Art. III. — On the Visibility of Venus to the Naked Eye. — 

 By Principal A. Cameron, Yarmouth. 



(thad May 0th, 1893.) 



Astronomers tell us that Venus is always visible through the 

 telescope. Not always from any one station on the earth's sur- 

 face, because of course she cannot be seen when below the 

 horizon ; but always from somewhere on the earth, and always 

 from any given place while she is above the horizon of that 

 place and in a clear sky. Wlien these two conditions are satis- 

 fied the telescope will show Venus whether the tinie be noon or 

 night and whether tlie planet be at greatest elongation or at 

 either conjunction — Ijarring only those rare occasions when she 

 passes directly behind the sun at superior conjunction. 



So, if one has a telescope, he may see Venus every day in 

 the year, — weather permitting of cciurse, which is a very impor- 

 tant practical consideration and must always be so in such mat- 

 ters until our meteorologists get the whip hand of the weather 

 liend and make him keep his clouds out of the way. If, how- 

 ever, one has no telescope, nor any other optical instrument ex- 

 cept the naked eye, on how many days of the year may he see 

 Venus ? This is a question which every star-gazer finds him- 

 self asking at times ; and closely connected with it is this other 

 one, — When and for how long a perioil can Venus l)e seen in the 

 day time with the naked eye i 



These (juestions form the suljject of this paper, which may be 

 described as a contribution towards ])rocuring answers to them. 

 When I first became interested in them I sought for answers in 

 the pages of astronomical Ijooks and periodicals and by sending 

 letters of inquiry to astronomers, but these methods of research 

 proved fruitless. Then I applied to Venus herself, and jotted 

 down the bits of information which from time to time she was 

 kind enough to give me. After I had been at this for a year or 

 two I learned that M. Bruguiere of Marseilles had been engaged 



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