THE TRANSIT OF VENUS. 



22i 



ried, is perfectly impartial, and whose observations take the form of 

 an instantaneous but permanent record. 



Preparations of the most elaborate kind have been made by the 

 leading nations of the world for this event for years beforehand; and 

 the side of our globe, turned sunward on the important day, will be 

 occupied by over seventy astronomical stations. As an amicable in- 

 terchange of results is to be counted on, the means for trying every 

 method here alluded to, as well as others, will be of the amplest kind ; 

 and there is every reason to hope that they will give us a value of the 

 sun's distance, accurate in proportion to the knowledge, energy, and 

 skill, which have gone to furnish them. 



From what has been already said, it must be abundantly plain 

 that, unlike an eclipse of the sun, which is total over a very small 

 area, the transit of Venus will be visible over a whole hemisphere of 

 the earth over more, in fact, since the rotation of our globe brings 

 new countries into the sunlight during the hours the passage lasts, 

 and some will see it begin who will not see it close ; others see it close 



Fig. 6. Earth, as seen from the Sun, De- Fig. 7. Earth, as seen from the Sun, De- 

 cember 8th, at 9h. 10m., p. m.. New York cember 9th. at 1h. 13m., a. m.. New York 

 Time. (First Internal Contact.) Time. (Second Internal Contact.) 



Names of American stations, as seen located in the above diagrams : 



No. 1. Wladiwostock. No. 5. Bluff Harbor. 



2. Pekin. 6. Chatham Island. 



3. Nagasaki. 7. Kergaelen " 



4. Hobarttown. 8. Possession " 



who do not see it begin. "While the transit continues, wherever the 

 sun can be seen, there Venus will be seen on it, with the exception of 

 the few minutes of entry, when those on the extreme left of the earth 

 will see her before the rest, and the corresponding time of exit. 



We do not see the phenomena at all in the United States, because 

 all America is on the night side of the earth at the time, a fact made 

 plainer by the accompanying diagrams, showing the earth as it is 

 poised in space, viewed from the sun ; first at the beginning of the 



TOL. VI. 15 



