The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-11-25
Transit of Venus.
TcoSrrSUED rRoM PAGE rouE.l

F. NHNL u bAANE - 49,
Site over tile face of the Sun as seen from the
Earth are very rare. The Sun IN his apparent
march through the heavens preserves an unyary-
ing course which is Known as the circle OF the
ec.iptic. The planets move in courses which cut
the ccllptic in two points called theIr nodes I:
their orbits living partly north and partly south
Of that line. Thus, although, the Earth and
Venus may be at any given time In the same
general direction from the Sun, yet unless this
should happen when Venus is passing through.
or very close to, the node OF her orbit. she will
appear TO be on the north or south OF the Sun
when she passes him. The inclination Of the
orbit of Venus TO the elliptic is greater than that
of tie paths Of any Of tie otLer planets which
were know to the ancients and she sometimes
flies as much as 9 { OF celestial latitude on one
or other side of the Suns path in the heavens.
This fact 1t was that gave the measure to that
belt Of the heavens TO which the name OF the
zodiac was given Venus being the planet whose
excursions from the line of the elliptic are the
greatest it follows that within that belt of Is ,
the Sun, the Moon, and all the large planets are
always to be found. As Venus must be at
most, not more than a quarter of a degree of
the ecliptic if she is to pass actually between
any part of the Suns face and our globe. In
point of fact such an event happens at certain
regular intervals which have the following order
of sequence :-l22, 8, 106, s. l22 years-and
soon the same order being repeated. These
occurrences have also this further feature OF re-
gular!ty, they must happen either in June or
December, because it is in those months that the
Earth passes in her orbit course, the nodes OF
the orbit of Venus.
After the transit on the 9th of next month.
Venus will be visible as a morning star, and
will remain 50 for 292 days when she will again
pass the Sun, but on that further side of the orb
from us. After the transit she will rapidly IN
crease in brlllIancy. Lying nearer to the Sun
than our globe, Venus presents in her course
all the phases which vi see in the Moon. These
- - H. 100 II - folrGnnrA Of nAH
moderate power. When last seen before her
transit. and first seen after it, the planet will
present the form OF a very narrow crescent A;tcr
this. although she will be daily increasing the
quantity Of her Illuminated surface that she will
alter n certain time appear brighter and brighter
Her brilliancy will be greatest when she has
attained n distance from the Sun of 400 which
is within seven degrees ol the greatest distance at
which she is ever seen from that orb
She will then have at least two hours la which
to shine before the first streak of dawn appears
to dim her lustre. From that period she will
suffer a steady diminution of brilliancy on ac-
count of her increasing distance from us. which
gradually reduces IN apI aren't diameter from one
minute to about ten seconds ; her distance when
nearest to us and when furthest away being in
the proportion of l to 3. She Will again pass
the sun, but on the further side of that orb in
the middle of next September, and it will be the
spring OF 1884 before We see her again so brilliant
as that evening star which has been the ornamen
of our skies after sunset for the past few months.
A few details as to what may be considered to
be pretty surely known as to Venus may not be
unacceptable as a pendant to this article. This
planet is almost as large as the Earth, the
diameters OF the two being respectively 1900 and
1926 miles. Their density Is almost identical,
hence the force of gravity ut the surface of Venus
is very similar to that upon our globe. A stone
falling freely moves 10 feet in the first second OF
it's descent to the earth. 1t would fall nearly Is
feet in the same time Oh Venus. This similarity
Of one of the most important physical conditions
has led to u great deal Of speculation about the
nature of life on the sister planet. From actual
observation, however, we are able to make out
much less about the condition OF the surface Of
Venus. Notwithstanding her proximity, than we
can of our other neighbor Mars. From observa-
ton of certain spots, or parts which are less
bright than others, it has been made out that her
day is nearly as long as a terrestrial day, as she
turns once in % hours 2l4 minutes. Her year
has but 224 days, so that Der seasons change
rapidly. She is not attended by any moon. To
compensate for the darkness of her nights the
sun to her appears with twice as large a surface
as to us. As her axis of rotation is more
than twice as greatly inclined to the ecliptic as
that of the earth, the variations OF her seasons
is as great as is the speed with which they re-
place one another. Imagine what would be the
effect on the climates of our Earth, it the tropics
were extended so that at alternate seasons of the
year, the Sun would be exactly over head at
Paris and in the Magellan Straits. Imagine, too.
that this change of season should take place In
less than four months. or course, the arctic
circle would be extended in the same proportion
as the tropical belt, and the region in which the
Sun would be entirely absent in winter, and
would extend over nearly the whole of Europe,
all Canada, and that part OF the United States
which lies north of the 10th parallel of latitude.
Such is the condition Of things on Venus. An
immediate consequence of these great and rapid
changes of season must necessarily be the pre-
valence of such storms as we have no idea OF.
A. many brilliant but very changeable spots are
seen from time to time on the surface OF the
planet, it has been concluded that enormous
cloud masses are found in the atmosphere of the
planet. Hence the presence of water Is deduced.
and astronomers have even mapped out three
equatorial oceans and one at either pole. With
abundance Of water and a dense atmosphere,
there is every reason to suppose that forms OF
life analogous to those which we see on our own
globe exist in Venus, notwithstanding the
ardour of the Suns rays. the quickly changing
seasons, the violent cyclones and the rugged cha
racter of at least someiparts of the planets surface.
Rugged indeed is that surface, if some recent
observations may be relied on. According to
them the wild scenery OF our moon is as nothing
to what may be found in Venus. Some of her
mountains have been measured during those
periods when she appears as a crescent. Looking,
then, at the line which separates the dark part
Of the planet from that on which the sun is
SHINING, We see certain irregularities ID the line
which must be caused by irregularities in the
surface. When the light indents, as it were,
upon the darker portion, there must be high
ground which receives the light on its peaks
whilst all around beyond remains in darkness.
From observations Of these, and by watching
bow rapidly the diurnal rotation of the planet
carries them away from the Suns light, some
of the peaks have been measured, and appear to
be four and FIVE times as lofty as the highest peaks
of our Andes and Himalayas.