AT THE OBSERVATORY AT PARAMATTA. 



71 



2. Equal Altitudes. 



The object of these observations was the determination of the right ascen- 

 sions of some of the principal stars of the southern hemisphere that are circum- 

 polar at Paramatta, by a direct comparison with the sun, independent of the 

 transit and of the solar tables. This comparison was made by deducing the 

 superior and inferior culminations of the stars from a series of equal altitudes, 

 which was kept on without interruption for the space of a month about the 

 time of the Equinox ; and by deducing the true noon and midnight on the same 

 days from equal altitudes of the sun, whereof the evening set was again con- 

 nected with the morning set. This gave the difference of right ascensions 

 between the sun and stars. The distance of the sun from the Equinox is finally 

 derived from the observed declination of the sun on those days. 



