The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1882-12-02

how to observe, and a chronometer,
or the three elements, the one that is
| seldom found, and is the most diff
cult TO be acquired, is the clear-sight-
ed, parcticed eye. Hence many dis
crepancies are found IN the contact
method, which, from the organization
OF the eye, seem to be without RENEE
dy. a practiced observer can DO
more with poor instrument than
novice with The most perfect instrQ-
ment science can furnish.
The photogra phic method was de-
vised TO make up for the inaccuracy
of the eye. Tins forms the means of
attack Of American observers, al
though II Is coming into favor with
astronomers of other nations. The
object Is 10 take as many photographs
oil the sun with Venus on his disk as
possible during the continuation OF
the transit, and To aim at perfection
in the execution Of the work. The
photographs can be taken home,
com mpared and measured at leisure.
The trouble here lies IN getting pic
lures free from distortion, and IN the
accurate determination OF tue scale OF
the pictures taken by different OBJ
servers.
The mierometric method is the
one adopted by the German, and re-
qulres tic use OF the helIomefer. But
tie helIometer is "A difticult and com
plicated instrument, and will only give
satisfactory results in the hands OF
exceptionally skilled observers.
Thus 1t Will DO seen that eaeh meth
od Of attacking Venus during her
passage across the sun is beset with
difficulties. and thus sympathy cam
moi lail 10 DC reused Tor the Jealous
laborers IN the field, who have travel
9 / thousands OF miles TO reach their
stations, trans spOried cumbrons inslru-
monts to aid IN the ombat, and are
NOW hard at Mork IN preparing Tor
the coming of an event that may
crown their undertakings WITH some
degree Of success, or that II II least
haif tie cases " ia be aid from view
Dy an overcast shy. III southern sta-
tons, where Il is now midsummer, a
clear sky may lie anticipated II about
han the observing localities. II north
ern stations, where ~ Is mla-winter,
the average cha auces for clear weather
are only ABOUT one in hfty. For thls
reason, almost ali the observing par
ties have chosen southern stations.
Tile problem Of the suns distance
is of paramount Importance, and ful-
iy iustfies the outlay Of BRAN, labor,
III money laNished on this uncertain
means OF reaching its solution. 1t Is
the unit or yardstick Of celestial
measurement, the standard by which
everything outside the earth III the
material universe is measured. eX-
cepiing The distance OF the moon. \
mistake here makes all celestial COM
putation inaccurate, the diameter OF
every planet, the radius OF every or
bit, the distance OF every star. Thus
the nearest fixed star in the northern
hemisphere il 81 Cygni. It's distance
is estimated al a bout 300, 900 times the
suns distance or earth's radius. This
means 100000 times ", $50, LOO miles.
If there be an error OF half million
miles in this estimate of the suns dis
tance, It Will readily be seen that the
error in the stars distance takes on
gigantic proportions.
The 6th of December will therefore
be a great day on the annals OF the
nineteenth century, Transit observ-
ers will do their utmost to obtain
more accurate determination of the
suns distance. II they do not reach
perfect success, and there is little hope
of such a result, they will have the
satisfaction of feeling that they were
laboring IN a noble cause. For the
observations made during the transit
of ! $50 will be "A rich legacy to aid the
astronomers who, l22 years hence,
will observe the next transit III Z004.