Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-08-29
TRANSIT OF VENUS.
The Expeditions from and in the United
States which VIII Take Observations
Preparations Complete.
The Parts of the World where Corps
Uniformity in Work to be Done.

WASHINGTON, August 27.-The Star gives
the following particulars az to the prepare
| tons made for the transit of the planet
Venus across the face of the SUD, which
occurs on the 9Th of December next, and Ter
which the scientific world is looking forward
| with great interest. In every civilized country
preparations are being made 10 observe the
| transit, and the various civilized govern
ments have made liberal appropriations 10
send out parties of observers to various
points. The United States government is
not behind the rest of the world in this
| spsct, Congress having appropriated $4,000
| for the purpose. 1t is the intention OF the
authorities TO equip eight parties, and as
those intended for distant parts OF the earth
will have TO start in the early part of next
| month, the preparations now under full
| Roadway at the Naval Observatory. The
same method employed in observing the
| transit of 1874, by means OF photographs OF
| the SUMS surface, will be followed next De-
cember, and il is believed the result will
| Justify the wisdom of this selection. Besides
| the four stations in this country, which will
be at Washington, Cedar Keys, Fla, San
| Antonio, lex, and Fort Thorne, n. NJ i, there
will be four foreign stations, namely, Cape
of Good Hope, Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Chill,
and one in New Zealand.
The party for the New Zealand station
will start out first, and expect TO leave about
the Let of September. 1t will be in charge
| of Mr.. Edwin Smith, OF the United States
| coast survey, who has for assistant Prof.
Pritchett, of Washington University, st.
Louis. The party for Patagonia will leave
about he same time, and will be stationed
| near the mouth OF the Chico river. Lieu
| tenant S. w. Very, United States navy, will
| be in charge of this party, with Mr.. o. B.
Wheeler as assistant, and Mr.. William Bell,
of Philadelphia, as principal photographer,
and Mr.. Irbin Stanley, of Carmel, Ind, as
sistant photographer.
In order that the arrangements for OBJ
serving the transit may go off without
hitch, the members of the parties have been
devoting come time at the Naval Observato.
ry 10 practice. An apparatus, similar to
that which will be employed at all the sta
tions, has been erected at the observatory,
and the practice in photographing the sun
has been made familiar to all those who are
members OF the parties. This apparatus
consists of a long shed, having at one end a
Photographic tense and a heliostat, 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 OF this ap-
paratus, which is very simple, and is 10 be
erected by the parties upon their arrival at
destination, no equipment OF instruments Is
needed. A small equatorial telescope viii
be taken along to observe the contacts-the
beginning and the end of the transit.
The two other parties for foreign stations
will start about the middle of September.
The one going to Santiago, Chill, will be in
charge OF Prof. Lewis Boss, of the Dudley
Observatory, Albany, NY. Mr.. Miles Rock,
of the Naval Observatory, will be assistant
astronomer, and Mr.. T. Marceau, of Canaan
daigua, N. Y, chief photographer, and Mr..
Gustav Theilkuhl, Of this city, assistant pho
tographer. The other patty, under charge
of Prof. Simon Newcomb, the superintendent
of the Nautical almanac, will go TO the Cape
of Good Hope. Lieutenant Thomas L.
Casey, jr., United States army, will be as
sistant astronomer; Julius Ulke, of this city,
principal photographer, and Ensign Hol-
combe, United States navy, assistant Pho
tographer.
The parties for the stations in the United
States will not start until the middle OF o.
tober and the personnel has not been agreed
upon IS yet. Prof. Hall will have charge of
the party at San Antonio Tex; Prof. East
man al Cedar Keys, Fla; Prof. Davidson at
Fort Thorue, n. NJ, and Prof. Hardness the
one of this city. The parties that were sent
out in 1874 10 observe the transit OF Venus
had in many cases rather rough experience,
owing to the wild and desoate localities in
which they were stationed. This year all the
parties will be favorably situated, in most
cases near large cities, with the exception of
the Patagouian party. The latter, however,
will be conveyed 10 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, and consid-
cradle enthusiasm 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 s3nguine. The
transit OF 1874 was rendered valaeless on ac-
count of the clouds which obscured the face
OF the sun during the transit and prevented
photographs from being taken. more IA
vorable condition is hoped for this time. In
order to avoid as far possible the unhappy
contingency of clouds, stations have been Sc
lected in the South instead of the North
Washington being the furthest Northern
station. The question might be asked by the
unscienti6c mind why much interest is
attached to this phenomenon? Transits,
eclipses and other phenomena are continu-
ally occurring without any particular inter-
est being attached to them. The reason is
that Venus affords the best means of master
ing 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 orbit of Venus is nearly on
the same plane as the earth's orbit,
it happens from time 10 time that it passes
between the sun and the earth, and appears
like a black spot crossing the luminous disk.
takes place at intervals OF eight years, then
1134 years, eight years and 1l32 years, and
so on. The last passage occurred in 1874,
and the one following this year will not
occur until the end of 122 years, or in 1904.
Two observers, situated in the stations most
distant from each other, note the two points
where the planet, seen from each of their
stations seems to be projected at the same
moment in the solar disk. This measure
gives the angle formed by the TWO lines start
ing from the stations and crossing each other
on Venus and passing on 10 the sun. The
determination of the solar paralla1, there
fore, ia the object of these expeditions. An
other object TO be attained is the accurate
position of Venus in reference 10 the center
of the sun, and also the measure of the di-
meter of Venus in The suns disk.
The inaccuracy in the present estimate OF
the distance of the sun from the earth is, ac-
cording to Prof. Hall, about 100000 miles. |
BY the use of the Photographic method, |
which Prof.. Hall thinks Jar superior to any |
other, he hopes that the data will be obtained |
which will determine within small fraction |
OF second the solar parallax. The foreign |
governments, as stated above, have very gen.
orally decided TO send out parties 10 observe |
the transit. The French will send an expe- |
dition 10 Santa Cruz, Patagonia, and will |
also have stations in Florida. The Belgians |
will have one station in San Antonio, Tex,
and another at Santiago, Chilli. The Ger
mans will have two stations in Santa Cruz, |
one at Hartford, Conn, and one al Aiken, S. |
C. The English will have one at the Cape OF
Good Hope and one on the Island OF NADIA |
gsscar, New Zealand and Australia. The |
Eoglish southern stations will be in the West |
Indies.
South Atlantic Crop Prospects.
New ORLEANS, August 26.-The Price
Current says crop reports from the Southern
Atlantic States are generally favorable, but
portions of louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
and Alabama complain that too much rain
is causing shedding of the hollis and retard-
ing picking. Some worms are also men,