| Show SLY PEEPS AT VENUS iter meadow and other miter tran transitory rs r cull orsett of sept four officers odthe of the united states coast survey registered at the palace yesterday vast erda they are tire on oil their way from irom the east to new zeala zealand nd there to caleli by the photographic process the fleeting ting shadow of venus as that planet passes across the lace face of the tile sun and with other atar gazers at other stations to seize the opportunity to measure the distance of the sun from the earth or technically thu determination of t the h e eolar paral I is tx the principle PI c of this problem rob is si simple mple cut enough u it Pro professor fiessor smith one of the gentlemen bernen atthe at the palace says it consists in simply measuring the angular displacement which is caused by observing the position of the sun as seen from two distant points on the earths surface having determined this angle and knowing the distance apart of ta the two stations the solution ofa of a simple triangle will give ac the distance of the sun of course there will be small corrections to be applied to the different observations to make them oni parable to fix the po ot of venus as it is i seen projected on the suns surface two methods are cm employed the ordinary one is to observe the times of contact of vnus vius venus will with the siina suns limbo rin method will be used by all the parties TheAttle the americans ricans will also bac the tile ph t graphic ain iliin this i simply photographing the gun sun as it appears with venus projected ou on its surface by means ofa of a measuring engine the position of venus with respect to the tile center of the sun can call thus be determined the great advantage of the photographic method is that it presents mare opportunities port unities for observations than the simple observation of contact which may be presented by a cloud after finishing the observation the transit of venus the ments ment will swill be sent home in char of the photographers of the party and mr smith and mr will continue a series of pendulum experiments adnew at new zealand syl nev singapore hong houg kong anu tokio ia i e ob ns us are made under the direction odthe of the united unite states coast and geodetic survey the pendulums used are retho the famous famos kater pendulums which are art the property of the royal Astro astronomic nomi ical society of england and winan are loaned for this purpose to the superintendent of the united states coast survey these pendulums en have been swung by english observers in in many mail parts of the world and this fact will give the chief interest to the voik k to be done e by y smith and Pr itchell since since this work will connect at once with the english chic I are of inucci greater weight tha alian any other observation the ultimate ra result ai ailt of these pendulum observations ions is to d discover the force of gravity and from that of course the determination of the figure ef of the earth the transit of venus commission mn was orga organized nihed under act of congress in 1872 for the purpose of making observations odthe of the transit in december 1874 by 13 the lie act of 1882 the same commission commission was authorized to make the observations odthe of the transit of december 1882 the members of the present i commission commission are admiral stephen stphen st phen rewan supt bupt of naval observations prof J E Hil II ilgard gird supt bupt united states coast and geodetic survey pr prof of marsh vicc dent of the national academy of sciences and professors essers hall and eight parties are to be sent out by the united states the foreign parties partie sare are to be esen sen to new zealand cape of good hope opt santiago chile and santa cruz patagonia those which remain i in in this country are stationed at washingtonian Washing San antonio texas cedar keys florida and fort thorne new mexico the party arty atthe at the palace goes to new zealand and consists of edwin smith united states coast and geographical survey chief of the party prof H G Pr itchell professor of mathematics and astronomy washington university st loui aug story of boston photographer and gustav Therl bul washington assistant photographer they sail on the and anci will probably locate at t auckland Eri england gland france germany amany and russia will probably probably also alio send ont parties to t both oth the north and south hemispheres |
