The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-12-02
TRANSITS OF VENUS.
LScientific American. |

LScientitic American
Astronomical annals record the OBJ
servation Of only four transits of Venus:
those of 1859, 1761, 1863, and 1774.
kepler was the first astronomer to pre-
dict that a transit would occur in 1851.
But it passed unobserved, and his
tables were SO inaccurate that ne failed
to detect the transit that would take
place in 1859. This too would have
passed unobserved had it not been for
the enterprise and enthusiasm of a
young Euglishlnan, the curate of a
church in the north of England. Jere-
miah Horrox, though only eighteen
years of age, had mastered all known
astronomical problems. He discovered
that kepler's tables indicated a pear
approach of transit of Venus. The
hope that he might witness tho Won
derful sight took possessi on Of his ina
gination, and day and night he studied
the tables of Kepler until he discovered
an inaccuracy in the calculations. He
worked out a table for himself, and
predicted a transit for 1859. He reveal
ed the secret to an intimate friend, and
they, keeping their own counsel,
patiently waited for the advent of the
time that would verify the prediction.
At LAST the great day arrived. 1t was
Sunday, and bright, cool, and clear.
ed room, with the suns image reflect
ed through Il small telescope upon a
white screen, over which the planet
must pass as round dark spot if his
calculations were correct.
| Such was his extreme conscientious
ness, that he left his watch when the
church bell rang, to fulfill what he con-
sidered q higher duty. But his patient
labor was rewarded. On his return
! from service, he discovered on the
luminous image of the sun, the tiny
black sphere that marked the passage
of Venus across his disk, and thus won
the honor of being the observer of the
| first transit ever seen by mortal eye.
a new interest was reused in astron-
omy by the report of the great event.
the next transit of 1861, science made
rapid progress. Transits of Venus
were, however, considered only as as
Economical curiosities, until in 1877,
HALEY, while observing a transit of
Mercury, discovered their scientific i'm
port as Il means of determining the
suns distance.
Extensive preparations were made
in prospect of the transits of 17Gl and
1863. That of 1851 was visible in Eu-
rope, and was watched by nearly two
hundred observers, but the results were
unimportant. That Of 1869 was more
extensively observed, but the instru-
ments of those days were far from be-
returned from distant lands with the
results of their labor, and proceeded to
make comparisons in order to deduce
the suns parallax, great discordance
was found in the measurements of the
different observers. More than half a
century elapsed before the results were
worked up in satisfactory manner.
This was done by Encke in 1924, and
S-27 was fixed as the solar parallax,
corresponding to about $4,000
miles. This distance of the sun was
for many years accepted by astrono-
mers, and adopted by all works on
astronomy.
1t is now we'll known that tho paral-
lax was too small, and the distance too
great, including an error of nearly
100000 miles. The worldwide in
tereSt taken in the transit of 1874 and
its extensive observance is a matter
too near the occurrence of the present
transit to have become matter of
history. The work of reducing the
observations has not yet reached Il final
result, for an immense amount Of cal
culations and much tedious investiga-
ton are involved. The indications
are, from portions of the work accom-
plished, that the SUMS parallax lies
somewhere between So7G" and SoS3~.
The sole purpose for which the transit
expeditions of 1882 are sent to the m ost
available localities for witnessing the
phenomenon is to determine more
accurately this most important base
line Of celestial measurement. The
whole scientific world will watch for
the result, while approximations, not
certainty, is all that is anticipated.
Is SAMMY SERIOUS2