TRANSIT OF VENUS.
December 9th, 1874. We are indebted to Captain Hewitt, E.N., and Henry Jackson, Esq., Chief Surveyor of the Province, for the following calculation of the times of contact, altitudes, and azimuths of the Sun and Venus, calculated for the meridian of the Wellington Observatory, latitude S. 41° 16' 47", longitude E. 174° 48' 50" : First External Contact, Ih. 2Sm. 09s. Angle from N. point of Altitude. Azimuth. sun towards E. Sun's centre 03’ 11' 26" 5...120“ 24' 22" W. .. ,„i» Venus do. 03° 11'34" S.. .127“ 01'34" W... First Internal Contact, 111. 54m. 345. Sun’s centre SS“ 28' 17" . .110“ 23' IS" .. Venus do. 58“ 28' 21" ..110“ 53'22" .. Last Internal Contact, sh. S7m. 19s. . Sim’s centre 19“ 22'30" .. 70“ 12'14" .. Venus do. 19“ HE 44" .. 70“ 22'47" .. Last External Contact, sh. 57m. IGs. Sun’s centre 13’ 58' 10" .. 71° 43' 20" .. „ Venus do. 13“ 44'19" .. 71° 52'33" .. The times of contact are given in Wellington mean time, but since Now Zealand mean time is in general use here, a correction of 9»t 15s. substractive must be applied to the above times. The altitudes and azimuths are referred to the centre of the earth; they will, therefore, require a slight correction for parallax and refraction to reduce them to apparent positions as seen from Wellington. The relative positions of the Sun and Venus are very favorable for those who do not possess good instruments to detect Venus’ first appearance on the Sun’s disc, as at first contact, their altitudes being so nearly equal, Venus will appeal- to strike the Sim on the right hand side exactly on the centre. During transit, instead of going directly across the Sun, Venus will appear to move downwards and leave the Sun at its lower limb, but still on its right-hand side, cutting off a very small segment of a circle. Venus’ diameter is rather less than onethirtieth that of the Sun ; she will, therefore, appear as a round black spot upon the surface of the Sun when viewed through a piece of colored glass.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4245, 28 October 1874, Page 3
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344TRANSIT OF VENUS. New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4245, 28 October 1874, Page 3
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