Show THE TRANSIT OF or VENUS the greatest astronomical enon or of the century A reporter of the HERALD the other day while pasting passing in front of a schoolhouse struck a knot of young scholars who were eagerly i discussing the he forthcoming TRANSIT OF VENUS from their infantile ignorance it appeared that they anticipated a great and glorious sight eight something dazzling and bewildering to the eyes of mankind our reporter again met men of sober minds mind of average business capacity and commercial standing who were wondering at the recent telegraphic reports concerning the great expenses and still greater expectations connected with the predicted passage of venus ACROSS THE SOLAR DISC DM everybody E Tery body yeung young and old jew and gentile and illiterate rich and poor is talking about the coming event and for the benefit bitof f our numerous readers in the pursuit of knowledge we have endeavored deavo red to secure some tolerably trustworthy information with re gard to the firmamental performance the like of which not even our youngest gest news carner carrier will witness again in his living days according to modern astronomy there arc are NINE STARRY BODIES called planets revolving around the central sun in elliptical orbits besides the asteroids among these venus the third in distance from the sun if we admit le Verri terriers ers vulcan between the solar orb and mercury is the most brilliant she is both morning star and evening star the ancient ancients called her both lucifer light bringer and hesperus unlike her mates of the planetary system her orbit i i e her course around the sun ia is nearly circular her mean distance from the sun being miles or about ites than that of our terrestrial orb rb traveling about the solar center at sit the rate of 22 miles per second venua venus makra THE ANNUAL CIRCUIT in days her diameter measures about miles which makes her quite a corpulent female her volume ia estimated at four fifths of the earths tho the density being ing nearly the satte same being an au anfe inferior bior planet that means between sun and and earth venus presents all the phases of the mon a f fact act which was first discovered by galileo in substantiation of principles advanced by Coper nica the first discoverer of the true solar system of astronomy As her orbit is much more circular than that of our own planet BO so her shape is almost a it perfect ball her polca poles not bin being g flattened as much as are tire the poles es of the earth venus has an atmosphere rendering it probable that LIFE EXISTS ON HER IIER SURFACE though of a different character than life lifa on the earth en on account of the severe meteorological changes taking place on her fair face the great event which at present is fascinating the scientific world and the lay people cople is the transit of venus on wednesday dec ath it is then that venus will make another of her few but memorial passages across the ask of the sun when american observers will be on the right side to behold the startling phenomenon we must here at once warn the uon non scientific person against anticipating a glorious spectacle like a total solar eclipse or a weird combi nation of celestial beauty like a total lunar eclipse or an awe inspire ing exhibition of omnipotent power such as grand auroras or a startling display of celestial pyrotechnics like a downfall of meteors or a sudden apparition of a great comet sweeping w ee in g the he e ekich ice with it its g gossamer ce rr er appendage ap pp e d g e all that alie the naked ked ey eye e or r bi s smoked k d 41 glass observer be rr wi will 11 b be able to f take talk e in will b be A TINY BLACK cutting sharply into the euna suns border moving slowly over its disk and after a passage of nearly six hours suddenly disappearing the astronomer armed with bis his powerful telescope looks forward to an event fraught with the greatest significance an achievement to ter be the crowning glory and the open sesame ot of his science the ascertaining of the distance distan ce between the earth and the un sun which again furnishes the unit for all measurements in the illimitable space of the starry heavens to tai give ve our readers an idea of the value of the numerous expansive expeditions which have been dispatched all over the globe by almost every civilized government ern ment we will simply state that the object is to det determine amine the fhe distance of the earth from the sun b by y means of FINDING THE PARALLAX of the sun that is the difference in the direction of a certain portion of it as seen from two to different place places thus the suns horizontal parallax supposed to be is the angle measured bythe by the earths semi dia eter as been from that luminary this however how is the work of the greatest imaginable difficulty re quiring an untold combination of mathematical genius and perser vering diligence thus if we accept or and uatha sec rec end of a degree as the parallax an estimate probability nearer the sun than any other othet tho the suns distance expressed in miles will ivill bo be but the variation of one twentieth of a second will change the result either way half a million miles the most riat sanguine star gazers will feel satisfied if they can reduce this palpable uncertainty to within a quarter of A million mile miler or ten times the circumference of the earth the astronomers of the various leading nations of the world are by this time at their posts awaiting the great event which is to DRIG NEARER to the of one of its solicited secrets will use diffie different rent methods thus the english and some french observers will depend upon the di observations of the contacts of the venus with sun ia t t the ingress to and e egress rs from the latter by the former comparing corn paring the time of each event and from the known diameter of venus computing the distan distances C es required american observers will uso the photographic method BO so skillfully and successfully introduced into astronomy by the late prof dr H draper by which the results of the observations are fixed on the plate and can bo be taken home ionic for leisurely study measurement and comparison the german method of attacking a will be what is called the microbe one by the uso use of the heliome ter a very delicate and complicated instrument which will yield Fatis satisfactory fac results only in the hands of the most experienced and skilled alto altogether ether it will be seen that the work not only COSTS MILLIONS OF or DOLLARS but an unswerving assiduity and unerring unerring accuracy which is at ache the corn command gd of only few mortals IV W one of the peculiarities of trans site sits is their periodicity i e currence cur renco within stated periods which can be predicted to the ver very r second most of our readers will remember the transit of venus eight years ago though we arc are afraid that nane none recollects its pre feces leces on six score years before 1874 neither will any one of us accor according diar to the common run oft hinga bings wit witness n tho the next display of this kind which is on the program for the year 2004 no wonder therefore that all wideawake governments have taken steps to secure the beit best attainable results for science of this thi s momen tous tons celestial occurred occurrence n ce the united states alone lave lav e in the field at cape town pata patagonia new zealand santia santiago go new R CY Al mexico exico texas florida and washington in addition to which observations will bo be taken in numerous other places by scientific profession als and amateurs there ia is only one apprehension with regard to wednesdays display and that is that clouds fogs or mists may obscure the sky and thus dc this generation of a sight which only their great grandchild ren will be likely to behold prayers have been recommended to avert such an in untoward mishap but the best beat will be to wait and sec see at any rate venus will have bare her tran flit sit whether we see it or not |