Abstract
SOLAR PARALLAX FROM OBSERVATIONS OF MARS.—In an appendix to the Washington Observations for 1877, Prof. Eastman, of the U.S. Naval Observatory, deduces “a value of the solar parallax from meridian observations of Mars at the opposition in 1877.” In September, 1876, a circular was addressed from Washington to the principal observatories in both hemispheres, inviting co-operation in systematic meridian observations of Mars at the close opposition of the following year, and in response series were received from the Cape of Good Hope, Melbourne, Sydney, Cambridge, U.S., Leyden, Kremsmunster, and San Fernando, but Prof. Eastman excludes from his investigations the observations at the last two observatories, in the absence of sufficient details as to the methods and instruments employed. In the circular it was proposed to follow virtually the method of observation adopted at Pulkowa, by Prof. Win-necke in 1862, but it is stated, “The prescribed method of observing was fully carried out at only two stations and partially at one. Where the plan of the circular was strictly followed, the character of the work was decidedly superior to that where the directions were disregarded.”
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 25, 278 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/025278a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025278a0