Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-12-06
THE TI;ANSlT.

Senu, Crosses the sum- Disk-Ey eryboly
Looxs at It aud Norody Likes It.
Venus passed across the suns face to-
day from east 10 west. Almost everybody
had piece of smoked glass or dalk glass,
through which to take a peep at the r''-
nomena, and it is safe to say that ai". =:
everybody except the astronomers WI, dis
satisfied with it. To the naked eye, through
smoked glass, nothing could be seen ex-
cept very small black spot, that passed
very slowly from east to west through the
lower quarter of the suns disk. Many
inn, ..i.nt persons persisted in LOOKING at
the sun good while before the transit
commenced, and were 50 blinded by the
light that they cou:d not sec the tiny dot
Of planet WI! N it did put in al appear
ance on the braZan face Of old Sol. others
looked through opera ri iasseS or small tel
Escapes and were rewarded with rather
better view than they could get with tho
naked eve. One enthusiastic youn~ lady
declared the spectacle awful!y Splendid
and superbly magrificent-a dear little
black dot exactly like the head Of hair
pin.'' Hundreds of men and good many
women cuuld be seen Oh the streets with
tiacE spots on the end of their noses,
ur.:l, more sharply defined than the spot
-, ;i... sun. Lovers, who had spent the
sGi.mcr evenings in looking admiringly
at The mellow light Of Venus as she de-
s;.,.ndcd the western sky, were 10th to be-
l,..u that she ctuld he dwarfed intO
a !i'tlC black dot on tho suns
lao. face. The = average man !"
voted the phenomenon bore, and
wn..te,i to know 8 ''wliat was the use Of
making such fuss about it, any how
Suppose it does enable the astronomers to
more accurately measure the size of TIE
sun and its distance from the earth, shat
g,s,d does that do? What difference does
it make f" us whether the sun is - or 191
million miles of? We can't increase or
diminish the distance nor alter the size OF
tie sun no matter how earnestly We
nay strive to do So" But to the
astronomers, whO are not average
men" the transit is regarded rs Of tho
utmost Importance and they gazed on 1t
from beginning to end and made the most
careful annOtations of their observations.
They say-well, we reed not anticipate
them, but let them say their say IN taeIr
own way. TO morrow and next day. and
next month and next year, and FOR many
years, they will have 4 great deal t" say
about the transit of 1882.
Looking Through Telescopes.
Al Nill = f'lOb'SI5pu IoUhs. H1'o i>'"s'
street, a fine telescope was mounted,
having power of 65 diameters. Obser-
va.inrs of the transit were carefully made
by Mr.. Gill and S. NJ. Sener. Owing to
the cloudy condition Of tho sky a. D
o'clock, they were unable to catch tic
exac. time Of contact. The first sight
,hey got of the planet was Oh, 40m. and
225s., Washington time, at which time tie
,.l,nct had DassId about its own
diameter across the suns face.
Hundreds OF persons visited Mr.
Gili's rooms to get peep at the wonder
full spectacle and were we'll repaid:
Through Mr.. Gill's glass the planet looked
al.ncst rs lar.e as a billiard bal! and as
black as Jet. The observations made b.
;;i!i and :Sener will be transmitted to the
government.
}. \. killian, the painter, fastened a
small telescope to an awning post in front
of his place Of business, and gratified hun.
slrcds Of persons by letting them look at
the transit. Ills instrument was 4 good