Abstract
The Transit of Venus in 1882.—In addition to independent calculations of the circumstances of this phenomenon, founded upon Le Verrier's tables of the sun and planet, to which reference has already been made in NATURE, we have to record the publication of two memoirs upon the same subject, the first by Herr Bruno Peter, who is attached to the Observatory at Leipsic, the second by Dr. Karl Friesach, of Graz, which has been received within the last week. As was to be expected where practised calculators are working upon the same data, the direct results from the tables are in very close accordance with those previously published; indeed the advantage of so many repetitions of such work is not very evident. The differences which the calculated times of the geocentric contacts exhibit are almost wholly due to the employment of different semi-diameters of sun and planet. Le Verrier suggested (Aunales, vol. vi. p. 40) that for the present the values to be employed should be respectively 958″ 424 and 8″305 for the mean distance. Herr Peter has used) 961″21 and 8″472, and Dr. Friesach, 960″0 and 8″305. Their results for Paris mean times of contacts and least distance of centres are subjoined:—
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 17, 507–508 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/017507e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/017507e0