Abstract
The Observations at the Cape THE long looked-forward-to transit of Venus occurred yesterday afternoon, causing, we may be sure, a flutter of excitement amongst astronomers throughout the whole of the world. To some the special duty was entrusted of carefully noting everything connected with the ingress of this familiar planet, and after they had concluded their labours at the setting of the sun, it fell to astronomers in other portions of the globe to pay equally minute attention to the planet's egress. By and bye we may expect columns of thoughtfully worked-out details in connection with this peculiar and interesting astronomical event, all of which will tend to still further solve the problem of the exact distance of the sun from the earth. We need not remind our readers that herein consists the whole scientific value of the transit. When crossing the sun's disc the planet is at its nearest distance from the earth—estimated at about 25,000,000 miles—and through the peculiar facilities thus afforded of directly measuring its parallax, observers are enabled to calculate the parallax of the sun, which to astronomers is a matter of very considerable importance. The credit of the suggestion of this particular method of calculation is due to Dr. Halley, and it is still popularly held to be the best for the purpose. But accompanying the rapid strides astronomic science has taken in its development since the days of Halley, instrumental means have been invented and accepted by modern astronomers, which appear to afford methods, perhaps even more exact, of arriving at the desired result. For all this, however, the transit of Venus retains a powerful hold upon the popular mind, and, indeed, upon the minds of many astronomers, as the best method. There is, too, one specially strong argument why a particular interest should be taken in this planet's transit. No one who witnessed the phenomenon yesterday will live to see it again—unless, indeed, be fairly outrivals old Parr and other gentlemen famed fur longevity. Occurring as these transits do at the unequal but regular recurring intervals of 8, 122, 8, and 105 years, no one could well expect to see more than two in a lifetime. The last took place in 1874, while the next will occur in December, 2007. It need, therefore, be no longer surprising why, both popularly and scientifically, the event is regarded as one of such special interest, and why the must eminent scientific observers are selected to note everything that takes place.
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THE TRANSIT OF VENUS 1 . Nature 27, 253–254 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/027253a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/027253a0