SOUTHERN OBSERVATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6571, 8 December 1882, Page 6

SOUTHERN OBSERVATIONS.

The following aro the results of the principal places of observation in tho South, as received by telegraph :—^ ~~ TARANAKI. Nbw Plymouth, Thursday.—Although at times clouds passed over tho sun during the transit, at the time of internal contact at egress tho sun was clear, and an excellent observation was taken here, but the external egress was not seen. The observations were taken by Mr. Humphries, Chief Surveyor, and Mr. O'Donoghue, who was about a hundred yards from the main observatory. On comparing the records there was only one second difference between the two observations. 2 WELLINGTON. A superb morning broke yesterday—the eventful day of the long-looked-for transit of Venus. Hardly a cloud was to be seen, or a breath of wind felt. When the sun first rose there were, as there had been all night, a good deal of that atmospheric disturbance known as " boiling," which caused tiie solar disc at times almost to resemble a circular saw, and rendered all precision of definitions impossible, but as the morning wore on they passed away, and there was, at the critioal moment, perfect stillness and definition. The dark body of the planet could plainly bo seen, even with the naked eye, protected by a smoked glass as the sun rose, and it remained uninterruptedly visible to the and. Just before egress some light fleocy clouds passed eastward, causing apprehension lest at the supreme instant ot contact the observations should be marred. Fortunately the fear proved groundless, the clouds passed by, and at the time of contact the cloarness aud stillness could hardly have been bettor. As Venus slowly passed off the sun the curious appearance noticed in 1574 was presented of the sun having a small semi-circular notch cut in the upper edg>» of his disc. By 7.42 a.m. all was over, and it only remained to compute and compare results.

CHRISTCHURCH. There was beautiful weather yesterday morning for the transit. The sun rose clear of clonds, and for nearly 20 minutes Vcnui could be easily seen with the naked eye. There was a bank of clouds a few degrees above the horizon, which acted as a screen for some time, but most of the time the atmosphere was quite clear. The observers at Burnham were equally fortunate, and Colonel Tupman was well pleased with his work in cousequence. He had two telescopes going, one worked by himself, with the aid of Mrs. Tupman and Mr. Gill, who was in charge of the galvanometer. In comparing notes it was found that wonderfully similar observations had been taken. DUNEDIN\

Mr. Arthur Beaverley furnishes the following with regard to the transit of Venus :— "At an early hour this morning (Thursday) the prospect looked rather gloomy for tho Dunedin observers of the transit, but as the critical time approached the cloud 3 cleared away and left the suu shining through a faint haze in the upper atmosphere. The haze improved the delinition wonderfully, for when it cleared away, a few minutes before the external contact, the outline of the sun, which was previously sharp and steady, begau to flicker slightly. The haze also reduced tho irradiation nearly to Zero, so that there was no appearance of black drop, or any of those perplexing phenomena which occur at internal contact when the sky is clear. Altogether the weather could hardly have been better if got up for the occasion. Tho disc of Venus while on the sun appeared very sharply defined, and as it approached the edge of the suu the luminous line separating them became finer and finer until it vanished at the point of contact. This was not as prolonged an aßair as we were led to expect. The breaking of the luminous thread was so clear that there could hardly be a mistake of two seconds in recording it. In about ten seconds after contact the only other phenomena worth mentioning began to appear. The part of Venus which projected beyond the sun's disc allowed a very fine pink outline, caused no doubt by suu light refracted through the atmosphere, which continued visiblo until the disc of Venus projected about a fifth of its diameter beyond the solar disc. It then gave way at tho north side, but continued visible at the south aide until Venus Was half off, when it appeared like a minute pink hair standing perpendicular to the sun's margin at the edge of the same circular notch. The times of contact, as observed, approximately were : —intarnal contact, 7hrs. #lmi«s. ; external contact, 7hrs. Slmins., Now Zealand mean time, or about lOmins. later than the times given in the nautical almanac. How such a blunder could havo been made by the conductors of that publication it is not easy to see."

TIMARU. The sky was too clondy yesterday morning to enable Archdeacon Harper to observe the transit of Yeaua.