With the exception or this
! apparatus. which is very simple, and IS to be
erected by the parties upon their arrival at their
desJhatlons, no equipment OF instruments is
needed. A small equatorial telescope will be
| taken along to observe the contacts-the begin
| ming ana the end OF the transit
THE TWO OTHER PARTIES FOR FOREIGN STATIONS
| will start about the middle OF September. The
one going to Santiago, Chilli, will be in charge Of
Prof. Lewis Boss, OF the Dudley observatory Al
| bany, n Y. Mr.. Miles Rock, Of the Naval obser-
vatory, will be assistant astronomer, and Mr.. T..
Marceau OF Canandaigua, N. Y, chief photo
grapher, and Mr. Gustav. Theilkuhl, of this city,
| assistant photographer.
| The other party, under the echarge of Prof. Simon
| Newcomb, the superintendent OF the Nautical
Almanac, will go to the Cape OF Good Hope. Lieut.
| Thomas L. Casey, jr., U. s. A., will be assistant
astronomer; julius Ulke Of this city, principal
photographer; and Ensign Holcomb, U. S. N, as
| slstant photographer.
| THE PARTIES FOR THE STATIONS IN THE United
|
Will not start until the middle OF October, and the
personnel has not been agreed upo as yet. Prof.
Hall will have charge OF the party at San Antonio
| Tex, Prof Eastman at Cedar Keys, Fla, Prof.
Davidson at Fort Thorn, New Mexico, and Prof.
Hardness the one in this city.
| THE PARTIES THAT WERE SENT OUT IN 1874
to observe the transit OF Venus had In many cases
| rather rough experiences, owing to the wild and
desolate localities in whi0 they were stationed.
This year all the parties Will be favorably sttu-
ated, in most cases near large cities, with the
cep1on of the PatagOnian party. The latter, how
ever.wl be conveyed to the station on the United
| States steamer Brooklyn, which Will remain with
them until their work is completed.
While there IS great interest manifested in the
results OF these observations ana considerable en-
tuSlaSm In scientific circles. still the chances Of
the entire preparation coming to nothing are SO
great that scientific men are not inclined to be
very Sanguine. The transit oinlS74 was rendered
valueless on account OF the clouds which obScured
the face or the sun during the transit and pre-
NeILcu photographs from Delng taken. more
favorable condition is hoped for this time. In
der to avoid as far as possible the unhappy cOntn-
eency of clouds stations have been selected in the
south instead Of in the north Washington being the
farthest northern station.
WHY SO MUCH INTEREST THIS EVENT.
The question might be asked by the unscentiflc
| mind why so much interest is attached to this
phenomenon. Transts, eclipses and other pae-
| nomena are continually occurring without any
particular interest being attached to them. The
rp = hat off Tho
! mastering problem which is one OF the most i'm.
portant within the whole range of astronomy
| the distance OF the sun from the earth. AS the
earth's orbit. 1t happens from time to time
that it passes between the sun and the earth. and
Disk Gask Ths '0ssag des
several hours and takes place at inter-
yrIs Of years then 1,sH years. years and
IN 1874, and the one following this years will not
| occur until the end OF 122 years. or In 1904 Two
| from each others, note the two points where the
planet seen from each OF their stations, to be
This measure gives the angle formed by the two
| lines starting from the stations and crossing
each other on Venus and passing on to the sun. It
servers placed on all parts OF the globe, which
gives what is named the parallax OF the sun. The
determination OF the solar parallax, therefore, is
the object OF these expeditions. Another object to
be attained Is the accurate position OF Venus In
reference TO the center OF the sun, and also the
measure OF the diameter OF Venus in the suns disk.
DISTANCE OF THE SUN FROM THE EARTH.
| The tnaccuracy In the present estimate of the
distance OF the from the earth is according to
| Prof. Hail. about half million of miles. BY the
| use of the Photographic method, which Prof Hail
considers far superior to any other he hopes that
| the data will be obtained which will determine
within small fraction OF second the solar par
allaX.
THE FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS,
| as stated above, have very generally decided to
send out parties to observe the transit The French
will send an expedition to Santa Cruz, Patagonia,
and will also have stations in Florida. The Bel
gians Will have one station in San Antonio, Texas,
and another at Santiago. Chilli The Germans will
have two stations in Santa Cruz one at Hartford.
Conn.,, and one at Aiken, sc. The English viii
have one at Cape Good Hope. and one on the island
OF Madagascar, New Zealand, and Australia The
English southern stations will be in the West
Indies
PERSISTENT SUIToR-Uames Henry Clay a
tall mulattO man, was at Judge Rundys bar this
morning charged with making threats OF personal
violence 70 stout cOlOred woman named Martha
Shepherd. Martha and her husband testified that
James Henry is paying his addresses to their
daughter, and they have notified him to keep
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