Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-07
Star Gazing in Midday.

filtration with the sun and whisked herself across the sun's face. The latter seemed to grow redder in the face than usual while the turned to his usual appearance, looking all the brighter for the encounter and inform ing Venus that she couldn't comet this time. But, as above stated, everybody.was engaged in viewing the transaction. The suns vivid glare was rather too binding for most peo- ple's eyes, but frequently people essayed to view the transit with the naked eye without the aid of smoked glass. They invariably reported that they saw dots, and complained of seeing dots for some time afterward. Opera glasses and spy glasses were in great demand, and from housetop end windows, and store doors and front stoops and factory windows, everywhere, viewing the transit was all the rage Judges and prominent merchants, hackmen and car drivers, ex-mayors, boys and girls, school marms and oystermen, all had whack at the transit and felt better for their astronomical 1abors. At Roessler's store quite driving business was done in selling smoked glass brought from Germany by Mir. R. during his recent visit to that land The college students took observations, and many hastened at once to the Black Crook to study Venusology further at shorter range. The grave scientist, whose life work is devoted to the skies, was on the qui vive, devoted in- tently to the transit and what successful ob- servations might achieve.
 At the old observatory in the Atheneum building on the college grounds at about o'clock a. Ill. everything was in readiness for taking of observations. The telescope was in position, Professor Beebe stood ready to call out ''time" at the instant the exter- nal contact at ingress should take place, and his assistants Mir. Moore, '83, and Mir. Wooster, '82, kept their eyes fixed on the ohronometer. Everything was lovely threatened to upset all the hopes and antici- pations. Two observations were, however, obtained, and the record of the times of ex- ternal contact read 9.OS.13 and 9.Os.14 A cloud prevented the taking of times for in ternal contact at egress. Crowds of students rushed to the Atheneum after recitations, and much chat1ing and badinage ensued. The i campus about this time pretty well occu- pied for the viewing business, and there was great interest and enthusiasm The size of Venus varied greatly, as some declared her to be as big as a football, others 10 larger than pea.
 The calculations for internal and external contact at egress turned out more successful ly than did the calculations of the morning for the contacts at ingress.
 The times were read off as follows: Internal contact ....................2 52 Until half-past p. m., when the observa- tory was closed to prepare for the observa- tions 8 great crowd of sightseers waited their chance of peeplng at the celestial phe- nomenon. It may be interesting to know that the result of the various calculations over the world yesterday will be made known in about four years.
 | The photographs taken at the various ob- serving stations in this city were said to be most satisfactory.
 Professor Lyman with his own telescope of f. 7 diameter and five feet focus was taking obser yations in room 45 North Sheffield Hall From window in the third story the end of the telescope protruded. Owing to the numerous clouds he lost two contacts by minute. These were the outside and the inside contact. His telescope was we'll ad- justed and throughout the day was at the ser vice of his friends and all the visitors who ! were anxious to take 9 peep at the planet: Visitors could sit at their ease and view the planet, which the telescope represented to be about the size of football, @ big black circlS in the midst of great luminous field of pink l red color, which was the portion of the sun seen in connection with the star. Many I ladies viewed there the scene. Professor l Lyman said that he had made all his arrange 1 ments to make observations and with the as! 1 sistance of his daughter would take the time l at the finish. The planet would pass from l the suns surface at 3:13 o'clock according to l his calculations.
 1 Assistant Astronomer o. T. Sherman oi
 the old Yale Observatory in the s. S. build. 1 ing was invisible. He had locked himself 1 up in his observatory and was there busy 1 enough. Spectators from the sidewalk gazed l up in a bewildered manner at the huge te1e-
 scope that was exposed to view by an open l ing in the turret-shaped observatory It | looked like cannon mounted on one of the | war monitors. MT. Sherman was the astron- omer on she Howgate Arctic expedition ] Aside from one two assistants no one was ] admitted while the observations were being made.
 ! MT. Whitmore of the High school, who was making observations for the astronomi 1 cal commission at Washington appointed by l Congress, was assisted in his labors by B. P. | Iiefeld. The gentlemen commenced thei, l observations at sunrise and continued al
 work until the finish, going without food o, rest.
 Of the half dozen more parties of Yale l scientific men who were engaged in observa tions yesterday, the only one really accessible l was Professor Newton, who could not very ! we'll shut out visitors had he been so in
 clined, as his post was in the open field or Prospect hill, some thirty forty rods
 north of the new observatory. chilly 1 wind blew fercely across the hill making the post anything but an agreeable one to re
 main at. His instrument was ten foot tel
 escope of 19O magnifying power. It was in
 closed in wooden casing which made it
 very commonplace looking piece of furni
 ture, and had for it's support 8 rough wood
 en post, quite unlike the base upon which
 the telescope in the west tower of the ob
 servatory was mounted. There the instru
 ment is turned by 8 clockwork attachment
 in the base which can be set so as to keer
 the instrument moving around in direct
 line with the sun in the latter's course
 around the heavens. Prof. Newton's instru
 ment, however, was worked by hand in this
 respect with the aid of slight side supports
 The professor or D. J. Esselstyn, his assist
 ant, kept a constant hold upon the instru
 nent to prevent it from being blown off up
 on it's support from the ground.
 In the afternoon twenty or thirty students
 and several Yale professors were with Pro
 lessor Newton close by the telescope. Pro l lessor Newton said on the whole the skief
 behaved well but just at the critical times
 were very tantalizing The results obtained
 are valuable through comparison with the
 results reached in this and other parts of the
 world. But it takes time to get at the re- suits. The last Venus transit was Tn 1872,
 and the results from the observations takeI
 at that time are not entirely summed up yet
 The condition may have been much better
 for the work at other points where other sur
 veying parties are stationed.
 In each of the two observatory towers or
 Prospect hill a telescope Was protruding like
 cannon with mouth open. At one Prof.
 Waldo with a numerous corps of assistants
 was operating, and all were provided with
 rations and all equipments. In the other ob-
 servatory tower Prof. Wilson and his assist
 ant, Mir. Crawford were extremely busy talk 1 ing telescope photographs of the phenome
 non. The results on the whole were said tc
 be excellent, despite the occasionally provok J ing clouds.