The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-12-01
A Remarkable Event Thlx Month.

4 Suht HS futfNt HAEG OGeN cXGgCtCV.
i Never came TO DO elected. VIA H|"
|. Ui gE r SAD ffunctsco Rasr
| 4 Remarkable Event This Month,
Ths'is the first day Of December-th
first month Of winter. 1t has come IN tru,
winter style, leaving Us in no doubt as I.
the season Of the year, The most notabl,
event to be looked forward to this montl,
not excepting Christmas itself, which, o
course, always comes once year, Ia til,
Transit Of Venus on the 9Th, or next Tues
day, and which is all the more remarkable
as IN event from the fact that It will no
occur again tor more than a century, or MOI
until the year 200l, and which bus not oc
Cured but once since 1859. Hr.,J
The Significance attaching to this astron.
omical event is the fact that the trausit Of
Venus affords the data for calculating the
Suns distance from the earth. All civilized
Governments liuve sent their astronomers
to various parts Of the world to observe the
transit and make their calculations In 70.
gard to 1t with view Of enabling them to
rectity our solar system maps and deter.
mine more accurately the distance Of the
Sun from the earth. ,rpsEl.I aa ~
The following observations in regard 10
this interesting and important event, to-
ken from the New York Post, will be read
with instruction by all intelligent persons :
The passage Of the planet Ven lis across
the face Of the sun, which will occur De.
cember 9, will be the last phenomenon OF
this kind TINT will be observed for more
than century, the next taking place A.
D. 9O0l. The transit Of 1874 was well OBJ.
served by the principal nations Of the
globe, and adequate preparations have
been made by the same governments TO
obtain all possible data with regard to the
coming transit. The main object Is to OBJ
thin such observations as will enable the
distance Of the sun from the earth TO be
expressed in miles. It is to be remarked
that this datum is OF no special use 10
astronomers in their calculations, for the
unit OF these is not the mile, but the dis
tance OF the sun from the earth itself: and
this is always employed by then, NJ the
fundamental unit and is called unity, If.
respective Of what its value in kilometers
or miles or yards may be. All the d.
mansions OF the solar system can be ex.
pressed in terms Of this unit with great ex.
actness; it is only when we come to rive
these same dimensions in popular Ian
guage that the uncertainty comes in. 10
put the matterin familiar way We NAV
say that it is entirely possible from known
astronomical facts to construct map Of
the solar system on any scale YOU may
choose, which shalt be entirely accurate.
On this map one cAn lay down the orbits
oil tho various planets and Of their satellites
with such precision that no error could be
detected, even ii the map was many wards
in extent. In each orbit the planet that
occupies it can be plotted in its proper re.
latlve size, and the sun can be placed in its
proper position and with its appropriate
dimensions. The numbers which form
the basis OF such map are those with
which the astronomer works; for bis
purposes it makes no difference whether
the distance Of the sun is o..
100000 or T3,000,0O0 miles. lie can ex.
press NIL the dimensions Of his map in
terms Of this distance Whatever it may be)
and this can be done with surprising de.
gree OF precision. The uncertainty comes
in only when it is required togive the scale
on which the may is constructed say
how many inches on the map correspond
to how many miles in space. Iiany one O!
the dimensions on the map can be so ex.
pressed in miles or yards, all become
known, from the relative dimensions which
are there expressed. 1t is OF Just us much
use, therefore, to determine the distance oil
the earth. In iact, one Of the ways Of de.
termining this latter datum is to fix tho
distance Of Mare, from which all the other
distances lin niles become known.
As long ago as ZIG it was suggested (by
Haley that the transits Of Venus
would serve to determine the suns
distance, and the method has been
tried three hmes-at the transits OF
l76l, l7G9 and 1874. The transit of l7Gl
was observed by l76 observers ut III sta.
tons, and that Of 17G9 was equally well
observed. From the data furnished BY
these two transits, Encke, in 1885, deter.
mined the suns distance to be $4,000, 900
miles. But rs time wore on and astrono.
mers tried some of the other methods OF
obtaining the same quantity, it was found
to be too large distance to be reconciled
with these latter determinations. The
transit of Venus OF 1874 was looked forward
to Ms likely to settle all these doubts, many
Of which were supposed to have their
origin in the defects Of the telescopes used
by the observers Of the 18th century.
The expeditions OF 1874 were supplied with
with the best instruments possible, and
besides this, they had the great advantage
OF employing photography to register the
position OF Venus on the suns disc. The
photographs were not affected by ol
the uncertainties 10 which even the best
observers are liable, and the measures
OF the photographs could be made al
home and at leisure,and could be repeated
as many times as might be desirable tc
insure accuracy. 1t may be said that the
results of7the eye observations of 1874
showed them to beaflected by errors Of the
same sort and even Of the same amount as
those Of the earlier transits. Thephotograph
ic processes :, employed by the European
nations were certainly unsuccessful. Fortu.
nately, the American photographs were
taken by another method, and the results
from the discussion Of these gave very
satisfactory agreement. A conference o.
European astronomers was held ut Paris
in 1851 to decide on the methods which
should be employed to observe the mex
transit. The results from the American
photographs were not known to them, and
they decided not TO employ photographs a
the coming transit. The American Transi
of;Venus commission, however, do no,
share these views, and they are 10 employ
the same Photographic methods in 1852 a:
were used in 1874, and they coafdentl,
expect to obtain equally good results. ~
| The parties Of the various nations ar,
now at their posts, which are scattered al
all along the southern parts and the east
ern aud western COASTS OF South America
all through the West Indlea, la New Zeal
and, Madagascar, and the south OF Africa
Every possible precautiou suggested b,
the experience Of the last transit has beef
taken, and il the weather is generally goot
1t is not to DO doubted that the returns vii
! he most creditable to the science Of GU
generation, aud that we shall not b
ashamed 10 transmit our observations IT
opr successors. Nearly the whole OF tn
United states d iayorably situated for Oh
serving this uansit, and there are enopgl
astronomer, professional and alaatenr,